Too Old

In January of 2025 Donald Trump became, among other things, the oldest person to take the oath of office of President of the United States, ever.  Since then, he has been exhibiting, in public, many of the symptoms of aging.  This has, as I'm sure you know, been a high-profile topic for news reports and analysts.

This morning, the Wall Street Journal published an article called "As Signs of Aging Emerge, Trump Responds With Defiance."  The signs of aging have been emerging for a long time, so the headline is a bit timid, but points to the WSJ for bringing it out into the public forum.

The article is balanced - too balanced, in fact, since statements from Trump and those around him are taken at face value.  It does not provide much illumination regarding Trump's behavior, which we have all witnessed, during the last year.  He and his doctor (whose name, I must report, in a brief fit of adolescent snark, is Barbarella) report that everything is fine.  Trump has a story for every symptom, most of which boil down to "It's fine, I'm the healthiest of all Presidents."  He doesn't like to take his doctor's advice, he says, because it's inconvenient or uncomfortable.  There is more evidence - without comment - that his diet involves a lot of McDonald's products.

Dr. Oz, who has drawn significant criticism throughout his career for promoting pseudoscience and unproven remedies, says "He is just with it on some fairly complex topics... I can’t even think of a single time where he said something where I don’t think he understands the issue here.”  This is reported without comment or follow-up.

Regardless of what you think of the WSJ's incisive investigative journalism, it must be said that it is another piece of evidence that Trump's age - and its visible effects on his ability to function as the President - are a major issue for Americans only a year into his term.

And why exactly was it that we decided that Joe Biden couldn't run for a second term?  I've forgotten... I am an old guy, after all...

No I haven't forgotten.  The reason he couldn't run was because he was "too old."

We all thought he was too old.  Well.  Welcome to the Dementia Presidency.