Biden not too old for a second term as president


If President Joe Biden wins a second term in 2024, he would be 82 years old at the start, which would make him the oldest elected president in U.S. history. With a possible rematch looming against former President Trump — who would be 78 years old if he wins another term — the age issue will be a popular topic for debate.

Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman argues a rematch of the 2020 election between the aging contenders is likely and dismisses claims from both the right and left that Biden would be too old to serve again.

Now, let’s deal with the age issue. There’s two factors: Biden’s age, and the fact that the most likely Republican nominee, Donald Trump, is almost just as old. We’ll talk about Biden.

2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently said on TV, based on Biden’s age, 82 at the start of a second term, 86 at the end of it, “It’s not likely,” —  “likely” was the word Nikki Haley used —  that he will live to the end of his second term. That’s wrong.

Now, 82 could be “too old to be president” or not, whatever. But if you actually look at Social Security actuarial tables, which tell you if someone is x age, how long are they expected to live, an 82-year-old male — and this is 2022 data — an 82-year-old male in 2022 in the United States, average life expectancy is just under seven years. So statistically, actuarially,
if Joe Biden survives to 82 and wins, and is inaugurated for a second term, we would expect that he would live to the end of that term. This is just the data.

The numbers for Trump are only marginally different. So if you’re going to make an age case about Joe Biden, then you really should be making it about Donald Trump as well.

Now, if we zoom out, what is the most statistically likely scenario for November of 2024? It is none other than Biden versus Trump. Will there even really be a primary on the Democratic side? It doesn’t seem like it. It seems as though, I mean, listen, Marianne Williamson is running and I guess Bobby Kennedy Jr. is running even though it’s basically a Republican platform, but he’s running as a Democrat, more of like a “chaos agent,” as Steve Bannon refers to them.

Biden will almost certainly be the nominee. Again, I hate to be grim, but like, unless he dies, Biden will almost certainly be the nominee. And then on the Republican side, unless something changes, it’s looking like it’s going to be Trump, although Trump has been a disaster for the Republican Party, costing them in 2018, costing them in 2020, costing them in 2022. They seem addicted. They can’t get away from Trump.

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