When President Biden turned 80 in office, he celebrated quietly with his family and hoped nobody else would notice. President Trump will reach that same milestone on Sunday, and there’s supposed to be a literal cage match on the South Lawn of the White House, hosted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Mr. Trump still occasionally brags about his vigor compared to Mr. Biden, and fair enough. Yet he also acknowledges that he’s getting up there. “I have to be careful, because if I do trip or fall, it’s going to be the biggest,” he told CNBC in April.
The humor is classic Trump, though it raises a serious point. Mr. Biden remains history’s oldest president, at 82 and two months when he left office. But Mr. Trump loves to claim superlatives, and he’s on track for this one, too, since he’s scheduled to beat Mr. Biden’s record by five months when he departs in 2029.
There are about 31 months to go. When Mr. Biden’s decline became apparent, his staff went to absurd lengths to deny the obvious. As press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre once told reporters, “80 is the new 40. Didn’t you hear?”
Aging and disease are unpredictable, and who knows how any of us will fare. Yet risks go up with age, and last month Mr. Trump made his third visit in his second term to Walter Reed hospital. The press is full of uninformed speculation about bruises on his hands and puffy ankles.
Democrats are eager to return the Biden favor and say Mr. Trump’s often erratic verbal outbursts are signs of mental decline. Mr. Trump’s physician released a three-page summary of his latest exam results, with extensive lab and neurological test details, and pronounced the President in “excellent” health.
