Should Joe Biden stepping down be a hint to Donald Trump? What the oldest U.S. presidents tell us about age and leadership

After weeks of mounting concern regarding his age, Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race. This move natuually called into question the competence of his former opponent, Donald Trump.

Biden’s decision to step down has resulted in the 78-year-old Trump becoming the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history. Naturally, the same age-related talking points previously weaponized against Biden are now being pointed at Trump, especially considering the former President is now facing a much younger opponent in 59-year-old presumptive Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris.

A harsher spotlight is now shining on Trump’s age, as he will be 82 years old by the end of his second term (if he wins, that is). As it stands, Trump and Biden are among the oldest men to ever serve as the US president, with the term gerontocracy — meaning government led by the elderly — being thrown around recently to refer to a noticeable trend in who occupies the White House.

With Biden exiting the race, should Trump also consider his own age in his presidential bid? And what has the ages of former presidents taught us about leadership?

Should Joe Biden stepping down be a hint to Donald Trump?

Biden’s decision to not seek reelection almost immediately resulted in concerns over the age of his opponent. While much of the focus was directed at Biden, now it’s the Republican party that has the age problem, since polls have also shown that Trump’s age was of equal concern among voters as Biden’s. 

This flipping of the script only intensifies when you consider that, if he wins, Trump will overtake Biden as the oldest-ever sitting U.S. president by the end of his second term. It doesn’t help Trump’s case that he has been far less transparent about his medical history than Biden was. According to experts, Trump has a history of heart disease and obesity, and has not exactly been forthcoming in providing updated bloodwork results or other specific medical information during his current campaign.

Trump has only released a vague, three-paragraph letter from his primary care physician, Bruce A. Aronwald, who claimed the former president was in excellent physical health and refused to release any other form of medical report. It stands to reason that, given his campaign’s emphasis on Biden’s age, Trump should also face scrutiny over his medical history and perhaps step down if deemed unfit to run for president. 

Medical experts who spoke to Washington Post largely agreed that Trump’s elevated age should require him to release more detailed reports about his health, including his risk of obesity and dementia, the latter of which was endured by Trump’s father. 

 What do the oldest U.S. presidents tell us about leadership?

According to History Extra, the concept of age as a valuable asset for presidents has only come into focus in recent years, and was repopularized again during the 2020 election. In this way, a look back on the oldest presidents alongside Trump and Biden might not shed too much light on whether age is an issue for leadership, since it wasn’t much of a concern among the public in terms of previous elderly presidents.

This is further muddied by the fact that the top five oldest U.S. presidents run the gamut in terms of their popularity and success while in office. Following Biden and Trump, who sit atop the list of the oldest sitting presidents, is Ronald Reagan, who was 69 years old at the time of his inauguration. 

Reagan was just a year younger than Trump was at the time of his inauguration, but it’s widely considered that he was dealing with the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s during his second term. Following him is the third-oldest US president William Henry Harrison, who was 68 when he was inaugurated and whose impact was limited as he died just 31 days after taking office.

The fourth-oldest U.S. president was James Buchanan, who was 65 years old at the time of his inauguration back in 1857. While his age did not factor into his unpopularity, Buchanan was a one-term president who was widely criticized for his inability to halt the oncoming American Civil War. 

As you can see, the dispersal of the oldest presidents across various historical periods makes it difficult to assess whether age was an election issue in the same way it is today, though Harris’ age — in a similar bracket to that of JFK and Barack Obama — seems to recall periods where progression and more idealized values were key election issues. 

In any case, it remains to be seen whether Trump’s age will be enough of a concern to force him out of the race, so we’ll have to see how the campaign plays out.