"We have a sclerotic gerontocracy," posted 48-year-old Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) in December. Khanna's outburst on X was provoked by the revelation that an 81-year-old Rep. Kay Granger (R–Texas), who had been absent from Congress for months, had in fact been diagnosed with dementia and was residing in a memory care facility.
"I'm more concerned about the congressmen who have dementia and are still voting," joked a 53-year-old Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.). Only a year earlier Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D–Calif.), who had long been failing in health and mental acuity, died in office at age 90.
At its simplest, gerontocracy means rule by the elderly. President Joe Biden's dodderingly disastrous debate in June floodlighted for many Americans just how sclerotic our governing institutions have become. Notably, President Donald Trump, at 78, is the oldest person ever elected to the office. (Biden was a close second at 77 when he won the election in 2020.) That's slightly more than double the U.S. population's median age of 38.9.
