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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
David Smith in Washington

Gerontocracy: the exceptionally old political class that governs the US

Joe Biden, 80, is the oldest US president ever; Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, is 81.
Joe Biden, 80, is the oldest US president ever; Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, is 81. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

It is the year of the octogenarian. American TV viewers can find Patrick Stewart, 82, boldly going in a new series of Star Trek: Picard and 80-year-old Harrison Ford starring in two shows plus a trailer for the fifth installment of Indiana Jones.

And a switch to the news is likely to serve up Joe Biden, at 80 the oldest president in US history, or Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, who turns 81 on Monday. But while action heroes are evergreen, the political class is facing demands for generational change.

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