(NewsNation) — Is it fair to criticize someone’s age, specifically when they’re in a certain role?
If Donald Trump wins another term in the White House, he’ll be 78 years old when it starts. That would make him the second oldest president ever — after Biden, who turns 80 on Sunday.
Jay Olshansky, a professor at UIC School of Public School, said Wednesday on “Banfield” that age should not be a deciding factor when it comes to selecting a president. He says “Biden is not 80 years old, in many … ways.”
Olshansky published a study evaluating Trump’s and Biden’s medical records that discovered they both qualify as “super-agers.” A “super-ager” is someone in their 80s or older who exhibits cognitive function that’s comparable to that of “an average middle-aged individual.”
Ageism activist Ashton Applewhite joined in on the conversation about how damaging our society speaks of aging.
“It’s in all the millions of ways we emphasize that ‘you’re aging well, by appearing to not age at all.’ And that to age is to fail. When in fact, we never hear the other side of the story, which is all the multiple ways in which aging also advantages us,” Applewhite said.