WASHINGTON — I remember when Satchel Paige was pitching for the Kansas City Athletics in 1965. He was at least 20 years beyond his prime, just like President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are in politics today.
In his prime, his pitches were very hard to hit. But at an advanced age, this Hall of Fame pitcher would have trouble pitching in an All-Star lineup with players like Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Hank Aaron, Roger Maris or Roberto Clemente.
Here’s a lesson for Biden and Trump: Age diminishes your talents. Biden and Trump: Your age is showing.
For Team America, we can’t have either of these old men on the mound in January 2025. Today we have incumbent All-Stars like China and Russia to face on a daily basis, as well as up-and-coming contenders like Saudi Arabia . Iran, North Korea, and many other countries want to take advantage of or harm America.
It was painful to see Muhammad Ali hit the canvas in his later years as a boxer or to see Michael Jordan miss a dunk during his final NBA All-Star game.
There are always others waiting for an opportunity to hurt, defeat or take the place of a legend. Most of the time, the legend is undermined by playing too long. Father time becomes his main adversary. In politics staying too long can affect 330 million Americans.
The United States should pass a constitutional amendment that prohibits any federal government employee from remaining on the job past the age of 80. It would also restrict a presidential candidate from running if they turn 80 during a four-year term.
The last time we passed an amendment was in 1991. It took over 100 years to do that. However, it didn’t take long to establish term limits for the president. A constitutional amendment on age limits, if introduced today, would take time to pass in Congress and state legislatures, and would not allow us to get out of the mess we are in today.
We have the two leading candidates from each party refusing to leave the stage. Both will not allow us to take the ball away from them.
More evidence: Biden ended a recent speech by saying “God save the queen.” Your guess is as good as mine as to what the hell he was talking about.
And Biden has fallen at least a couple of times over the years.
Add to that some of Biden’s questionable foreign policy moves. As we work hard to improve relations with China, Biden recently called Chinese President Xi Jinping to “dictator”. This is the second time that Biden refers to a world leader via “not more”.
He did so just before Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned from China. It’s hard to understand why “old people” feel comfortable doing these things. Remember his first mistake when he called Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a “pariah”. Later, he politely punched the same person “to ask” him to produce more oil.
During the same short period of time, we learned that China is building a base in the Western Hemisphere, in Cuba. We also made a $6 billion mistake in funding Ukraine. These are just examples of things getting worse.
Trump forgot or ignored the basic principle of once arrested, everything you say can be used against you. It is not prudent “to prove” your case in the media.
The mistakes that seniors make are so basic, but they can be harmful to everyone involved.
Trump must remember that there will be three types of trials. You can’t win the trial by the media. They have been waiting for this opportunity for years. Then there is the judgment of “public opinion.” A recent CNN poll showed that 45 percent of respondents don’t think Trump’s impeachment for keeping classified documents and obstruction is a big deal.
In reality, Trump has not crossed the line of no return. If it’s revealed that his actions led to something very bad, or that he was able to get rich by using or sharing the documents, that 45% will quickly disappear, evaporating to single digits.
The third is a jury trial with a judge. This may not start for months.
We’ve had two sitting presidents and two sitting vice presidents break the law. None of them ended up wearing stripes or an orange jumpsuit. Dueling Vice President Aaron Burr and current actor Alec Baldwin were found with a gun in hand, as well as people dead as a result of their weapons, but neither was asked to stand trial. a jury
Finally, I question the wisdom of GOP presidential candidates taking the bait of answering hypothetical questions. This no-no is something you learn “Office Trainee – 101”. When presidential candidates answer the question of whether they would pardon Trump, they assume he will be convicted. Does answering one way or another taint the jury when a presidential candidate is basically saying he agrees with the liberal media that Trump is guilty? An innocent person does not need a pardon.
I pray we have better options by 2024. But getting there could be a very bumpy road.
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