Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shared with an engaged Iowa crowd his thoughts on whether or not age restrictions should be in place for public office.
“I don’t think the presidency can be successfully discharged by someone that’s 80 years old,” he said. “This is nothing against 80-year-olds. I’m the governor of Florida, for Pete’s sake. I’ve got a lot of great 80-year-olds.”
The only way to turn around the country, the Republican candidate declared: “Is to have a vigorous, energetic, no-nonsense, strong president (who’s) ready on day one to just blitz this bureaucracy.”
The debate over age limits has arisen alongside concerns over the functionality of aging veteran politicians such as President Joe Biden (80), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (81), and California U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (90).
“We all should be concerned about Biden’s age. This is a man who is the leader of the free world who carries the nuclear football, and he is obviously dealing—not just with physical issues—but with deteriorating mental acuity and possible dementia,” Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute (a free market think tank in Denver, Colorado) told The Epoch Times in early September.
Mr. Biden’s mental competency has been questioned by the mainstream media for most of his term.
Ms. Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in the Senate, was hospitalized in August and was reported to be confused and needing assistance during voting this summer.
Mr. McConnell has faced concerns after becoming unresponsive for questioning twice in a manner that had some onlookers worried about a stroke or seizure.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R–Utah) recently called on both Mr. Biden and former President Donald Trump (77) to step aside for younger candidates.
Mr. DeSantis (45) clarified that his position on age restrictions “is not a knock on any one individual,” but that “Father Time is undefeated.”
He pointed out that age minimums have been in place since the founding of the nation.
However, America’s Founding Fathers never required age limits on civil servants.
“I think that if the Founders could be here today, and they could witness this and then go back to Philadelphia in 1787, I think they would have put an age limit,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Mr. DeSantis added that America needs a president willing and able to serve eight years in the Oval Office instead of four, and promised that he would be a president who could go both rounds.
“One lame duck is not going to cut it,” he said. “You need a two-term president to be able to really be foundational, so I can do that. So I'll be able to, to really set the tempo.”
The media, the bureaucracy, and the Left, he said, are not going to want him to be successful. But the best defense against them will be getting on offense and maintaining his “blitz” all eight years.
“You have a limited amount of time. Even eight years really isn’t that much in terms of all the stuff we need to do to return this government to its rightful owners, we the people, so I will be prepared to do that,” he said.
Mr. DeSantis was scheduled to be in Midland, Texas, on Sept. 20, to unveil his energy plan.
