What do the numbers 44 and 60 have in common?

1. "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

That is of course Ronald Reagan’s famous line during the 1984 presidential debates when he sought (successfully) to defuse concerns about his age (he was then 73). Age has not been a huge issue in Presidential elections since, at least until this year, when it has mostly focused on the advancing age of President Biden. His departure from the race in July took the steam out of the issue for the Democrats.

But it’s back, in a big way, now focused on former President Trump, as sizable number of voters are expressing concern about his age (78). Roughly half of all voters (49%) say that his age hurts his candidacy, according to a new Pew Research poll. The concern about Trump’s age is of course higher with Harris supporters (66%), but even 32% of Trump supporters deem age an issue for him. There is an age bias on the question, though perhaps not as strong as you might expect: 58% of voters in the age category 18-29 consider Trump’s age an issue, while 45% of voters age 65+ deem it an issue.

It’s not just about pure numerical age—though that certainly plays a role in this—but also how the public perceives the candidates’ cognitive health. Just as the concerns about Biden’s fitness for office was accelerated by his debate performance, concerns about Trump’s credibility as a candidate have been driven by what the New York Times has called his "rambling speeches, sometimes incoherent statements and extreme outbursts." Last night’s debate didn’t really play into that narrative—it played into lots of other narratives instead—but even so, the Times still couldn’t keep from commenting that Trump “sounded his age.” The question of “too old” is not likely to go away over the next couple months.

?

2. What do the numbers 44 and 60 have in common?

No, they are not both winners on today’s Lotto, though we intend to play them next week. According to new research from Stanford, those are crucial ages where human bodies undergo substantial changes. It’s startling research, at least to us at TNSB. We had assumed that the body ages gradually, but the new research has found that human beings age at a molecular level in two accelerated bursts – first at the age of 44, and then again at 60.

We are aging not in a linear fashion but in brief spurts, according to Michael Snyder, a professor of genetics and director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford Medicine and the senior author on the study. For example, “there’s a big shift in the metabolism of lipids when people are in their 40s and in the metabolism of carbohydrates when people are in their 60s.” Another example: our ability to metabolize both caffeine and alcohol notably decreases—first around the age of 40 and once more around 60. All this means that people approaching those ages should be thinking about lifestyle changes to accommodate your body’s shifting metabolism. You might want to start thinking about those ages as life’s inflection points and consider behavioral changes to match body chemistry changes. Choices such as drinking less alcohol and exercising more may be necessary to maintain health and fitness.

?

3. The Boss Is Back.

While we debate whether Trump is “too old” or not, there is at least one other 70-something who is plainly not. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are back on tour as of last month, and they happen to be swinging by our area this weekend. Springsteen has long been famous for his lengthy and energetic concerts and, according to all our sources (mostly the internet), age has not slowed him down one bit. And it’s not just that the Boss is 74, the E Street Band is filled with his contemporaries. Ray Bittan, the bassist, has been part of the E Street Band for 50 years and is, by a few months, the oldest of the group at age 75.

We were curious about the comment that Trump sounded his age, since we don’t know exactly what that means. For Springsteen and the E Street Band, sounding their age is apparently a rather good thing. Here is a portion of the review from Stereogum:

“The Boss performed for more than three hours straight without ever showing signs of fatigue, usually counting off the next song while the last one was still ringing out. There are no opening acts when the E Street Band rolls through town ... his energy level was unbelievable. I had to sit down multiple times to rest my legs; meanwhile, this dude my dad’s age was racing across the stage, shaking his world-famous ass on a catwalk and singing anthems at full volume.”

Springsteen and the E Street Band are part of an entire wave of older rockers on tour. ?This year alone, you can choose among the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Kool and the Gang, the Eagles and Blondie, just to name a few. ?You can fill your whole year with these groups if you want. As Bob Seager told us long ago, "if you need a fix, you can come back baby, rock and roll never forgets."