America’s aging political class is becoming a systemic problem that reaches from Congress to the White House. Writing for the Washington Examiner, analyst Brad Schaeffer argues that many senior officials remain in positions of enormous responsibility even as age begins to affect their health, stamina and ability to process information.

As Americans live longer, political careers are stretching deeper into old age. Schaeffer says this raises an increasingly urgent question: whether elderly leaders can still make sound judgments on war, nuclear weapons and financial markets. He portrays Washington as a retirement home equipped with a nuclear button.

The trend is particularly visible in the Senate. Of its 100 members, 35 are over 70, while 65 have already reached retirement age. Six senators were born during World War II or earlier. Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell, for example, have each served in the upper chamber for more than 41 years.

Younger Americans, meanwhile, remain sharply underrepresented in federal government. People between the ages of 25 and 39 account for almost 29% of the US population, yet they hold only one in every 18 seats in Congress.

Schaeffer argues that the age issue also extends to the presidency. He describes Donald Trump as one of the most energetic elderly presidents since Ronald Reagan, but notes that the US leader has begun to tire more quickly. Trump is now 80 and will be 82 by the end of his presidential term.

One of the main forces behind such political longevity, according to the analyst, is the close relationship between power, major financial resources and lobbying influence. Senior figures in both parties therefore have little incentive to step aside voluntarily.

The system is reinforced by the exceptionally high re-election rate among incumbent members of Congress, which stands at roughly 90–95%. The US Constitution also sets no maximum age for politicians and imposes no term limits on members of Congress.

Schaeffer sees the greatest danger in the declining quality of decisions that shape the country’s future and the resulting erosion of trust in public institutions. When an elected official can no longer fully perform the job, real authority may shift to advisers and aides who were never chosen by voters. That leaves Americans facing a basic question: who is actually running the United States?