Gerontocracy meets the Gerondemic

Humans are predisposed to see events in narratives. Astrology has thrived for thousands of years without any basis in fact. There is no factual relationship between the advanced age of the three remaining candidates (Sanders, Biden, and Trump) and the way that COVID-19 targets the old, but there is a narrative.

https://www.wordnik.com/words/gerontocracy:

n. Government based on rule by elders.

n. A governing group of elders.

n. Government by old men.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/national-today-newsletter-american-politics-scarecrow-1.5107181:

With an age of 70 years, seven months and seven days at his inauguration, Donald Trump is the oldest-ever first-term president of the United States. And should he succeed in his 2020 re-election bid, he’ll be closing in on his 75th birthday. The 2016 race for the White House was the greyest to date, with the Democrats fielding 69-year-old Hilary Clinton. And 2020 appears to be shaping up as more of an assisted walk, with former Vice-President Joe Biden, currently 76, and Bernie Sanders, age 77, leading the crowded Democratic field.

Anxiety in an aging Congress as coronavirus marches across U.S.:

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress are becoming increasingly anxious about coronavirus, and there is growing pressure on leadership to take steps to protect lawmakers — even potentially recessing for a period of weeks — two Democratic congressional sources said Sunday.