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Texas Republican leaders have been absent from Congress for five months. Kay Granger, 81, resigned as chair of the House Appropriations Committee this spring and announced last year that she would not seek reelection. At some point in July, she disappeared from Congress entirely, missing months’ worth of votes since then.
Last week, the Dallas Express (whose current CEO filed the primary challenge against Granger in 2020) reported that Granger resides in an assisted living facility. Her son quickly admitted that she had been living there for at least several months. He said yesterday that the president’s decline was “very rapid” and that he was admitted to a facility before he showed any signs of dementia. “Since early September, my health issues have progressed and made frequent travel to Washington difficult and unpredictable,” Granger said in a statement to Axios. Yesterday, her staff posted a photo of the representative. It is unclear how many of her co-workers knew about her condition.
The moral problems of America’s political gerontocracy become clear once again. This is a particularly sensitive issue because many of us have loved ones, such as parents, grandparents, or siblings, who have cognitive decline. They deserve our care, compassion, and honesty. That goes for members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and the president. But the stakes are much higher there, and in such cases, compassion may mean being honest about when it’s time to move on.
As Granger’s story reminds us, allowing politicians to remain in office while suffering from cognitive decline is detrimental to the people who depend on them. Voters and local officials in Texas seemed stunned to learn of their representative’s disappearance. Rolando Garcia, executive director of the state Republican Party, said it was a “sad and humiliating way” for Granger to end her career. “I’m sad that no one cared enough to ‘take the keys away’ until she got to this moment,” he wrote to X. Did Granger’s staff and family cover for her? Did they mislead the public? Did they lie to Granger herself? How difficult is it to tell a powerful political figure that the time has come for him to step down? In 2024, these are common questions. Elderly members of Congress and Supreme Court justices alike are resisting calls to retire. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg both died while in office. For much of this year, our nation’s politics have been dominated by octogenarians, including Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Grassley (who is 91 years old and is actually in his 90s). But Joe Biden’s decision to run for re-election at age 80 has become the strongest argument against gerontocracy.
Despite growing signs of Biden’s decline, the White House remained steadfast in denial, at least until June’s disastrous presidential debate. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported how Mr. Biden’s staff had formed a defensive formation around the frail president, tightly controlling access, scripting interactions with cabinet members, and giving Mr. ” It reported in detail whether the meeting was scheduled in accordance with the timing. (The White House denied that the president’s schedule had been “changed because of his age.”) “Interactions with ministers were infrequent or becoming less frequent,” the Journal reported. “Some legislative leaders struggled to get the president’s ear at key moments, such as before the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.” Meanwhile, the White House said Biden, the oldest president in history, has pushed back against evidence that he may not effectively be able to serve as president for another four years.
American politicians have an age problem, and this problem appears to be particularly acute among Congressional Democrats. The prevalence of older politicians could potentially make elected populations less relevant to younger voters and make it more difficult for new voices to emerge in politics. But essentially, this is a question of honesty. Didn’t the American people have a right to know that Biden was struggling? Maybe Texans deserved to know about Granger? And if either of them has been lied to by their supporters, shouldn’t they themselves be told the truth?
In the end, Biden resigned. One result is that the next U.S. president, like Biden, will be 82 years old at the end of his term.
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Dear Therapist: How do I deal with my hostile sister?
Written by Lori Gottlieb
This holiday season, my sister and my boyfriend and I have been going through some big challenges. The difficulties started last winter when my boyfriend wanted to buy an investment property in the state where I’m from and where my sister currently lives. My sister got very angry at me and my boyfriend for investing in the place where she lives. We received angry phone calls and derogatory text messages from her. We were shocked by her reaction. My sister never apologized to me, so I still haven’t made up with her, but I am sincere with her when I’m with my family.
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