https://www.city-journal.org/vice-presidents-presumptive-replacements
Joel Zinberg, M.D., J.D., is an Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery at the Icahn Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was General Counsel and a Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers from 2017 to 2019.
In 2008, many who had expressed support for the presidential candidacy of John McCain changed their minds with the announcement of the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate. They reasoned that McCain, 72, was too old, with a history of cancer, and that Palin was not up to assuming the presidency in the not unlikely event he became sick or died in office. Barack Obama’s campaign chided McCain for putting an obscure, former small-town mayor “a heartbeat away from the presidency.” Of course, McCain lived another ten years and would have completed two terms in office had he been elected and then re-elected.
What do we know about the current presidential candidates?
Joe Biden turns 78 next month. His fragile appearance is hard to ignore. He routinely puts “a lid” curtailing the day’s public appearances, well before noon. Throughout the campaign, his in-person appearances have been rare and brief. His medical history—including two brain aneurysms many years ago, high cholesterol, an irregular heartbeat, and multiple surgeries and physical therapy treatments—led his former physician to state nearly a year ago that “he’s not a healthy guy.”
Donald Trump is 74 and borderline obese. Based on an elevated coronary CT calcium score and a history of elevated cholesterol, he likely has some coronary artery disease, though this is common in men his age. He apparently has survived a coronavirus infection without sequelae and is back on the campaign trail.
Both men are significantly older and less fit than the previous three presidents, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Bush, the oldest, was only 62 when he left office after two terms. There is a not-insignificant chance that either Trump or Biden could become incapacitated or die in the next four years.