Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he wants to institute a mandatory retirement age of 75 for the president and across branches of government, a pipe dream of a call from the potential White House hopeful that would bar him from serving a second term as president.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re 75 years old: done,\u201d the former Chicago mayor and ambassador to Japan said Wednesday at a Center for American Progress event. \u201cAnd that would be in the legislative branch, it\u2019d be in the executive branch \u2014 including the Cabinet \u2014 and it\u2019d be also in the Supreme Court, and all the federal courts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emanuel, who is 66, would be 69 when sworn into office if he runs for and wins the 2028 presidential contest. He would be 73 at the start of his second term, and would, by his own standard, be unable to serve all four years. He acknowledged this when pressed by POLITICO at a Christian Science Monitor roundtable Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know where I am in my age. Of course it would apply to me,\u201d Emanuel said. \u201cYou can\u2019t say \u2018here\u2019s what I want to do to change Washington, one of the things I want to do\u2019 \u2014 but I get an exemption because I bought it beforehand.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
His standard would make Donald Trump, 79, ineligible to continue serving as president. And it would have barred Joe Biden, under whom Emanuel served as ambassador to Japan, from serving his single term. It would also impact the 17 senators and 45 members of the House who are currently 75 or older.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t serve in the armed forces, you can\u2019t serve in private sector jobs\u201d at 75, Emanuel said. \u201cGo work on your golf swing, it\u2019s not that good to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emanuel is reigniting a debate that raged throughout the last presidential election as Biden, then 81, and Trump, then 78, each sought a second term \u2014 and as questions about Biden\u2019s mental and physical stamina crescendoed. And it\u2019s simmered for years on Capitol Hill as lawmakers confront mental decline and even death within their ranks.<\/p>\n
Age limits are popular with voters who have balked in recent years at the advancing ages of the nation\u2019s presidential contenders, lawmakers and Supreme Court justices. Roughly two-thirds of Americans support age limits<\/a> for federal elected officials and the Supreme Court, polls show<\/a>.<\/p>\n Emanuel, a former representative, said he would push for legislation to set the limit rather than attempt a constitutional amendment. (The Constitution sets a minimum age for members of Congress but not a maximum, and establishes no limits for the Supreme Court.) It\u2019s not clear whether that legislation itself would be constitutional \u2014 and could be a tough sell in a Congress where the median age for senators is 64.<\/p>\n Emanuel framed the age limit as part of a broader call for \u201ccomprehensive ethics, lobbying [and] anti-corruption reform\u201d across the federal government that he said should include a crackdown on lawmakers and judges taking gifts<\/a> and stock trading. The veteran Democratic strategist said his party should be hammering that message as part of a midterms platform that also includes raising the minimum wage and instituting a bill of rights for ratepayers.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a president of the United States, in my view, that has expanded, deepened the swamp. Our job is to drain the swamp as Democrats,\u201d Emanuel said, turning Trump\u2019s trademark phrase against him. \u201cThere\u2019s not a day that goes by that you don\u2019t read a story about either his family, [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick\u2019s family or [Special Envoy Steve] Witkoff\u2019s family making money.\u201d<\/p>\n