Washington’s Gerontocracy Problem
Joe Biden’s recent resurgence in the news is marked by controversy rather than triumph, stemming from a series of concerning events.
The release of the full audio from Biden’s interview with special prosecutor Robert Hur, in which Hur cited serious memory issues, ignited the controversy. The recording substantiated Hur’s concerns, revealing Biden’s difficulty recalling basic facts, including the date of his son’s death.
Shortly after, news broke of Biden’s diagnosis with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Adding to the turmoil, the release of “Original Sin” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson exposed deeper issues within the White House.
The authors claimed that Biden experienced mental decline during his presidency and suggested that a “Politburo” of family members and aides governed the country in his name. This term resonates with historical parallels, particularly for those familiar with Soviet politics.
The idea of a “Washington Obkom,” a satirical comparison to Soviet-era Communist Party committees, has been a long-standing joke among critics of the US establishment. However, it now seems less like satire and more like an accurate description.
These revelations are particularly striking because they come from liberal American outlets like CNN and Axios, which had previously worked to support the Biden administration.
The focus has shifted to the questions Americans are asking: How did the US, with its system of checks and balances, end up with a gerontocratic shadow government? Why does Washington resemble Moscow in the early 1980s?
The exploration begins there.
A gerontocracy arises when the ruling elite resists change. In the USSR, this was exemplified by the Communist Party’s aging leadership. In the US, it’s represented by the political generation that rose to prominence in the 1990s and 2000s, a period of broad consensus in American politics. Their hold on power has persisted beyond the relevance of their ideas. Despite differences, Democrats and Republicans largely shared a post-Cold War worldview, maintaining control for decades until Donald Trump disrupted the status quo in 2016.
Trump’s ascent triggered a significant shift. Republicans leaned toward a more nationalist, populist platform. Democrats gravitated toward identity politics and expanded welfare programs, influenced by minority voting blocs and the progressive legacy of Barack Obama.
By the end of Trump’s first term, the American political elite faced a dilemma: transferring power to the next generation risked systemic collapse. Establishment Republicans had already been overtaken by Trump’s base, and Democrats feared a similar fate if they embraced more radical progressives.
Their solution was to preserve the past. Joe Biden, a figure from the consensus era, was presented as a unifying moderate. However, he functioned as a temporary measure, a safeguard against rising tides on both sides. The hope was that a return to “normal” would restore stability, but it only prolonged the crisis. Biden, like Brezhnev, embodied a system resistant to change.
As Americans reflect on the Biden years, they must confront the consequences of their inaction. Power didn’t disappear but shifted to informal channels and family networks. Decision-making was delegated to unaccountable figures behind the scenes, and the public was kept uninformed. Even Biden, as revealed, was shielded from unfavorable polling data.
The more profound lesson is unsettling: change is inevitable. The US establishment attempted to exclude the new generation, but this was only a temporary solution. Trump has regained power, and while he is also old, he has surrounded himself with younger individuals who are shaping the Republican Party’s future.
The Democrats, in contrast, have not adapted. Despite their defeat in 2024, the old leadership continues to resist renewal, which is taking its toll. The Republicans recently passed Trump’s tax bill in the House of Representatives by a narrow margin because the death of Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly, aged 75, resulted in one less vote.
He was the third Democrat to pass away while in office this year.
This pattern has drawn attention, leading to dark jokes about the Democratic Party’s decline. These jokes, despite their grim nature, reflect a significant truth.
Washington is beginning to resemble Brezhnev’s Moscow, characterized by both advanced age and inertia. Ultimately, the lesson concerns systems that resist adaptation and cling to the past until the present collapses.
The “Washington Obkom” may once have been a Russian joke, but it no longer seems like one.
This article was first published by the online newspaper and was translated and edited by the RT team
“`