So Biden is too old to be president but Trump isn't? Republicans, make that make sense.

Here’s some breaking news: President Joe Biden is an older fellow.

Biden’s 80. He’s “up in years.” The man is no spring chicken. Biden is, in terms of human chronometry, old.

You may have already learned this, as it seems nearly every story, poll and lump of political-punditry pablum surrounding the 2024 presidential election can be distilled down to: “HOLY YIKES! JOE BIDEN IS OLD!”

Yes, Biden is older. But what would you call Trump?

While the age of the president and leading Democratic presidential candidate is a wholly valid issue, I fear the mainstream news media, of which I’m a part, as well as the electorate at large might be missing an important point: Donald Trump, the far-and-away leading GOP primary candidate and Biden’s most likely opponent, is a mere three years younger than Biden.

Trump is 77. If you’re going to call Biden “too old,” you can’t pretend Trump doesn’t belong in that same category.

If you’re going to bemoan the advanced ages of certain lawmakers – from 81-year-old Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell to 90-year-old Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein – you can’t turn around and pretend the 77-year-old guy who thinks exercise is unhealthy, loves fast food and is presently under the stress of four criminal indictments is a model of youth and good health.

Yet all we seem to hear about is Biden’s age. I suspect that’s because he hasn’t been charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government or election interference – Trump has! – and because he has actually accomplished quite a bit in his first term, from a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to the CHIPS and Science Act to a $35 monthly cap on insulin prices for seniors on Medicare.

Biden's age is one of the things Republicans have to attack him on

You don’t hear as much about those things because folks on Fox News and assorted right-wing propaganda networks are busy claiming Biden can’t string two sentences together and is frail or half-dead.

Then we see Biden meeting with world leaders, leaving this week on the 14th foreign trip of his presidency, working to pass bipartisan legislation in an age when bipartisanship seems impossible and riding his bike along a beach path on vacation.

Please direct me to recent video of Trump riding a bike. Heck, if the former president made “Donald Trump Attempts to Ride a Bike” a pay-per-view event, he would easily raise enough money to pay the lawyers defending him against 91 state and federal felony charges.

Biden has never been a great orator – hindered in part by a stutter – and his gaffes and occasional flubbed lines combined with the fact that he’s an older dude make him seem addled at times.

But have you listened to also-older-dude Trump spouting unhinged, conspiratorial, fact-free rants at rallies, occasionally slurring his words and generally sounding like the senior crank at the end of the bar?

Democrats haven't countered the issue of Biden's age by noting Trump is effectively his contemporary, but they really don't need to when they can knock the opposition around on actual issues, like fomenting an insurrection and denying he lost the election that he most definitely lost.

This is your GOP. Take a good look at Trump's booking photo, Republicans.

With Trump and Biden, age is a concern for both, not just one

The bottom line is this: They’re both older. Three years difference is nothing, particularly when you consider each is vying for a four-year term.

If Biden wins, he’ll leave office at 86. If Trump wins, he’ll leave office at 82 and turn 83 that June. It’s not like we’ll be picking between Homer Simpson’s dad and Ryan Gosling.

And if you worry, understandably, about who an older president has as his No. 2, Biden has Vice President Kamala Harris, an intelligent and experienced former lawmaker. She’s not very popular, but when you hear Trump-world tossing around potential VP names like GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene or failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Harris starts looking like FDR.

Greene peddles Burning Man conspiracy. This GOPer has power to shut government down?

Younger presidential candidates would be great, but it's not likely to happen this time

I would love it if the Democratic Party's fielding a youthful candidate with boundless charisma and unmatched communication skills. I suspect many Republicans wish their party's fielding someone similarly engaging, a candidate younger than Trump and without a LaGuardia Airport’s worth of baggage.

But barring a sea change in voter preferences in the coming months, that ain’t happening. Republicans have younger candidates in the primary, but their voters are overwhelmingly supporting Trump.

So we’re almost bound to have the octogenarian vs. the almost-octogenarian, and no matter how badly the right wants to make Biden’s age disqualifying, it isn’t.

Because compared with Trump’s age, there’s not much difference.

That’s not an opinion, it’s just math.

Maybe we need presidential age limits or a competency test, but for now, we work with what we have

The answer could be to one day put age limits on higher office. Or do what GOP presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley has proposed and require some kind of mental competency test for lawmakers of a certain age.

I’m OK with all that, though I don’t think it’s fair to assume a person is incapable of any particular job because of their age.

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We’ll see plenty of Biden and, tragically, we’ll see plenty of Trump.

We’ll get doctor’s reports and hopefully watch a couple debates and see dozens of stump speeches and whatnot.

And then we’ll decide. Whether a number is the determining factor in choosing between two wildly different politicians who stand on dramatically different platforms is up to individual voters.

But let’s stop acting like those numbers are something new. Biden is 80. Trump is 77.

Get used to it.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden's age means he shouldn't be president again? What about Trump?