AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTGuest EssayJune 14, 2026Credit...Lucy JonesListen · 6:38 min By New York Times OpinionOn Sunday, President Trump turns 80. By the end of his term, he will be the oldest president in U.S. history. “I feel the same as I did 50 years ago,” Mr.
Trump said last month. “It’s crazy.”Times Opinion asked a handful of notable older Americans to share the best and worst things about being 80. They described the sadness of loss and the freedom age brings — and some offered Mr. Trump advice.ImageBob Dylan, 85Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and Nobel Prize recipientThe best thingThe best thing about being 80 is that you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you.
It’s freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control. You don’t chase the parade anymore. You’re an old king from some vanished country. You’re harder to program. You’re not rushing to become anything and you’re not haunted by things that you did. You’re haunted by how little of it really mattered in the way you thought it would.The worst thingThe worst thing about being 80 is that you still want to say yes to everything, but the world moves without asking.
The old fire in your heart still tells you to do this and that, but your body says we already did it. Also, nothing surprises you. It sounds like a luxury but it’s not, and also you’ve run out of illusions. People treat you like either you’ve solved something or you’ve lost something, and you haven’t.
You see life repeating itself everywhere.A version of this article appears in print on June 14, 2026, Section SR, Page 12 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘What’s Left Is Joy’: Advice for Trump on Turning 80. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | SubscribeAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT
