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1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 175 (from laksa117)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa175.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/09/03/opinion/donald-trump-age-78-oldest-presidential-nominee/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/09/03/opinion/donald-trump-age-78-oldest-presidential-nominee/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2024\/09\/03\/opinion\/donald-trump-age-78-oldest-presidential-nominee\/","crawl_time":1775791229,"first_indexed_time":1725475323,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,bostonglobe!www,\/2024\/09\/03\/opinion\/donald-trump-age-78-oldest-presidential-nominee\/ s443","src_root_hash":"1812394390912631775","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Opinion | Why Trump's age — 78 — isn't an election issue","meta_descriptions":["Donald Trump’s behavior is so abhorrent that his age has been reduced to nothing but a number."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"At 78, Donald Trump is the oldest major party presidential nominee in American history. But voters probably aren’t hearing much about that even though Trump is nearly 20 years older than Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.\nWith the dearth of headlines and punditry about Trump’s age, it appears that President Biden’s departure from the race in July didn’t just flip the age issue. It erased it entirely.\nThat’s hardly surprising since so much coverage about the ages of the Democratic and Republican contenders was overwhelmingly focused on Biden and his mental acuity — and that was before his troubling debate performance in June.\nTo continue reading, please login or subscribe to Globe.com\nIn a poll by\nThe Economist\/YouGov\ntaken in September 2023, 57 percent of respondents said that Biden’s health and age would “severely limit” his ability to govern the nation for a second term. By comparison, only 30 percent said the same about Trump even though Biden is only three years older.\nGet The Gavel\nA weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr.\nEnter Email\nNever mind that Trump is a gaffe machine who has mixed up former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley, his former UN ambassador; confused Barack Obama for Biden; and goes off on tangents about sharks,\nmovie cannibal Hannibal Lecter\n, and claims that wind farms are leading\nto lower bacon consumption\n.\nWhen Harris declared her candidacy, there was a common belief that the significant age difference between the vice president and Trump — the largest since Obama, then 47, successfully ran against Republican Arizona senator John McCain, 72, in 2008 — would raise more questions and concerns about Trump’s physical and mental fitness for the job and it would finally get more attention.\nFor several reasons, that hasn’t happened.\nWith Harris still part of an administration led by the oldest sitting president in this nation’s history, she’s in no position to hammer Trump on his age. Calling Trump’s ideas and proposed policies old-fashioned are one thing; calling him too old to be president is another. Instead Harris lets her campaign slogan — “We are not going back” — make the case that Trump’s antiquated (not to mention dangerous) ideas would drag this country “backward” into an era of fewer rights and deeper inequality.\nAfter referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” for months and slamming him as too enfeebled to serve a second term, Trump lost a favorite talking point when the president dropped out. He certainly can’t make the same case against Harris, 59, or Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, 60, this nation’s first Generation X presidential ticket.\nOne reason Trump might have chosen Senator JD Vance of Ohio, 40, as his running mate was to help deflect attention from his own age. But Vance, who has a\ndocumented history of hateful comments\nand made something as basic as an\nimpromptu campaign stop at a Georgia\ndoughnut shop\ncompletely cringeworthy, has been less of an asset and more of a liability for Trump.\nOf course, there are so many reasons to fear four more years of Trump, the only president to incite a deadly insurrection because he lost an election, his age — or the possible mental ravages from it — seem to pale in comparison.\nWith his\npoll numbers dipping\n, Trump’s desperation is spiraling. With an Election Day whose arrival can be counted in weeks instead of months, Trump is saying whatever he deems necessary to garner both media attention and the loyalty of his base.\nAt a recent summit for the far-right group\nMoms for Liberty\n, Trump assailed gender-affirming health care and said the country is being “poisoned” by immigrants who are “taking disease” into classrooms.\nHis supposed\nflip-flop on abortion access\nand a\npledge to make IVF treatments free\nwas pathetic and phony. It was nothing more than Trump, who says that he’s\n“proud”\nof his role in helping to scuttle nearly a half-century of reproductive health care, attempting to look less extreme on an issue that has been a Republican albatross since the conservative-led Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.\nTrump’s geyser of lies never runs dry. The more he senses that his election chances may be slipping away, his errant behavior, promises, and comments will break all records for outrageousness. That seems less a product of his age than the moral decay that has defined his life.\nBy comparison, 78 ain’t nothing but a number. But there are other numbers connected to this election that are far more important for voters to consider — Trump’s conviction on 34 felonies; that\nabortion will be on the ballot in 10 states\n; and a pathway to the 270 Electoral College votes Harris will need to save this nation from the dystopia of another Trump presidency.\nRenée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at\nrenee.graham@globe.com\n.\nGlobe Opinion Columnists\nA marathon run powered by love, loss, and community\nRenée Graham\nTrump is saying it loud and clear: He is willing to commit war crimes\nJeff Jacoby\nA libel as old as the Pyramids\nKimberly Atkins Stohr\nSotomayor delivers real-world shade to fellow justice over immigration ruling\nRachelle Cohen\nIs a guards union lawsuit against DOC just payback time?\nShira Schoenberg\nWhy don’t Newton’s most disabled schoolchildren have an accessible playground?\nMarcela García\nAt Boston’s Dominican parade and festival, fear lingers but joy wins","attrs_markdown":"![fb-pixel](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/%20tr?id=884869448226452&ev=PageView&noscript=1)\n\n![scorecardresearch](https:\/\/sb.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=6035042&cv=2.0&cj=1)\n\n[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2024\/09\/03\/opinion\/donald-trump-age-78-oldest-presidential-nominee\/#main)\n\n- Sections\n  - - ### [Epaper](https:\/\/epaper.bostonglobe.com\/?p1=BGMenu_Sections)\n  - 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But voters probably aren’t hearing much about that even though Trump is nearly 20 years older than Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.\n\nWith the dearth of headlines and punditry about Trump’s age, it appears that President Biden’s departure from the race in July didn’t just flip the age issue. It erased it entirely.\n\nThat’s hardly surprising since so much coverage about the ages of the Democratic and Republican contenders was overwhelmingly focused on Biden and his mental acuity — and that was before his troubling debate performance in June.\n\nTo continue reading, please login or subscribe to Globe.com\n\nIn a poll by [The Economist\/YouGov](https:\/\/docs.cdn.yougov.com\/8ssfdycdra\/econtoplines.pdf) taken in September 2023, 57 percent of respondents said that Biden’s health and age would “severely limit” his ability to govern the nation for a second term. By comparison, only 30 percent said the same about Trump even though Biden is only three years older.\n\nGet The Gavel\n\nA weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr.\n\nEnter Email\n\nSign Up\n\nNever mind that Trump is a gaffe machine who has mixed up former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley, his former UN ambassador; confused Barack Obama for Biden; and goes off on tangents about sharks, [movie cannibal Hannibal Lecter](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/politics\/trump-keeps-talking-about-the-late-great-hannibal-lecter\/2024\/08\/14\/638eb545-60df-4b9c-98eb-352b2970459c_video.html), and claims that wind farms are leading [to lower bacon consumption](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/article\/2024\/aug\/30\/trump-blames-bacon-prices-wind-energy-wisconsin-rally).\n\nFEATURED VIDEO\n***\n***\n\n#### Related\n[(Almost) everything I know about life, I learned from ‘The Rockford Files’](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2024\/08\/30\/opinion\/essay-rockford-files-james-garner\/?p1=Article_Inline_Related_Box) [How politics devoured our summer](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2024\/08\/27\/opinion\/politics-devours-summer\/?p1=Article_Inline_Related_Box)[Doug Emhoff is Kamala Harris’s secret weapon](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2024\/08\/22\/opinion\/doug-emhoff-kamala-harris\/?p1=Article_Inline_Related_Box)\n\nWhen Harris declared her candidacy, there was a common belief that the significant age difference between the vice president and Trump — the largest since Obama, then 47, successfully ran against Republican Arizona senator John McCain, 72, in 2008 — would raise more questions and concerns about Trump’s physical and mental fitness for the job and it would finally get more attention.\n\nFor several reasons, that hasn’t happened.\n\nWith Harris still part of an administration led by the oldest sitting president in this nation’s history, she’s in no position to hammer Trump on his age. Calling Trump’s ideas and proposed policies old-fashioned are one thing; calling him too old to be president is another. Instead Harris lets her campaign slogan — “We are not going back” — make the case that Trump’s antiquated (not to mention dangerous) ideas would drag this country “backward” into an era of fewer rights and deeper inequality.\n\nAdvertisement\n***\n***\n\nAfter referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” for months and slamming him as too enfeebled to serve a second term, Trump lost a favorite talking point when the president dropped out. He certainly can’t make the same case against Harris, 59, or Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, 60, this nation’s first Generation X presidential ticket.\n\nOne reason Trump might have chosen Senator JD Vance of Ohio, 40, as his running mate was to help deflect attention from his own age. But Vance, who has a [documented history of hateful comments](https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/08\/28\/vance-randi-weingarten-childless-cat-ladies) and made something as basic as an [impromptu campaign stop at a Georgia](https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/jd-vance-blames-staff-viral-donut-shop-visit.html) [doughnut shop](https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/jd-vance-blames-staff-viral-donut-shop-visit.html) completely cringeworthy, has been less of an asset and more of a liability for Trump.\n\nOf course, there are so many reasons to fear four more years of Trump, the only president to incite a deadly insurrection because he lost an election, his age — or the possible mental ravages from it — seem to pale in comparison.\n\nWith his [poll numbers dipping](https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2024\/09\/03\/poll-dems-boosted-gop-shaken-as-harris-trump-race-is-joined\/74995919007\/), Trump’s desperation is spiraling. With an Election Day whose arrival can be counted in weeks instead of months, Trump is saying whatever he deems necessary to garner both media attention and the loyalty of his base.\n\nAt a recent summit for the far-right group [Moms for Liberty](https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2024-08-31\/trump-questions-acceptance-of-transgender-people-as-he-courts-his-base-at-moms-for-liberty-gathering), Trump assailed gender-affirming health care and said the country is being “poisoned” by immigrants who are “taking disease” into classrooms.\n\nHis supposed [flip-flop on abortion access](https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trumps-many-abortion-positions-timeline-rcna146601) and a [pledge to make IVF treatments free](https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-says-wants-make-ivf-treatments-paid-government-insurance-compani-rcna168804) was pathetic and phony. It was nothing more than Trump, who says that he’s [“proud”](https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/video\/trump-says-hes-proud-of-role-in-overturning-roe-v-wade\/) of his role in helping to scuttle nearly a half-century of reproductive health care, attempting to look less extreme on an issue that has been a Republican albatross since the conservative-led Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.\n\nAdvertisement\n***\n***\n\nTrump’s geyser of lies never runs dry. The more he senses that his election chances may be slipping away, his errant behavior, promises, and comments will break all records for outrageousness. That seems less a product of his age than the moral decay that has defined his life.\n\nBy comparison, 78 ain’t nothing but a number. But there are other numbers connected to this election that are far more important for voters to consider — Trump’s conviction on 34 felonies; that [abortion will be on the ballot in 10 states](https:\/\/19thnews.org\/2023\/12\/abortion-states-election-2024-ballot-measures\/); and a pathway to the 270 Electoral College votes Harris will need to save this nation from the dystopia of another Trump presidency.\n***\nRenée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at [renee.graham@globe.com](mailto:renee.graham@globe.com).\n\n#### most popular in Globe Opinion\n***\n- [Another military leader shamefully dismissed under the Hegseth regime](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/09\/opinion\/letters-hegseth-dismisses-army-chief-of-staff\/?p1=Article_Feed_ContentQuery)\n  ![Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wiped his face while reviewing troops with Army Chief of Staff General Randy George during the POW\/MIA National Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon on Sept. 19, 2025.](https:\/\/bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/CIBBUJ6E66EB26G53LG5F42CZ4.jpg?auth=e6e7596608c5e906868bd09c3a83172c265fbfdf551c641f8176a0227e32bb14&width=600&height=337&focal=1508,5)\n- [Sotomayor delivers real-world shade to fellow justice over immigration ruling](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/09\/opinion\/the-gavel-sonia-sotomayor-brett-kavanaugh\/?p1=Article_Feed_ContentQuery)\n  ![Justice Sonia Sotomayor listened as President 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Maybe ... maybe not. 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The students are upset about the school promoting the use of AI for song composition.](https:\/\/bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/7HTDBC7XFPAUYUJVE32QGIS6LE.jpg?auth=e10ab0487bb7943570821397f3997890572e416744171f133f67dbf843b802e6&width=1440&height=810&focal=2965,1429)](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/09\/business\/berklee-college-music-ai-suno\/?p1=Article_Recirc_Most_Popular)\n\n[The pizzas at this tiny new Boston restaurant are flawless An exciting new opening from one of Boston's top restaurant groups.![Chef Jamie Bissonnette prepares a Willie’s pizza at Willie’s on Charles Street on Beacon Hill.](https:\/\/bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/V7Y5VU23R5J3G42T5WWTRXDFCU.jpg?auth=b0a0554bdc845ad236e9ed7c33484538e16359745c558bee4694102eaca196a6&width=1440&height=810&focal=3585,5)](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/09\/lifestyle\/willies-beacon-hill-pizza-restaurant\/?p1=Article_Recirc_Most_Popular)\n\n[Trying to date with RBF It 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Archives](https:\/\/pages.bostonglobe.com\/login\/archive?p1=BGFooter)\n\n[Privacy Policy](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/help\/privacy-policy\/?p1=BGFooter)\n\nYour Privacy Choices\n\n[Terms of Service](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/help\/terms-service\/?p1=BGFooter)\n\n[Terms of Purchase](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/help\/terms-purchase\/?p1=BGFooter)\n\n[Career Opportunities](https:\/\/www.bostonglobemedia.com\/opportunities\/?p1=BGFooter)\n\n[Do Not Sell My Personal Information](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/help\/privacy-policy\/?showform=true)\n\n[Boston Globe Media](https:\/\/www.bostonglobemedia.com\/?p1=BGFooter)\n\n©2026 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC\n\n[search by queryly](https:\/\/www.queryly.com\/)\n\n[Advanced Search]()\n\n![close](https:\/\/www.queryly.com\/images\/whitecloseicon.png)\n\nCreated with Sketch.\n\n[YOU'VE BEEN **SELECTED**](https:\/\/subscribe.bostonglobe.com\/B0297\/?p1=BG_Meter_Paywall1)\n\nOnly \\$1 for 6 months\n\nSpecial offer just for you. Only \\$1 for unlimited access. **Cancel anytime.**\n\n[Get Unlimited Access](https:\/\/subscribe.bostonglobe.com\/B0297\/?p1=BG_Meter_Paywall1)\n\n[Already a subscriber? Log in](https:\/\/pages.bostonglobe.com\/login\/?p1=BG_Meter_Paywall)  \\|  [Home](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/?p1=BG_Meter_Paywall)","attrs_readable_markdown":"At 78, Donald Trump is the oldest major party presidential nominee in American history. But voters probably aren’t hearing much about that even though Trump is nearly 20 years older than Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.\n\nWith the dearth of headlines and punditry about Trump’s age, it appears that President Biden’s departure from the race in July didn’t just flip the age issue. It erased it entirely.\n\nThat’s hardly surprising since so much coverage about the ages of the Democratic and Republican contenders was overwhelmingly focused on Biden and his mental acuity — and that was before his troubling debate performance in June.\n\nTo continue reading, please login or subscribe to Globe.com\n\nIn a poll by [The Economist\/YouGov](https:\/\/docs.cdn.yougov.com\/8ssfdycdra\/econtoplines.pdf) taken in September 2023, 57 percent of respondents said that Biden’s health and age would “severely limit” his ability to govern the nation for a second term. By comparison, only 30 percent said the same about Trump even though Biden is only three years older.\n\nGet The Gavel\n\nA weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr.\n\nEnter Email\n\nNever mind that Trump is a gaffe machine who has mixed up former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley, his former UN ambassador; confused Barack Obama for Biden; and goes off on tangents about sharks, [movie cannibal Hannibal Lecter](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/politics\/trump-keeps-talking-about-the-late-great-hannibal-lecter\/2024\/08\/14\/638eb545-60df-4b9c-98eb-352b2970459c_video.html), and claims that wind farms are leading [to lower bacon consumption](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/article\/2024\/aug\/30\/trump-blames-bacon-prices-wind-energy-wisconsin-rally).\n\nWhen Harris declared her candidacy, there was a common belief that the significant age difference between the vice president and Trump — the largest since Obama, then 47, successfully ran against Republican Arizona senator John McCain, 72, in 2008 — would raise more questions and concerns about Trump’s physical and mental fitness for the job and it would finally get more attention.\n\nFor several reasons, that hasn’t happened.\n\nWith Harris still part of an administration led by the oldest sitting president in this nation’s history, she’s in no position to hammer Trump on his age. Calling Trump’s ideas and proposed policies old-fashioned are one thing; calling him too old to be president is another. Instead Harris lets her campaign slogan — “We are not going back” — make the case that Trump’s antiquated (not to mention dangerous) ideas would drag this country “backward” into an era of fewer rights and deeper inequality.\n\nAfter referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” for months and slamming him as too enfeebled to serve a second term, Trump lost a favorite talking point when the president dropped out. He certainly can’t make the same case against Harris, 59, or Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, 60, this nation’s first Generation X presidential ticket.\n\nOne reason Trump might have chosen Senator JD Vance of Ohio, 40, as his running mate was to help deflect attention from his own age. But Vance, who has a [documented history of hateful comments](https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/08\/28\/vance-randi-weingarten-childless-cat-ladies) and made something as basic as an [impromptu campaign stop at a Georgia](https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/jd-vance-blames-staff-viral-donut-shop-visit.html) [doughnut shop](https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/jd-vance-blames-staff-viral-donut-shop-visit.html) completely cringeworthy, has been less of an asset and more of a liability for Trump.\n\nOf course, there are so many reasons to fear four more years of Trump, the only president to incite a deadly insurrection because he lost an election, his age — or the possible mental ravages from it — seem to pale in comparison.\n\nWith his [poll numbers dipping](https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2024\/09\/03\/poll-dems-boosted-gop-shaken-as-harris-trump-race-is-joined\/74995919007\/), Trump’s desperation is spiraling. With an Election Day whose arrival can be counted in weeks instead of months, Trump is saying whatever he deems necessary to garner both media attention and the loyalty of his base.\n\nAt a recent summit for the far-right group [Moms for Liberty](https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2024-08-31\/trump-questions-acceptance-of-transgender-people-as-he-courts-his-base-at-moms-for-liberty-gathering), Trump assailed gender-affirming health care and said the country is being “poisoned” by immigrants who are “taking disease” into classrooms.\n\nHis supposed [flip-flop on abortion access](https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trumps-many-abortion-positions-timeline-rcna146601) and a [pledge to make IVF treatments free](https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-says-wants-make-ivf-treatments-paid-government-insurance-compani-rcna168804) was pathetic and phony. It was nothing more than Trump, who says that he’s [“proud”](https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/video\/trump-says-hes-proud-of-role-in-overturning-roe-v-wade\/) of his role in helping to scuttle nearly a half-century of reproductive health care, attempting to look less extreme on an issue that has been a Republican albatross since the conservative-led Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.\n\nTrump’s geyser of lies never runs dry. The more he senses that his election chances may be slipping away, his errant behavior, promises, and comments will break all records for outrageousness. That seems less a product of his age than the moral decay that has defined his life.\n\nBy comparison, 78 ain’t nothing but a number. But there are other numbers connected to this election that are far more important for voters to consider — Trump’s conviction on 34 felonies; that [abortion will be on the ballot in 10 states](https:\/\/19thnews.org\/2023\/12\/abortion-states-election-2024-ballot-measures\/); and a pathway to the 270 Electoral College votes Harris will need to save this nation from the dystopia of another Trump presidency.\n***\nRenée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at [renee.graham@globe.com](mailto:renee.graham@globe.com).\n\n#### Globe Opinion Columnists\n***\n- [A marathon run powered by love, loss, and community](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/09\/opinion\/boston-marathon-grief\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)\n- [Renée Graham](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/staff-list\/columnist\/renee-graham\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)  \n  [Trump is saying it loud and clear: He is willing to commit war crimes](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/07\/opinion\/trump-iran-war-crimes\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)\n- [Jeff Jacoby](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/staff-list\/columnist\/jeff-jacoby\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)  \n  [A libel as old as the Pyramids](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/01\/opinion\/jews-wars-libel\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)\n- [Kimberly Atkins Stohr](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/staff-list\/staff\/kimberly-atkins-stohr\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)  \n  [Sotomayor delivers real-world shade to fellow justice over immigration ruling](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/09\/opinion\/the-gavel-sonia-sotomayor-brett-kavanaugh\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)\n- [Rachelle Cohen](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/staff-list\/staff\/rachelle-cohen\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)  \n  [Is a guards union lawsuit against DOC just payback time?](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2025\/12\/30\/opinion\/massachusetts-guards-union-lawsuit-doc\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)\n- [Shira Schoenberg](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/staff-list\/staff\/shira-schoenberg\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)  \n  [Why don’t Newton’s most disabled schoolchildren have an accessible playground?](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/08\/opinion\/newton-reflections-school-disabilities-accessible-playground\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)\n- [Marcela García](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/about\/staff-list\/columnist\/marcela-garcia\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)  \n  [At Boston’s Dominican parade and festival, fear lingers but joy wins](https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2025\/08\/19\/opinion\/bostons-dominican-parade-festival-fear-lingers-joy-wins\/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)","meta_canonical":null}

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URL	https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/09/03/opinion/donald-trump-age-78-oldest-presidential-nominee/
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Meta Title	Opinion \| Why Trump's age — 78 — isn't an election issue
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Boilerpipe Text	At 78, Donald Trump is the oldest major party presidential nominee in American history. But voters probably aren’t hearing much about that even though Trump is nearly 20 years older than Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent. With the dearth of headlines and punditry about Trump’s age, it appears that President Biden’s departure from the race in July didn’t just flip the age issue. It erased it entirely. That’s hardly surprising since so much coverage about the ages of the Democratic and Republican contenders was overwhelmingly focused on Biden and his mental acuity — and that was before his troubling debate performance in June. To continue reading, please login or subscribe to Globe.com In a poll by The Economist/YouGov taken in September 2023, 57 percent of respondents said that Biden’s health and age would “severely limit” his ability to govern the nation for a second term. By comparison, only 30 percent said the same about Trump even though Biden is only three years older. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Never mind that Trump is a gaffe machine who has mixed up former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley, his former UN ambassador; confused Barack Obama for Biden; and goes off on tangents about sharks, movie cannibal Hannibal Lecter , and claims that wind farms are leading to lower bacon consumption . When Harris declared her candidacy, there was a common belief that the significant age difference between the vice president and Trump — the largest since Obama, then 47, successfully ran against Republican Arizona senator John McCain, 72, in 2008 — would raise more questions and concerns about Trump’s physical and mental fitness for the job and it would finally get more attention. For several reasons, that hasn’t happened. With Harris still part of an administration led by the oldest sitting president in this nation’s history, she’s in no position to hammer Trump on his age. Calling Trump’s ideas and proposed policies old-fashioned are one thing; calling him too old to be president is another. Instead Harris lets her campaign slogan — “We are not going back” — make the case that Trump’s antiquated (not to mention dangerous) ideas would drag this country “backward” into an era of fewer rights and deeper inequality. After referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” for months and slamming him as too enfeebled to serve a second term, Trump lost a favorite talking point when the president dropped out. He certainly can’t make the same case against Harris, 59, or Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, 60, this nation’s first Generation X presidential ticket. One reason Trump might have chosen Senator JD Vance of Ohio, 40, as his running mate was to help deflect attention from his own age. But Vance, who has a documented history of hateful comments and made something as basic as an impromptu campaign stop at a Georgia doughnut shop completely cringeworthy, has been less of an asset and more of a liability for Trump. Of course, there are so many reasons to fear four more years of Trump, the only president to incite a deadly insurrection because he lost an election, his age — or the possible mental ravages from it — seem to pale in comparison. With his poll numbers dipping , Trump’s desperation is spiraling. With an Election Day whose arrival can be counted in weeks instead of months, Trump is saying whatever he deems necessary to garner both media attention and the loyalty of his base. At a recent summit for the far-right group Moms for Liberty , Trump assailed gender-affirming health care and said the country is being “poisoned” by immigrants who are “taking disease” into classrooms. His supposed flip-flop on abortion access and a pledge to make IVF treatments free was pathetic and phony. It was nothing more than Trump, who says that he’s “proud” of his role in helping to scuttle nearly a half-century of reproductive health care, attempting to look less extreme on an issue that has been a Republican albatross since the conservative-led Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump’s geyser of lies never runs dry. The more he senses that his election chances may be slipping away, his errant behavior, promises, and comments will break all records for outrageousness. That seems less a product of his age than the moral decay that has defined his life. By comparison, 78 ain’t nothing but a number. But there are other numbers connected to this election that are far more important for voters to consider — Trump’s conviction on 34 felonies; that abortion will be on the ballot in 10 states ; and a pathway to the 270 Electoral College votes Harris will need to save this nation from the dystopia of another Trump presidency. Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at renee.graham@globe.com . Globe Opinion Columnists A marathon run powered by love, loss, and community Renée Graham Trump is saying it loud and clear: He is willing to commit war crimes Jeff Jacoby A libel as old as the Pyramids Kimberly Atkins Stohr Sotomayor delivers real-world shade to fellow justice over immigration ruling Rachelle Cohen Is a guards union lawsuit against DOC just payback time? Shira Schoenberg Why don’t Newton’s most disabled schoolchildren have an accessible playground? Marcela García At Boston’s Dominican parade and festival, fear lingers but joy wins
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Newsletters - More [![The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/pf/resources/images/bg-logo--bug-medium.svg?d=648)![The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/pf/resources/images/bg-logo--full.svg?d=648)![The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/pf/resources/images/bg-logo--bug-theme-dark.svg?d=648)![The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/pf/resources/images/bg-logo--full-theme-dark.svg?d=648)](https://www.bostonglobe.com/?p1=BGHeader_Logo) Sign In [Metro](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Weather](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/weather/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Politics](https://www.bostonglobe.com/nation/politics/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Sports](https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Business](https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Puzzles](https://www.bostonglobe.com/games/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Rhode Island](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/new-england/rhode-island/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Globe Magazine](https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Opinion](https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Health care](https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/healthcare/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Arts](https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Lifestyle](https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Education](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/education/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Cambridge & Somerville](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/new-england/massachusetts/cambridge-somerville/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Money, Power, Inequality](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/money-power-inequality/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Spotlight](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/investigations/spotlight/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Technology](https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/technology/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Climate](https://www.bostonglobe.com/science/environment/climate/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Cars](https://www.boston.com/category/cars/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Real Estate](https://www.boston.com/category/real-estate/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav)[Events](https://events.bostonglobe.com/?p1=BGHeader_MainNav) ![Search The Boston Globe](https://www.queryly.com/images/globe_searchicon.svg) Sign In SUBSCRIBE NOWStarting at \$1 [More from Globe Opinion](https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/) \\| [Submit a Letter to the Editor](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2011/09/10/bgcom-lettersubmit/XHnJoyNpBDC80qGtpMGSsL/story.html) \\| [Meet the Editorial Board](https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/05/22/guide-globe-opinion/BEw1XU0uyEag9ceSF1vvLJ/story.html) OPINION # Why age is no longer an issue in the presidential election ## Donald Trump’s behavior is so abhorrent that his age has been reduced to nothing but a number. By [Renée Graham](https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/columnist/renee-graham/) Globe Columnist,Updated September 3, 2024, 2:28 p.m. ![Donald Trump spoke at his 78th birthday celebration, hosted by Club 47, in West Palm Beach, Fla., on June 14.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/TYIXCH6ZIVJEIVUDCGRGOXIH5M.jpg?auth=9fb0bc807788336232470c00e3d975490128bc6fa727769bf813176f0933a244&width=1440) Donald Trump spoke at his 78th birthday celebration, hosted by Club 47, in West Palm Beach, Fla., on June 14.Gerald Herbert/Associated Press At 78, Donald Trump is the oldest major party presidential nominee in American history. But voters probably aren’t hearing much about that even though Trump is nearly 20 years older than Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent. With the dearth of headlines and punditry about Trump’s age, it appears that President Biden’s departure from the race in July didn’t just flip the age issue. It erased it entirely. That’s hardly surprising since so much coverage about the ages of the Democratic and Republican contenders was overwhelmingly focused on Biden and his mental acuity — and that was before his troubling debate performance in June. To continue reading, please login or subscribe to Globe.com In a poll by [The Economist/YouGov](https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/8ssfdycdra/econtoplines.pdf) taken in September 2023, 57 percent of respondents said that Biden’s health and age would “severely limit” his ability to govern the nation for a second term. By comparison, only 30 percent said the same about Trump even though Biden is only three years older. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Never mind that Trump is a gaffe machine who has mixed up former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley, his former UN ambassador; confused Barack Obama for Biden; and goes off on tangents about sharks, [movie cannibal Hannibal Lecter](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-keeps-talking-about-the-late-great-hannibal-lecter/2024/08/14/638eb545-60df-4b9c-98eb-352b2970459c_video.html), and claims that wind farms are leading [to lower bacon consumption](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/30/trump-blames-bacon-prices-wind-energy-wisconsin-rally). FEATURED VIDEO * * #### Related [(Almost) everything I know about life, I learned from ‘The Rockford Files’](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/30/opinion/essay-rockford-files-james-garner/?p1=Article_Inline_Related_Box) [How politics devoured our summer](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/27/opinion/politics-devours-summer/?p1=Article_Inline_Related_Box)[Doug Emhoff is Kamala Harris’s secret weapon](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/22/opinion/doug-emhoff-kamala-harris/?p1=Article_Inline_Related_Box) When Harris declared her candidacy, there was a common belief that the significant age difference between the vice president and Trump — the largest since Obama, then 47, successfully ran against Republican Arizona senator John McCain, 72, in 2008 — would raise more questions and concerns about Trump’s physical and mental fitness for the job and it would finally get more attention. For several reasons, that hasn’t happened. With Harris still part of an administration led by the oldest sitting president in this nation’s history, she’s in no position to hammer Trump on his age. Calling Trump’s ideas and proposed policies old-fashioned are one thing; calling him too old to be president is another. Instead Harris lets her campaign slogan — “We are not going back” — make the case that Trump’s antiquated (not to mention dangerous) ideas would drag this country “backward” into an era of fewer rights and deeper inequality. Advertisement * * After referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” for months and slamming him as too enfeebled to serve a second term, Trump lost a favorite talking point when the president dropped out. He certainly can’t make the same case against Harris, 59, or Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, 60, this nation’s first Generation X presidential ticket. One reason Trump might have chosen Senator JD Vance of Ohio, 40, as his running mate was to help deflect attention from his own age. But Vance, who has a [documented history of hateful comments](https://www.axios.com/2024/08/28/vance-randi-weingarten-childless-cat-ladies) and made something as basic as an [impromptu campaign stop at a Georgia](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jd-vance-blames-staff-viral-donut-shop-visit.html) [doughnut shop](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jd-vance-blames-staff-viral-donut-shop-visit.html) completely cringeworthy, has been less of an asset and more of a liability for Trump. Of course, there are so many reasons to fear four more years of Trump, the only president to incite a deadly insurrection because he lost an election, his age — or the possible mental ravages from it — seem to pale in comparison. With his [poll numbers dipping](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/09/03/poll-dems-boosted-gop-shaken-as-harris-trump-race-is-joined/74995919007/), Trump’s desperation is spiraling. With an Election Day whose arrival can be counted in weeks instead of months, Trump is saying whatever he deems necessary to garner both media attention and the loyalty of his base. At a recent summit for the far-right group [Moms for Liberty](https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-08-31/trump-questions-acceptance-of-transgender-people-as-he-courts-his-base-at-moms-for-liberty-gathering), Trump assailed gender-affirming health care and said the country is being “poisoned” by immigrants who are “taking disease” into classrooms. His supposed [flip-flop on abortion access](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-many-abortion-positions-timeline-rcna146601) and a [pledge to make IVF treatments free](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-wants-make-ivf-treatments-paid-government-insurance-compani-rcna168804) was pathetic and phony. It was nothing more than Trump, who says that he’s [“proud”](https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-says-hes-proud-of-role-in-overturning-roe-v-wade/) of his role in helping to scuttle nearly a half-century of reproductive health care, attempting to look less extreme on an issue that has been a Republican albatross since the conservative-led Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Advertisement * * Trump’s geyser of lies never runs dry. The more he senses that his election chances may be slipping away, his errant behavior, promises, and comments will break all records for outrageousness. That seems less a product of his age than the moral decay that has defined his life. By comparison, 78 ain’t nothing but a number. But there are other numbers connected to this election that are far more important for voters to consider — Trump’s conviction on 34 felonies; that [abortion will be on the ballot in 10 states](https://19thnews.org/2023/12/abortion-states-election-2024-ballot-measures/); and a pathway to the 270 Electoral College votes Harris will need to save this nation from the dystopia of another Trump presidency. * Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. 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Readable Markdown	At 78, Donald Trump is the oldest major party presidential nominee in American history. But voters probably aren’t hearing much about that even though Trump is nearly 20 years older than Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent. With the dearth of headlines and punditry about Trump’s age, it appears that President Biden’s departure from the race in July didn’t just flip the age issue. It erased it entirely. That’s hardly surprising since so much coverage about the ages of the Democratic and Republican contenders was overwhelmingly focused on Biden and his mental acuity — and that was before his troubling debate performance in June. To continue reading, please login or subscribe to Globe.com In a poll by [The Economist/YouGov](https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/8ssfdycdra/econtoplines.pdf) taken in September 2023, 57 percent of respondents said that Biden’s health and age would “severely limit” his ability to govern the nation for a second term. By comparison, only 30 percent said the same about Trump even though Biden is only three years older. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Never mind that Trump is a gaffe machine who has mixed up former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley, his former UN ambassador; confused Barack Obama for Biden; and goes off on tangents about sharks, [movie cannibal Hannibal Lecter](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-keeps-talking-about-the-late-great-hannibal-lecter/2024/08/14/638eb545-60df-4b9c-98eb-352b2970459c_video.html), and claims that wind farms are leading [to lower bacon consumption](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/30/trump-blames-bacon-prices-wind-energy-wisconsin-rally). When Harris declared her candidacy, there was a common belief that the significant age difference between the vice president and Trump — the largest since Obama, then 47, successfully ran against Republican Arizona senator John McCain, 72, in 2008 — would raise more questions and concerns about Trump’s physical and mental fitness for the job and it would finally get more attention. For several reasons, that hasn’t happened. With Harris still part of an administration led by the oldest sitting president in this nation’s history, she’s in no position to hammer Trump on his age. Calling Trump’s ideas and proposed policies old-fashioned are one thing; calling him too old to be president is another. Instead Harris lets her campaign slogan — “We are not going back” — make the case that Trump’s antiquated (not to mention dangerous) ideas would drag this country “backward” into an era of fewer rights and deeper inequality. After referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” for months and slamming him as too enfeebled to serve a second term, Trump lost a favorite talking point when the president dropped out. He certainly can’t make the same case against Harris, 59, or Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, 60, this nation’s first Generation X presidential ticket. One reason Trump might have chosen Senator JD Vance of Ohio, 40, as his running mate was to help deflect attention from his own age. But Vance, who has a [documented history of hateful comments](https://www.axios.com/2024/08/28/vance-randi-weingarten-childless-cat-ladies) and made something as basic as an [impromptu campaign stop at a Georgia](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jd-vance-blames-staff-viral-donut-shop-visit.html) [doughnut shop](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jd-vance-blames-staff-viral-donut-shop-visit.html) completely cringeworthy, has been less of an asset and more of a liability for Trump. Of course, there are so many reasons to fear four more years of Trump, the only president to incite a deadly insurrection because he lost an election, his age — or the possible mental ravages from it — seem to pale in comparison. With his [poll numbers dipping](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/09/03/poll-dems-boosted-gop-shaken-as-harris-trump-race-is-joined/74995919007/), Trump’s desperation is spiraling. With an Election Day whose arrival can be counted in weeks instead of months, Trump is saying whatever he deems necessary to garner both media attention and the loyalty of his base. At a recent summit for the far-right group [Moms for Liberty](https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-08-31/trump-questions-acceptance-of-transgender-people-as-he-courts-his-base-at-moms-for-liberty-gathering), Trump assailed gender-affirming health care and said the country is being “poisoned” by immigrants who are “taking disease” into classrooms. His supposed [flip-flop on abortion access](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-many-abortion-positions-timeline-rcna146601) and a [pledge to make IVF treatments free](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-wants-make-ivf-treatments-paid-government-insurance-compani-rcna168804) was pathetic and phony. It was nothing more than Trump, who says that he’s [“proud”](https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-says-hes-proud-of-role-in-overturning-roe-v-wade/) of his role in helping to scuttle nearly a half-century of reproductive health care, attempting to look less extreme on an issue that has been a Republican albatross since the conservative-led Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump’s geyser of lies never runs dry. The more he senses that his election chances may be slipping away, his errant behavior, promises, and comments will break all records for outrageousness. That seems less a product of his age than the moral decay that has defined his life. By comparison, 78 ain’t nothing but a number. But there are other numbers connected to this election that are far more important for voters to consider — Trump’s conviction on 34 felonies; that [abortion will be on the ballot in 10 states](https://19thnews.org/2023/12/abortion-states-election-2024-ballot-measures/); and a pathway to the 270 Electoral College votes Harris will need to save this nation from the dystopia of another Trump presidency. * Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at [renee.graham@globe.com](mailto:renee.graham@globe.com). #### Globe Opinion Columnists * - [A marathon run powered by love, loss, and community](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/09/opinion/boston-marathon-grief/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) - [Renée Graham](https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/columnist/renee-graham/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) [Trump is saying it loud and clear: He is willing to commit war crimes](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/07/opinion/trump-iran-war-crimes/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) - [Jeff Jacoby](https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/columnist/jeff-jacoby/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) [A libel as old as the Pyramids](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/01/opinion/jews-wars-libel/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) - [Kimberly Atkins Stohr](https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/staff/kimberly-atkins-stohr/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) [Sotomayor delivers real-world shade to fellow justice over immigration ruling](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/09/opinion/the-gavel-sonia-sotomayor-brett-kavanaugh/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) - [Rachelle Cohen](https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/staff/rachelle-cohen/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) [Is a guards union lawsuit against DOC just payback time?](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/30/opinion/massachusetts-guards-union-lawsuit-doc/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) - [Shira Schoenberg](https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/staff/shira-schoenberg/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) [Why don’t Newton’s most disabled schoolchildren have an accessible playground?](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/08/opinion/newton-reflections-school-disabilities-accessible-playground/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) - [Marcela García](https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/columnist/marcela-garcia/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery) [At Boston’s Dominican parade and festival, fear lingers but joy wins](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/19/opinion/bostons-dominican-parade-festival-fear-lingers-joy-wins/?p1=Article_Feed_AuthorQuery)
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