Geriatric US politics reminder of USSR waning years

On February 25, 1985, Soviet citizens went to the polls for one-party local elections, and as customary, top leaders cast ballots in public.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR Konstantin Chernenko publicly appeared, as was customary for top Soviet leaders, casting a ballot, even if only on live TV. His performance was closely anticipated because he had been out of the public eye for two months.

He was shown at a Kremlin polling station, supposedly. Surrounded by government officials and newspaper photographers, he stood up and leaned on an aide. He looked gaunt. He mumbled a few greetings. Instead of reassuring citizens that the USSR was in sound hands the broadcast created an unsettling stir nationwide: Who, exactly, is in charge of the massive, one-party, nuclear-armed state?

In 2024, the United States, ostensibly an open political system in which such a spectacle could not take place, is facing a similar, if rather drawn-out drama over its leader’s health. A visibly weak and confused President Joe Biden made a bumbling appearance at a debate last month with his political rival, ex-President Donald Trump. Since then, his self-portrait as a capable leader – shared publicly by members of his Democratic Party and favorable media stories – has fallen apart.

He is under siege by erstwhile backers who want him replaced in the election.

The parallel between the Biden situation and enfeebled Soviet leaders of the 1980s – Chernenko was the last of three sickly top officials who died in office – has brought on comparisons with the decaying USSR.

Four years ago, Princeton University historian Harold James penned an essay entitled “Late Soviet America,” in which he described the US under Trump as being in