Trump marks 80th birthday, now second octogenarian sitting president: 'Seemed to utterly defy age'
President Donald Trump turned 80 on Sunday, becoming only the second sitting U.S. president to reach octogenarian status in the Oval Office, leaving even his onetime political opponents marveling at his defying the effects of Father Time – even if his critics continue to share concerns they never had with the older former President Joe Biden, now 83.
"You don't have to wish me a happy birthday, because I'm not happy about that birthday that I'm having," Trump joked with Dr. Mehmet Oz, 66, in an Oval Office video shared Thursday on Instagram. "It's a number I haven't thought too much about.
"It's not a number I like, but I'm here nevertheless."
Trump's White House is celebrating his keeping up the fight with an Ultimate Fighting Championship on the South Lawn.
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"At least to date, he has seemed to utterly defy age," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The 55-year-old Cruz was a target of Trump's political fire a decade ago on the opposite side of the Republican presidential primary race.
"I don’t know where he gets the energy that he displays, but he is up early in the morning and late at night," Cruz added.
Trump, born June 14, 1946, in Queens, New York, crossed the threshold previously reached by Biden, who turned 80 in 2022 while serving in the White House. Trump was already the oldest president ever sworn into office when he began his second term in January 2025 at age 78.
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"He has gained in stamina as he has gotten older," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 82, said recently.
Unlike Biden, whose age and mental acuity became a central political liability before he left office, Trump and his allies have repeatedly pointed to the president’s busy public schedule, frequent media appearances and hands-on governing style as evidence that he remains active and engaged.
Trump hailed his latest physical by White House Dr. Sean Barbabella declaring him to be in "exceptional" health and his cardiac age being "approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age."
"They said I'm very healthy," Trump told "Pod Force One with Miranda Devine" earlier this month, saying he has "an obligation" to give periodic cognitive reports on his mental acuity after Biden's administration.
"I took a test and cognitive test and I got 100% on it. I got as the expression goes: I aced it. And the doctors told me it's very, very few people can ace. That's actually a tough test."
Trump noted Biden was able to skirt potential prosecution for retention of classified documents because special counsel Robert Hur declared Biden to be a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
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"I have a great memory," Trump told Devine. "Look, so far so good. I hope I'm going to keep it that way.
"If I don't, you'll be the first to know. You'll say [after] this interview: 'This isn't the same Trump; I think he's lost it.'"
The White House has also sought to bolster that message with medical updates. Trump’s physician said the president remains in "excellent health" and "fully fit" to carry out the duties of commander-in-chief.
"Unlike other U.S. Presidents, none of whom have ever taken an approved, high difficulty, Cognitive Test, I scored a perfect 30 out of 30, considered 'extreme intelligence,'" the post began.
"Are the Dumocrats really surprised?"
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Trump has long cast his stamina as a political asset, regularly contrasting his pace and public visibility with Biden’s more limited appearances during his presidency. Supporters say the difference is clear: Trump remains outspoken, combative and highly visible as he enters his ninth decade.
Some Democrats have seized on images of Trump's bruising of his hand and with his eyes closed during meetings and lengthy Cabinet news conferences, which Trump has noted provide unprecedented transparency and access to the administration lasting up to three hours of live back-and-forth.
"That's false: I've never seen him fall asleep," Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 25 years Trump's junior and another one-time target of Trump's political opposition, told a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing this month.
"On the contrary, the guy doesn't sleep, which is a big problem because he calls me at 2 in the morning. He calls me at 5 in the morning. And, you know, I like to sleep a little bit, maybe not 12 hours, but at least six. So he works. The other day he was at the Oval Office until 12:30 a.m.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., 74, rejected age getting in Trump's way like it did for Biden, saying that "just because you’re 80 doesn’t mean you’re falling apart."
Trump’s birthday also arrives during a historically unusual stretch for America’s aging political class. Three baby boomer presidents — Trump, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush — all turn 80 in 2026. The latter two are long removed from active public service.
Trump is not looking to just rest after the UFC fight on the South Lawn on Sunday night. He plans to then travel early Monday to France for the annual G7 summit.