The Libertarian Party is moving to file for conservatorships for President Biden and Senator McConnell, saying their age and “mental confusion” make them unfit to serve in public office and control the nation’s purse strings.

The chairwoman of America’s third-largest political party, Angela McArdle, tells the Sun the Libertarian National Committee is consulting with attorneys and is planning to file petitions for conservatorship in the next two weeks. A copy of the Libertarian National Committee’s conservatorship petition for Mr. Biden, shared with the Sun, cites the president’s “obvious signs of mental confusion and cognitive decline.”

Mr. Biden is 80 years old and already the oldest president ever to serve. If he wins re-election, he will be 86 by the end of his second term — beyond the life expectancy of American men.

Mr. Biden’s stumbles in public, most recently at a press conference in Vietnam Sunday, are raising concerns, even among members of his own party. After being asked about his meeting with the premier of Communist China, Mr. Biden was abruptly cut off by a staffer who declared the press conference over. “I’m going to go to bed,” the president said before shuffling off stage.

Nearly 80 percent of Americans, including 69 percent of Democrats, say Mr. Biden is “too old” for another term as president, according to an AP-Norc poll. On Tuesday, at a memorial for September 11, Mr. Biden erroneously said he visited ground zero the day after the World Trade Center attacks. Records show he was at Washington, D.C., at the time. 

“He wanders around confused, stumbles over his words, and has incurred $4.8 trillion in debt since taking office,” the Libertarian National Committee’s conservatorship petition states. “The subject has also involved us in an unwinnable war.”

Concern over Mr. McConnell’s age and health has also grown in recent months, especially after Mr. McConnell froze in two separate incidents while taking questions from reporters. Mr. McConnell is 81 years old and has served in the Senate since 1985.

“We want to send a message to other political parties and candidates and super PACs that we don’t think it’s a good idea to put up someone who’s not mentally well enough to stay home alone by themselves,” Ms. McArdle tells the Sun. “There are too many politicians who are in that state right now — Diane Feinstein; Nancy Pelosi is getting up there in years as well; John Fetterman, who is not old but he’s a literal stroke victim.”

“Anybody who thinks that filing for a conservatorship over the president is a joke, I would ask you to take a step back and look how bad he’s performing,” Ms. McArdle says. “D.C. law says that a corporation can fill in for a conservatorship, so we might as well make the argument and give it a shot.”

Americans may not be clamoring for a conservatorship for their president, but they are concerned about the ages of their political leaders. A CBS News-YouGov poll finds that 77 percent of Americans think there should be age limits for politicians and that “after they reach a certain age, they are not permitted to hold office any longer.”

These opinions cut across partisan lines. Ms. McArdle, too, says that this is not a partisan issue, which is why the Libertarian Party is filing for conservatorships for both a Republican and a Democrat.

This is also not a problem exclusive to Messrs. Biden and McConnell, she says. Senator Feinstein is 90 years old and has given over power of attorney to her daughter, though she still represents Californians in the Senate. President Trump is 77 years old. The median age of members of the Senate is over 65, according to Pew. A Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, has called for mental competency tests for candidates over 75 years of age.

While many in the Libertarian Party responded to a tweet about the petitions for conservatorship with applause and laughter, some in the party think it’s a waste of time and, potentially, resources. The chairman of the Libertarian Party’s Classical Liberal Caucus, which competes with Ms. McArdle’s Mises Caucus for control of the party, Jonathan Casey, tells the Sun this is “a political stunt to get attention.”

“I’d hope that they do not waste resources on what’s clearly just a political stunt,” Mr. Casey says.

The likelihood of these petitions for conservatorship being granted is beyond slim, but Ms. McArdle insists the move is no joke. “We’re not interested in treating [Mr. Biden] like Britney Spears and locking them up … but we are interested in stopping him from doing more harm to this country financially,” she says. “One of the most insulting and infuriating things in American politics is the financial tyranny inflicted upon us by the geriatric elites.”