I don't think it's popular media, I think it's the boomer generation (not the whole generation but those in positions of power). In my estimation and experience, there has been a severe lack of training the next generation and handing off the reins of power. Be it a middle management position, a leadership position in local government, or leadership positions in political parties. We have had a generation of leaders who took the reins and then either never trained their replacement or they did but held onto the reins for so long that replacement has aged out or left for another opportunity/path.

So here we stand, with our leaders entering the high positions of power well after they should have retired. In the president's case, his first run for the presidency was 32 years before he eventually won it in 2020. That spacing is the bulk of most people's working life.