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Ageism, yay!
If the aim is to ensure that a person has a sufficient amount of life experience, that correlates exactly with age. That makes a minimum age requirement reasonable.
Of course the quality of experience is different for everyone. That's what voting is for. And we have a lower (minimum) threshold for the quantity of experience.
On the other hand, someone being 81 years old does not necessarily mean that they are experiencing mental or physical decline to a degree which should disqualify them from office. OP opened with:
I want to be clear that that's what I am a bit rankled by. I'm definitely not trying to get in an Internet Fight™ with you. We're having a respectful and reasoned debate, and I definitely see your points.
There's nothing at all wrong with voting based on how you feel someone will bring their own quality of experience to bear on political leadership. As above, that's what voting is for. But the rise of fascism in America, along with our voting procedures (FPTP, electoral college, gerrymandering, voter suppression) means that voting solely on that basis can have unintended consequences.
The right wing in American politics has been artificially propped up by the structures around elections since day one, and the left wing has been suppressed. Those structures still exist, and we need to loudly express our political will to change them - and take the right wing thumb off the scales. And we have to do that while government still functions. It's like rebuilding an engine while the car is driving down the interstate.
Would you say that Trump's life experience qualified him for the job?
Amount, quantity. Not quality.
Do you think that the quantity of Trump's experience qualifies him for the job?
One must be at least 35 years old to qualify for the office of president. Trump meets that qualification. There are others, most notably the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which, in a sane world, would disqualify him.
But I suspect that you're using the word "qualifies" in a colloquial sense, and not a legal one. Donald Trump is a fascist, and since fascism is in direct contradiction to democracy, no, I do not believe that Donald Trump is colloquially qualified to be president.
But at least he's not some wet behind the ears 34 year old. That would be the real nightmare scenario.
If you're spoiling for a fight, you'll need to find it elsewhere.
Well, it's not like the ageist policy that perpetuates the existing gerontocracy is going away without a constitutional amendment anyway.