Tag: senility

Joe Biden: The Latest Elderly Politician Who Refuses To Retire

By now, any interested person with an internet connection has seen President Joe Biden’s uncomfortably poor showing in his first debate against former President Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential campaign season. Contrary to assurances that, behind closed doors, Biden is as sharp and lucid as ever, the president appeared frail and struggled to even make his most basic points for most of the 90-minute debate, renewing concerns about his age and mental fitness. Much of the ensuing news coverage involves the possibility of Democrats replacing Biden on the ticket in November.

But whatever ultimately happens between now and the election—or even between now and the Democratic National Convention in August—Biden had every opportunity to avoid this outcome and declined to do so. It’s indicative of a trend among lawmakers that he instead opted to cling to power for a little longer.

In March 2020, as he sought the Democratic Party’s nomination, Biden campaigned in Michigan with Sens. Kamala Harris (D–Calif.) and Cory Booker (D–N.J.). Each had recently exited the primary and endorsed Biden, and at a Detroit campaign rally, he delivered a message both to them and to voters.

“Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” he said. “There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.” Weeks later, he said, “I view myself as a transition candidate” for other “people on the bench that are ready to go in.”

In each case, Biden seemed to indicate that he only intended to serve one term. There had been murmurs for some time that this was his plan: Politico reported in December 2019 that privately, Biden was “indicating that he will almost certainly not run for a second term while declining to make a promise that he and his advisers fear could turn him into a lame duck and sap him of his political capital.” (Later the same day, Biden denied making any such determination.) Carl Bernstein even said in 2015 that Biden was considering a one-term run in 2016, due to concerns about his age.

But if it were ever Biden’s intention to win in 2020, evict Trump from the White House, and step aside to make way for the next generation of leaders, that’s not what happened. Biden announced his bid for reelection on April 25, 2023; the same day, FiveThirtyEight had Biden’s approval numbers nearly 11 points underwater, and he has not been net positive since August 2021.

Why not step aside and make way for Biden’s vaunted bench, whom he called “the future of this country?” Democrats have seemingly spent no time even considering other candidates. The most obvious contender, literally waiting in the wings, would be Vice President Kamala Harris—who, as Reason‘s Elizabeth Nolan Brown has detailed, would be a different sort of disaster, both as a candidate and as a potential president. Before he announced his bid for reelection, Semafor‘s David Weigel wrote of “the great paradox of 2024: Most Democrats say they want an alternative to Biden, but no alternative they’re happy with wants to run.”

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They Knew

Rarely are so many lies dispelled in a single moment. Rarely are so many people exposed as liars and sycophants. Last night’s debate was a watershed on both counts.

The debate was not just a catastrophe for President Biden. And boy—oy—was it ever.

But it was more than that. It was a catastrophe for an entire class of experts, journalists, and pundits, who have, since 2020, insisted that Biden was sharp as a tack, on top of his game, basically doing handstands while peppering his staff with tough questions about care for migrant children and aid to Ukraine.

Anyone who committed the sin of using their own eyes on the 46th president was accused, variously, of being Trumpers; MAGA cult members who don’t want American democracy to survive; ageists; or just dummies easily duped by “disinformation,” “misinformation,” “fake news,” and, most recently, “cheapfakes.”

Cast your mind back to February, when Robert Hur, the special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice to look into Biden’s handling of classified documents, came out with his report that included details about Biden’s health, which explained why he would not prosecute the president.

“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote. “It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him—by then a former president well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

Can anyone doubt that characterization after watching Biden’s debate performance? 

Yet Eric Holder told us that Hur’s remarks were “gratuitous.” The former attorney general tweeted: “Had this report been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised.” Dan Pfeiffer, a former Obama adviser, said Hur’s report was a “partisan hit job.” Vice President Kamala Harris argued: “The way that the president’s demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts, and clearly politically motivated, gratuitous.” The report does not “live in reality,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, stressing that the president was “sharp” and “on top of things.” 

Shall I go on? Okay.

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CNN Reporter Says Top Democrats Are Right Now Plotting to Replace Biden 

Following Trump and Biden’s long anticipated debate, CNN reporter John King revealed Democrat donors and elected officials are panicking after Biden’s “abysmal” debate performance.

During CNN’s post-debate show, John King stated, “Right now, as we speak, there is a deep, wide, and very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party.”

King continued, “It started minutes into the debate, and it continues right now. It involves party strategists, It involves elected officials, it involves fundraisers, and they are having conversations about the president’s performance.”

Some of those conversations include: “Should we go to the White House and ask the president to step aside?” Others of the conversations are about “Should prominent Democrats go public with that call?” added King.

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WHAT?! Biden Claims Young Women Are Being Raped by Their In-Laws and Sisters During Debate

During the CNN presidential debate, Joe Biden argued that abortion needs to remain legal because “lots of people are raped by their in-laws, by their spouses, brothers and sisters.”

CNN moderator Dana Bash appeared to help him by interjecting and saying “Thank you,” so he did not continue his train of thought.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene brought up that his daughter Ashley Biden wrote in her diary that she had taken inappropriate showers with her father growing up and was concerned she may have been molested.

The diary was publicly released after it was obtained by the National File.

“Raped by in-laws? Did he mean their grandfather or father? Can someone ask Ashley Biden?” Greene wrote in a post on X.

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Biden’s ‘Car Crash’ Debate Performance Sparks Calls From Democrats for Him to Step Down

Joe Biden immediately faced calls from Democrats to drop out of the Presidential race following his catastrophic debate with Donald Trump last night, but the 81 year-old insisted he would go on. The Mail has more.

Biden’s campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt declared early this morning: “Of course he’s not dropping out.”

But a torrent of his own party members and strategists are clamouring for their aged President to throw in the towel off the back of the car-crash debate, with one anonymous Democrat telling NBC it was “time to talk about an open convention and a new Democratic nominee”.

“Biden is about to face a crescendo of calls to step aside,” one Biden-backing strategist told the New York Times, while another Democrat put it even more flatly to the Washington Post.

“We’re so f***ed,” he said. “He has great material. He just cannot deliver a single line.”

David Plouffe – a Democratic strategist who worked on Barack Obama‘s 2008 campaign – told MSNBC Biden’s showing was “kind of a DEFCON1 moment” – a reference to the highest alert level used by America’s defence community. 

Plouffe also remarked that Trump and Biden looked “30 years apart”, despite an age gap of just three years between them.

One political analyst summed it up in the hours following the torturous 90-minute ordeal: “There’s going to be a lot of bedwetting (among Democrats) tonight.”

Trump meanwhile was seen contorting his face in shock and derision at Biden’s confused meandering and frequent gaffes in the debate, at one point telling millions of Americans watching at home: “I really don’t know what he [Biden] just said. He’s not equipped to be President. You know it and I know it.”

Worth reading in full.

The Telegraph‘s Tim Stanley quips that “this wasn’t a debate, it was a medical emergency… Never mind, will he last four years? The audience wasn’t sure he’d last 90 minutes.”

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Karine Jean-Pierre doubles down on awkward videos of Biden being ‘cheap fakes’ and insists clips are ‘disinformation’ from conservatives

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre continues to say President Biden is being miscast by videos she calls ‘cheap fakes’ after repeated videos of him being guided by other leaders or briefly ‘freezing’ on stage.

She hammered the media and blamed Republicans for attacks she called ‘misinformation.’ She did not repeat the use of another term – ‘deepfakes’ – that she used at her Monday White House briefing.

That is a form of digital altering of video an images, which the White House and Biden backers have not established took place with video from him at the G7 in Italy, at a White House Juneteenth event, or at an LA fundraiser.

‘It’s also very insulting to the folks, the viewers who are watching it. And so we believe we have to call that out. We’ve been calling it cheap fakes. That is something that came directly from the media outlets in calling it that, the fact-checkers and calling it that. And so we’re certainly going to be really, really clear about that as well. And calling it out from where we are, from where we stand,’ she said.

Then she specifically took on some of the Biden incidents that have drawn notice – including one of him walking away from a group of world leaders at the G7 in Italy, only to be guided back to a photo-op by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. 

‘I think there is so much misinformation, disinformation as we’ve been talking about. You talked about the video of the president wandering. And it’s not true. Right? The president wasn’t wandering. He was talking to a parachuter that was right in front of him. And what you saw is the Republican Party really manipulating what was being said and what was being seen by the American people,’ she said.

On Monday at her White House press briefing, Jean-Pierre told DailyMail.com that former President Barack Obama‘s decision to guide Biden after a big bucks fundraiser was a function of their longstanding relationship. 

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Biden Mockingly Mimics Reporters Trying To Ask Questions

In now viral footage, Joe Biden was seen Monday sardonically mimicking reporters with an outburst as they attempted to ask him questions.

Biden had been meeting with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of NATO in the Oval Office and press were allowed to take video and photos.

As Biden’s handlers then forced the reporters out of the room, and they began shouting questions, Biden blurted out noises back at them and started laughing.

Incredible. 

When Trump called CNN’s Jim Acosta ‘fake news’ and the media in general ‘the enemy of the people’, it was all over leftist talks shows for literally years, but this open mocking of reporters who Biden hasn’t spoken to meaningfully for months is somehow unworthy of attention?

He also does this all the time.

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THE IRONY! Dementia-Ridden Joe Biden Just Proclaimed ‘World Elder Abuse Awareness Day’

Joe Biden just made an announcement that is extremely close to his heart.

The 81-year-old, who is becoming more confused and demented with every passing day, has proclaimed June 15th as “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.”

The White House wrote in a statement:

Older Americans are the heart and soul of our families, our communities, and our Nation.  But every year, up to five million older Americans face some form of abuse.  Around the world, too many are denied the opportunity to age with dignity and security.

During World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, we recommit to standing with elder abuse survivors, shedding light on this important issue, and creating a world in which no older person has to live in fear of violence, abuse, or neglect.

…

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 15, 2024, as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

I encourage all Americans to be diligent; work together to strengthen existing partnerships; and develop new opportunities to improve our Nation’s prevention of and response to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

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G7 Dignitaries Say Biden Was “Losing Focus”; “Worst He’s Ever Been”

A report quoting insiders at the G7 summit this past week has warned that Joe Biden struggled to focus at the meeting of world leaders in Puglia, Italy. 

According to one source, Biden is “the worst he’s ever been,” with attendees from other delegations saying it was “embarrassing.”

As we highlighted, Biden was seen wandering off like a dementia patient and looking perpetually confused.

The footage of Biden prompted mocking headlines. 

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Joe Biden’s Time Interview Should Set Off Alarms

On May 28, U.S. President Joe Biden gave an interview to Time. His delivery and content were concerning for a number of reasons. Biden, at times, seemed misinformed and detached from reality. Sometimes, he seemed off message; other times, he seemed convinced by his own talking points. But four answers he gave were especially alarming and deserve to be highlighted.

The first was Biden’s assertion that America is “the world power.” The truth of that claim can be debated, but making that claim is deaf to the changes taking place in the world. Much of the world is angry at the United States for substituting leadership in the global community of international law with the imposition of an inconsistent and hypocritical rules-based order.

If the United States is still the world power, then a multipolar world that includes a rapidly growing BRICS+ and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is closer and closer on its heels. Biden seems not to have noticed what his CIA director has: that the world is in one of “those times of transition that come along a couple of times a century. Today the United States still has a better hand to play than any of our rivals, but it is no longer the only big kid on the geopolitical bloc. And our position at the head of the table isn’t guaranteed.”

In a disturbing defense of his claim, Biden said that “the reason why I cleared the intelligence so we can release the information we knew that [Putin] was going to attack, was to let the world know we were still in charge. We still know what’s going on.”

It is disturbing that Biden says that he released the intelligence, not to alert and protect Ukraine or to prevent war, but “to let the world know we were still in charge.” It is also disturbing that the United States had that intelligence, and knew Ukraine was about to be attacked, but did nothing to prevent it. Hawkishly, they could have massively armed Ukraine prior to the invasion. More rationally and responsibly, they could have seriously engaged Vladimir Putin on Russia’s December 2021 proposal on security guarantees and discussed a promise that Ukraine would not be invited into NATO. Sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko of Freie University in Berlin remarks that the United States failing to act on that intelligence in either of those ways “looks sort of strange, and of course very tragic for Ukraine.” It is disturbing that the U.S. impotently released the intelligence, not to prevent war and protect Ukraine, but to show the world that they are still “the world power.”

The second is Biden’s insistence that Putin has clearly stated his intention not to stop at Ukraine but to “reestablish the Soviet Union.” He pulled out a copy of Putin’s February 21, 2022 speech, repeatedly mocking his interviewers, “You probably haven’t read it.” But as Biden explains it to them, and summarizes it as saying “Ukraine is not a neighboring country” but “an inalienable part” of Russia, it begins to sound like Biden has not read the speech, which is highly critical of the Soviet Union.

Discussing the “critical” stage “the situation in Donbas has reached,” Putin references the closeness of the people of Donbas not to justify integrating or conquering them but to justify protecting them. If Biden has read the speech, it must have been a heavily redacted version. As Nicolai Petro, author of The Tragedy of Ukraine, pointed out to me, Biden selectively quotes from the speech while leaving much of contextual importance out.

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