For months many warned Joe Biden was in cognitive decline but the White House said that was the result of “cheap fakes” by right-wing media and Joe’s opponents. In January, former Speaker McCarthy raised concerns that in meetings, Joe spoke so softly some had difficulty hearing him. He read from notes, pausing and closing his eyes for extended periods causing some to wonder if he had “tuned out” (WSJ 6/4/24). This is what America saw last Thursday.
In February, Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report detailed the same claims. That’s why AG Garland won’t release audio tapes of Hur’s interview with Biden. At the same time, Joe’s only real primary challenger, Rep Dean Phillips was skewered for his concerns about Joe’s loss of acuity and refusals by the party to hold debates.
After initial “shock” about Joe’s dismal performance, supporters united with the claim, “but Trump lied and lied.” As talk swirled about donor panic and plans for a replacement, three of Joe’s advisors were blamed. This after the WashPo said aides plotted a debate strategy for months before it fell flat.
Instead of it going away as often these things do, tales of aides claiming Joe is only coherent between 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in Axios suggest “sundowning,” a term for the behavior of those with dementia. Business Insider reports a claim that aides feared evoking Joe’s wrath from bad news in daily briefings, another sign of cognitive decline.
Clever lies are the ones people want to believe and Biden’s team shielded him during the primaries until the mask came off the hoax at the debate. Even the leftist press is crumbling. CNN’s Jake Tapper, hoping to salvage a modicum of his own credibility, blasted Democrats’ Orwellian tactics to convince us to not believe what we saw but it’s hard to erase Joe’s word’s, “We finally beat Medicare.”
Ralph Miller