By It can now be told. Joe Biden is, in fact, a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
A new report by The Wall Street Journal has revealed that the Biden administration navigated a complex array of challenges, balancing governance, public perception, and the practical demands of leadership on an elderly president. Insights from interviews with Democratic lawmakers, donors, and former aides reveal a presidency shaped by the tension between ambitious goals and the realities of leading as the oldest president in U.S. history.
According to The Journal, Joe Biden’s senior staff appears to have deployed pandemic-related precautions as a way to cover up for a president who is not cognitively up to the task of the job.
To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, they told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members—including powerful secretaries such as Defense’s Lloyd Austin and Treasury’s Janet Yellen—were infrequent or grew less frequent. Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president’s ear at key moments, including ahead of the U.S.’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.
Senior advisers were often put into roles that some administration officials and lawmakers thought Biden should occupy, with people such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, senior counselor Steve Ricchetti and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard and her predecessor frequently in the position of being go-betweens for the president.
Press aides who compiled packages of news clips for Biden were told by senior staff to exclude negative stories about the president. The president wasn’t talking to his own pollsters as surveys showed him trailing in the 2024 race.
Throughout his presidency, a small group of aides stuck close to Biden to assist him, especially when traveling or speaking to the public. “They body him to such a high degree,” a person who witnessed it said, adding that the “hand holding” is unlike anything other recent presidents have had.
It wasn’t “cheap fakes,” after all.
Biden’s age and health became increasingly apparent to his closest advisers during his presidency, the newspaper explained. His preparation for meetings and public events required more intensive effort, with fluctuations in energy and occasional memory lapses raising questions. Staff provided detailed step-by-step guidance for public appearances, and a voice coach was hired to improve his delivery. A particularly notable moment came during a June 2024 debate with Donald Trump, where Biden’s performance drew widespread scrutiny and intensified concerns about his cognitive abilities. This moment prompted a reorganization of the Democratic ticket, with Vice President Kamala Harris stepping in as the nominee.
Some context here.
Spring 2021: Biden officials cancel his national security meetings based on whether he’s having a “good day” or a “bad day” (WSJ)
August 2021: Cillizza CNN analysis says GOP questions about Biden’s fitness are “gross, lowest-common-denominator politics” https://t.co/oYGRleDDPv pic.twitter.com/HDNW7vSH00
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) December 19, 2024
Following his report, the special counsel Robert Hur was ruthlessly attacked by Democrats who lied about the state of the president’s mental fitness, and no one did it more than Vice President Kamala Harris, noted The National Review.
VP Kamala Harris rips the special counsel’s report into President Biden’s handling of classified documents:
“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.” pic.twitter.com/DO1M4ompYs
— The Recount (@therecount) February 9, 2024
Charles Cooke writes, “Look at her. Just look at her. She knew. She was in on it. And yet, despite knowing, and despite being in on it, she said all that. Listen to the righteous indignation she spins up! Listen to her moralistic language! It will never cease to amaze me.
And no, before someone says it, this wasn’t because Biden “deteriorated later on.” The Journal places the start of the decline in 2021. It also confirms that Biden was a mess during the preparations for his meeting with Hur — which apparently took three hours per day for a week:
‘In the fall of 2023, Biden faced a major test when Hur, the special counsel, wanted to interview him. The president wanted to do it, and his top aides felt that his willingness to sit down with investigators set up a favorable contrast with Trump, who stonewalled the probe into why classified documents appeared at Mar-a-Lago, according to people familiar with the sessions.
The prep sessions took about three hours a day for about a week ahead of the interview, according to a person familiar with the preparation. During these sessions, Biden’s energy levels were up and down. He couldn’t recall lines that his team had previously discussed with him, the person said.‘
Astonishing.”
Where does Robert Hur go for his apology?
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