President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden wave to the press after they disembark Marine One at Philadelphia International Airport, Saturday, February 3, 2024, before boarding Air Force One en route to Los Angeles. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
There’s a coverup in the White House, and it’s not even about “10% for the Big Guy.” It’s about Joe Biden’s frailty. The coverup was exposed by Biden’s performance in the recent debate with Donald Trump, but anyone who was paying attention knew what was happening long ago. The Wall Street Journal reports on how Biden’s inner circle worked to perpetuate the coverup, writing:
Senior White House advisers for more than a year have aggressively stage-managed President Biden’s schedule, movements and personal interactions, as they sought to minimize signs of how age has taken a toll on the oldest president in U.S. history.
The White House has limited Biden’s daily itinerary and shielded him from impromptu exchanges. Advisers have restricted news conferences and media appearances, twice declining Super Bowl halftime interviews—an easy way to reach millions of voters—and sought to make sure meetings with donors stuck to scripted pleasantries.
Senior aides dismissed travel suggestions over worries the president didn’t have the stamina for them, including an idea for Biden to make weekly cross-country trips in 2022 to tout the benefits of his infrastructure law.
All of this unfolded as Biden’s slips became increasingly obvious, and his top advisers were assuring everyone the president was fine.
When the 81-year-old president took the stage at last month’s debate, his abysmal performance in the 90-minute event stunned members of his party, including some White House staffers who rarely spend one-on-one time with Biden.
Now, many donors and lawmakers say they feel misled by what they say is an effort to tamp down concerns, raised well before the debate, about whether Biden is fit for a second term. Some high-ranking Democrats said they worry that few in the party have the courage to tell Biden face-to-face that he needs to step aside.
News reports about the president’s mental acuity have triggered White House rebukes and denials from Biden’s allies. The offices of Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.) alerted the White House earlier this year when The Wall Street Journal asked questions about Biden’s performance at a January meeting. The president spoke softly, paused for long periods, read from notes to make obvious points and closed his eyes, the Journal reported.
Murray told the Journal in April that she hadn’t seen a change in Biden’s acuity during her years of working with him. “He engages in a very personal way, asking questions,” she said. “He is listening and absorbing.”
On Monday, Murray said in a statement that Biden should consider his legacy in deciding whether to remain in the race: “We need to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate on the campaign trail in the very near future in order for him to convince voters he is up to the job.”
Biden’s team feels Washington is out to get him, and this us-versus-them worldview has led to what some Democrats describe as a bunker mentality, blinding the president and his aides to Biden’s political liabilities.
Read more here.
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