Biden is Mentally Slipping

We have known Biden is slipping behind the scenes. It is notable that his administration will not release the audio of his conversation with the Special Prosecutor nor will Time release the audio of Biden’s interview with Time’s reporter. The campaign has something to hide and it is Joe Biden.

Now, the newspaper that broke the Donald Trump/Stormy Daniels story is breaking the “Biden Shows Signs of Slipping” story. The Wall Street Journal documents conversations with Republicans and Democrats who note Joe Biden is mentally declining.

You’d expect the Republicans to say as much. Democrats are much more guarded and fewer were willing to speak. But they still spoke.

This article is based on interviews with more than 45 people over several months. The interviews were with Republicans and Democrats who either participated in meetings with Biden or were briefed on them contemporaneously, including administration officials and other Democrats who found no fault in the president’s handling of the meetings. Most of those who said Biden performed poorly were Republicans, but some Democrats said that he showed his age in several of the exchanges. 

The White House kept close tabs on some of The Wall Street Journal’s interviews with Democratic lawmakers. After the offices of several Democrats shared with the White House either a recording of an interview or details about what was asked, some of those lawmakers spoke to the Journal a second time and once again emphasized Biden’s strengths. 

“They just, you know, said that I should give you a call back,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, referring to the White House.

Biden does not want to drop out. He has a chip on his shoulder. The whole reason for an end of June debate was not to give him time to drop out, but to give him time to recover from a poor debate showing. But, as I said at the time, the early debate will amplify Democrat distress over Biden if he has a poor performance and that may lead to drastic steps by the Democrats to push him out.

All Donald Trump has to do is let Biden speak on the debate stage. Based on the interviews of, again Democrats, Biden loses his train of thought more and more. When Biden does one of his usual “anyway” verbal tics, Trump just needs to say, “No, no, Joe. Continue your thought.”

Members of the Biden administration offered numerous examples of other situations that they said showed the president was sharp and engaged, including long hours in the Situation Room in April during and after Iran’s missile attack on Israel, and late nights on the phone with lawmakers from his White House residence.

Democrats constantly tell us how sharp Joe Biden is behind the scenes. The problem is the public never sees those moments. Instead, the public sees the public moments where Biden welcomes the presence of people not there, mixes people up, loses his thought mid-sentence, and becomes incoherent.

It is really notable that the White House, now collaborating with the media, will not release the audio of his “lightly edited” conversations and the press corps lacks the intellectual curiosity to make the audio of his special prosecutor interview a big deal.

For all the norms Republicans are accused of shattering, the Democrats and press are shattering all the norms of covering a presidency by working overtime to protect a vegetable from too much coverage.