Less than one month ago – February 8th to be exact – I penned a commentary speculating on President Biden’s ability to complete four years in office. I wondered if the Democrat leaders and the press had not conspired to conceal the extent of Biden’s mental and physical disability as they did with President Roosevelt running for a fourth term. Those around FDR knew he would not survive much beyond his inauguration. He was a dead man walking throughout the campaign. He died three months into his fourth term.
The Covid-19 pandemic gave Biden and his aides the perfect cover. Throughout the campaign, Biden used the pandemic as the explanation for his staying in his basement bunker. He consented to very few one-on-one interviews with the friendliest of the fawning media sycophants.
Even with that limited exposure, there were a few senior moments that were described merely as gaffes or the residual of his youthful stuttering.
In that earlier commentary, I concluded:
“Unless he [Biden] is allowed to move out of his isolation bubble, we may not know the answers to all the questions regarding Biden’s cognitive decline and health at this moment, but there is enough to be seen on the surface to warrant the questions and concerns.”
Based on recent developments, we may be getting answers sooner than we expected. All the questions about Biden’s cognitive function during the campaign were dismissed out-of-hand by the media – shaming individuals for even raising the question.
Since assuming the presidency, Biden has become even more insulated from public exposure. Trump tended to overexpose himself, with press engagements – formal and informal – on a daily basis. Biden, on the other hand, has made the White House his new Bunker.
He issues scripted video messages. He engages with world leaders and others through virtual meetings. These are relatively useless since world leaders are not about to engage in candid or classified conversations over the Internet.
Vice President Kamala Harris is already assuming a role never seen with a vital and capable President in charge.
She is doing the outside appearances, the round of press interviews and the meetings with high level officials. There are also whispers inside and outside of the White House that Chief of Staff Ron Klain is managing Biden on a day-to-day basis – and even making critical policy decisions.
Biden’s personal appearances are rare, brief and orchestrated. He takes very few questions – and most of those are pre-screened. But even with such extremely limited exposure, Biden’s “gaffes” have become more obvious and serious.
On two recent occasions, Biden’s train-of-thought went off the tracks – and he stumbled and mumbled as he tried to find his point. He often has to pull notes out of his coat pocket to get back on track.
There is one such recent incident where Biden was talking about the Covid-19 pandemic.
He could not recall the general number of Covid-19 deaths even though that 500,000 figure was easily recallable by virtually everyone talking about the issue.
Biden got as far as saying “five hundred …,” but then stopped and could not recall the rest. He paused … then said he has a piece of paper. He pulled it out of his coat pocket and stated the number of deaths. Then under his breath he questioned “Where am I?” That probably referred to his place in the speech. But it still showed some incapacity to pick up where he left off.
That was not the first time that Biden had a break in his train-of-thought and needed to pull a note from his pocket. More and more, Biden is showing that he cannot rely on his memory in ways that suggest some mental diminishment.
Let’s be perfectly clear. For the most part, Biden seems quite normal – but that is the nature of such age-related issues. It is just that they become more frequent and obvious as they become more serious. How bad Biden’s cognitive function is impossible to determine from a distance. He would have to take cognitive tests and submit to other diagnostic tools to know for sure.
But anyone who has witnessed such issues in family and friends can safely assume that Biden is showing signs of mental decline.
He should at least undergo those diagnostic tests to either confirm his condition or to dispel the legitimate concerns. We can rest assured that he will not take such tests out of fear that they may prove he has a problem. Not submitting to such tests, however, will only reinforce the suspicions.
The obvious fact of Biden’s diminished schedule and public exposure — and the unprecedented use of surrogates in public appearances and for high-level meetings – will keep the issue alive.
His wife, aides, and the press may continue to protect Biden. Expressions of concern by Republicans and unbiased media can – and will — continue to be ignored. But there is one group that will rat him out. The Democrats’ radical left.
It is a poorly held secret that the far-left extremists in the Democratic Party have been hoping and planning to have Biden ousted from the Oval Office so that Harris can move in. No one would like to see Biden become incapacitated more than people like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of the squad. They are already expressing opposition to Biden’s policies.
Make no mistake about it. Biden’s cognitive function is declining – and that will become more and more obvious month-after-month. It is one of the inevitabilities of old age — a condition that most Americans have seen in loved ones or even themselves.
I once gave Biden only a 50/50 chance of completing his full term. After seeing his most recent senior moments, I would reduce that to about a 30 percent chance.
So, there ‘tis.