A White House staffer who has worked closely with President Joe Biden for years has revealed how the commander-in-chief’s mental acuity has apparently diminished.
The senior White House official who worked with Biden during his presidency, vice presidency and 2020 campaign He told the New York Times He no longer believes the 81-year-old has what it takes to defeat Trump.
The official, who asked not to be identified so he could speak openly, said the president has shown increasing signs of his age in recent months, speaking more slowly, haltingly and in a soft voice.
Biden has also appeared more fatigued in private, the staffer said, concluding that he should not continue seeking reelection.
Others in Biden’s inner circle have noticed that he seems to trail off mid-sentence and freeze in public.
A senior White House official who has worked with President Joe Biden for years revealed how the president’s mental acuity has been declining in private
The White House staffer concluded that the president should not seek re-election.
Last month, the president apparently froze during a Juneteenth celebration at the White House.
Was seen staring into space as Vice President Kamala Harris danced beside him. In a speech at the event, he also appeared to slur his words.
Less than a week later, Biden again abruptly stopped at a fundraising event in Los Angeles, staring into the crowd for several seconds.
But a White House representative dismissed reports of a frozen reaction on DailyMail.com as “fakes” and “lies”, explaining that his reaction was simply “watching a crowd applaud for a few seconds”.
In more recent days, donors were stunned when Biden described a French cemetery in Normandy as “Italian” at a fundraiser in the Hamptons. According to confidential sources told the Washington Post.
When Biden later appeared at the New Jersey governor’s private villa, sources said he spoke so softly that a crowd of 50 people had to crane their necks to hear him speak from a teleprompter.
Then on Thursday, Biden seemingly mingled with his vice president, Kamala Harris, in an interview with Philadelphia’s WURD.
“By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, the first black woman… to serve under a black president,” she said, confused.
Biden walked away during a parachute demonstration at the annual G7 meeting hosted by the Italian prime minister.
“I’m proud to be the first black woman on the Supreme Court. There’s a lot we can do because, look… we’re the United States of America.”
He appeared to be highlighting his appointment of Kamala Harris as the first black vice president of the United States.
But Biden himself was previously vice president, and that’s likely what he meant when he said “serving under a black president.”
Even politicians in other countries have apparently noticed the American president’s mental problems.
Last month, Biden walked away during a parachute demonstration at the annual G7 meeting hosted by the Italian prime minister.
He then skipped an important dinner as Italian media reported that Biden I was tired’ after a day full of events.
Three French officials who helped organize Biden’s visit to France said their American counterparts’ reactions to the options offered for a state visit in Paris and the D-Day commemorations in Normandy led them to believe the president’s health must be fragile.
They were told the president needed some time to rest and felt Biden’s entourage was very protective of him.
Biden’s advisers have been trying to limit President Biden’s stumbles on the air for years
Aides have shortened the length of the ladder leading up to Air Force One after a series of falls
For years, White House aides have been trying to reduce the president’s midair stumbles by shortening the length of the stairs to board Air Force One and having a Secret Service agent stand at the bottom of the stairs as an extra precaution.
His aides have also built recovery periods into their schedules: long weekends or extended stays in his home state of Delaware or at the presidential retreat at Camp David.
Biden’s public interactions, especially those with reporters, have even been greatly reduced under a tenure led by one of his top advisers, Anita Dunn.
At the same time, Biden’s advisers have maintained that the president is in optimal condition, both physically and mentally, and will be able to effectively serve another term until 2028, when he would be 86 years old.
Medical experts have suggested the president may have Parkinson’s.
But medical experts have suggested Biden’s constant freezing could be a sign of Parkinson’s, which can also lead to thinking difficulties and cognitive problems, as well as depression and anxiety.
Each year, more than 90,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with this disease, most of whom are men over age 60.
While symptoms such as tremors are well known, Parkinson’s disease can also cause stiffness and problems moving the limbs and face, as well as slurred speech
It is also known to cause cognitive decline, affecting memory, concentration and even mood.
Symptoms of the disease worsen over time and there is no cure. The disease itself is not fatal, but patients can die from complications such as pneumonia, heart disease, falls, choking or urinary tract infections.
However, neither Biden nor anyone on his team has proposed or confirmed that he has the condition.
Meanwhile, concerns about his age and mental acuity grew after he put in an abysmal performance in the CNN debate last week.
At times he fell silent mid-sentence and gaped as Trump spoke.
After the debate ended, Biden was seen standing around his podium before first lady Jill Biden eventually escorted him off the stage.
Biden gave ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos a torrent of 107 meaningless words when asked to explain his disastrous performance in a debate against former President Donald Trump.
The president later blamed “exhaustion” and being “sick” for his debate performance, even claiming that he had to take a COVID test before the debate, he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in a one-on-one interview.
“The whole preparation process was nobody’s fault, it was my fault. The fault is nobody’s but mine,” the president said, before launching into a confusing explanation.
“I prepared what I would normally do, when I would go back to foreign leaders or the National Security Council to get explicit details. And I realized, halfway through, you know, that everyone… I was quoted in the New York Times as having given me ten points before the debate, nine now, or whatever.
“The fact is, from what I saw, he lied 28 times, too,” he said of Trump.
“I couldn’t, I mean, the way the debate went, it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t anybody else’s fault, it wasn’t anybody else’s fault,” he continued.
But Biden’s performance in the interview once again failed to convince even those in his own party that he has the mental toughness to last four more years.
Words like “heartbroken,” “doomed” and “damn mess” were used by more than half a dozen congressional Democrats. According to NBC.
At least five Democrats have since called on the president to drop out of the race, and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner is lobbying party members in the upper chamber to oust Biden as the presidential nominee in favor of a younger candidate.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is also gathering top Democrats to discuss the matter in a Zoom meeting on Sunday. Political reports.
However, Democrats have admitted that it would be difficult for another candidate to secure the nomination this year and if Biden does not agree to step aside, the prospects become essentially impossible.
Delegates were selected in a June 22 selection process and were chosen on a state-by-state basis to represent support for the president in the nomination process.
There are 43,933 Democratic delegates pledged for 2024, and to win the presidential nomination a candidate must obtain a majority of them, estimated at 1,968 this year.
Under Democratic Party rules, delegates are “pledged” to a candidate, meaning they “shall conscientiously reflect” the views of those who elected them.
There is no official penalty if a delegate votes differently, but if a Biden delegate simply sits out the first round of voting rather than back the president, their vote won’t count for anyone.