Even before President Joe Biden took office, there were concerns among many about his age and apparent cognitive difficulties. While Democrats and their close friends and allies in the activist media pooh-poohed such worries, it remained obvious that something wasn’t quite right with the president.
Apparently, at least some of the people around Biden have similar views, according to an upcoming book about his presidency. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wasn’t happy when Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy brought up the issue during a recent press conference. In addition to sputtering when pressed on Biden's dismissive comments regarding East Palestine, Jean-Pierre got downright snippy when asked about the president's treatment by staff:
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre bristled when questioned Tuesday on Democrat voters' views on President Biden's age and claims from an upcoming book that administration staff treat him "like a toddler."
"President Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history. Why does White House staff treat him like a baby?" Fox News' Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre during the daily White House press briefing.
"No one treats the president of the United States, the commander in chief, like a baby. That's ridiculous. It's a ridiculous claim," Jean-Pierre responded.
Doocy cited an upcoming book by The Atlantic's Franklin Foer, "The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future," in which the author writes that Biden, after appearing to call for regime change in Russia in March 2022, "fumed to friends about how he was treated like a toddler."
"Was John Kennedy ever babied like that?" Biden asked, according to the book.
Jean-Pierre tried to downplay the comments in the book, channeling Tom Jones and claiming it is “not unusual” that authors write books about presidents featuring “a variety of claims.”
"That is not unusual. That happens all the time. And we're not going to litigate those here. That's something that we're not going to speak to," she retorted, also claiming that the excerpt from the book is highlighting “how the value of [Biden’s] experience and wisdom resulting in rallying the free world against authoritarianism.”
In other news, sources confirm that Jean-Pierre plans to start a career in stand-up comedy as a side gig. Alright, I made that part up, but given the hilarity of that last comment, it would probably be a good idea, wouldn’t it?
The press secretary’s assurance won’t do much to mitigate concerns about Biden’s age and mental acuity, according to the data. Several polls have shown that the public – including Democratic voters – are worried about this issue:
Yet here’s the bad news for the president: 68% of all voters say they have concerns about Biden having the necessary mental and physical health to be president, including 55% who say they have “major” concerns.
By comparison, 55% of voters say they have concerns about Trump’s mental and physical health, including 44% who have “major” concerns.
What also stands out is how concerns about Biden’s mental and physical fitness have grown since we last asked this question in Oct. 2020 — when 51% of voters said they had concerns, with 38% having “major” concerns.
And check out these numbers: In 2020, 21% of Democrats said they had moderate/major concerns about Biden’s fitness. Now it’s 43% of Dems who say this.
That’s almost half of Democratic voters.
The phrase “age ain’t nothing but a number” does not seem to apply when it comes to the so-called leader of the free world. Despite Jean-Pierre’s protestations, everyone can clearly see that Biden’s age is an issue, which is why such a large percentage of people have reservations about having him in the White House. This isn’t an issue that can be ignored if he wishes to serve another term in office.