Joe Biden's physical and mental decline over the last several years has been steep and impossible to ignore. If he's not producing an endless stream of embarrassing moments while giving public speeches, he's tripping and falling at such a high rate that his handlers have forced him to start using the short stairs on Air Force One.
According to a new report, that decline is causing tensions to boil over inside the White House. Biden's senior aides and Jill Biden are pushing him to pace himself, but he's not listening.
President Biden's reluctance to acknowledge his physical limitations at age 81 is causing some tension on his team, as senior aides and First Lady Jill Biden push him to rest more and be vigilant about his health going into 2024.
Why it matters: Current and former aides say Biden is extraordinarily energetic for his age. But his repeated insistence that he feels so young can draw eye rolls: Some current and former aides believe Biden doesn't realize how old he can come across.
- In conversations with aides and friends, Biden frequently says some version of: "I feel so much younger than my age."
- Managing Biden's schedule and energy has become crucial to his re-election campaign, given widespread voter concerns about his ability to do the job until January 2029, when he'll be 86.
This is an Axios article so you have to ignore their attempted spin, but the underlying argument going on is what counts. Notice the inherent contradictions in the above excerpt. If Biden is "extraordinarily energetic for his age," yet they are still concerned that a normal workload for a president is too much for him, then he's not that extraordinarily energetic, is he?
The fact that the president appears completely delusional about his condition only makes matters worse. If he's not self-aware enough to realize he's got serious issues, then he's not self-aware enough to make decisions for the most powerful nation on earth.
Zoom in: Current and former Biden aides say he often pushes to do more travel and events than they think he should.
- Biden pushing up against his limits sometimes creates a cycle in which he wears himself out, then appears fatigued during public events — which can increase concerns about his age, even when he's taking on a rigorous schedule.
- "He is his own worst enemy when it comes to his schedule," a former Biden aide said.
Jill Biden and her team are deeply involved in the president's day-to-day schedule.
- She often works to get him as much rest as possible, and to improve his diet.
I have to quibble with the language used above. It's not that Biden "appears fatigued during public events." It's that he is fatigued during those events. He quite literally can't read a teleprompter without exposing his senility at this point.
I'm also curious who the president is. Is it Joe Biden or Jill Biden? Because it sure seems like she's controlling every aspect of her husband's life, up to and including his diet and rest schedule. I find it extremely odd that the press is reporting on her intricate involvement but doesn't find anything objectionable about it. If it were reported that Melania Trump was having to micromanage her husband because he's so far gone physically and mentally, do you think Axios (or any other mainstream press outlet) might mention that as a broader problem?
That any of this is even a discussion is disqualifying, and to be clear, this is not the same as having a president who uses a wheelchair or has some other physical disability. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas doesn't need special rest consideration because he's so old and declining. Any president who does need to be coddled like that should not be president.