The leaks coming from the Biden White House are damning and unrelenting. Jill Biden must be seething as more details emerge from a presidency besieged by its own party. Axios reported that staffers are miserable in this political rendition of Weekend at Bernie’s, with one senior official saying Biden should withdraw from the race.
Even more disconcerting is the window staffers say Biden is semi-cogent: between 10 am and 4 pm. The president is only semi-conscious for six hours before conking out, which was confirmed when Biden told 20 or so Democratic governors last Wednesday that he needs to work less, sleep more, and cut down on events after 8 pm. Now, the outlet has obtained information about how staffers handle the president’s every move at public events, where rudimentary fundraisers are treated like NATO summits (via Axios):
For his events, President Biden's staffers prepare a short document with large print and photos that include his precise path to a podium, according to an event template the White House sends to staffers.
Why it matters: Since the June 27 debate, some Democrats who've attended and helped set up Biden events have wondered whether his team's focus on minute details were to obscure the 81-year-old president's limitations — rather than just a reflection of a meticulous staff.
"I staffed a simple fundraiser at a private residence, but they treated it like it was a NATO summit with his movements," according to a person who staffed a Biden event in the past 18 months.
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The staffer who helped with the fundraiser told Axios: "It surprised me that a seasoned political pro like the president would need detailed verbal and visual instructions on how to enter and exit a room."
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Zoom out: Many of Biden's seemingly ordinary practices are receiving fresh scrutiny after his debate performance when he, at times, couldn't string together sentences and often had his mouth agape.
Presidents frequently use Teleprompters, but Biden's use of them for even small events such as fundraisers has sparked worries among Democrats that his debate performance was not a one-off.
Is this run-of-the-mill advance work? Maybe, but the president’s mental decline goes beyond these documents. We saw how Biden was on June 27. His interview with ABC News was also lacking in the department where he could reverse course on his mental health issues.