Joe Biden is facing a firestorm of controversy over his cognitive decline and whether he's going to step aside from the campaign. He's declared that he's not dropping out, that he's in it to win it. But all his efforts since the debate to appear to be coherent and normal haven't been going well so far, and the calls to step aside just seem to increase.
I reported on the celebration and fireworks at the White House on Thursday night for July 4th. First, they had a barbecue earlier in the day for military members and families.
Joe Biden managed to hilariously fulfill the holiday meme that people have put out over the years about his confusion. In response to Kamala Harris introducing him as "extraordinary" (she didn't say extraordinarily good), he responded like Santa Claus, saying "Ho, ho, ho!" Then he said, "Happy Independence Day!"
Then as I noted, the family, as well as Kamala Harris and her husband, joined him on the White House balcony to watch the fireworks. Both Hunter and Ashley were there, and for once Ashley seemed to upstage Hunter--with a lot of talk on social media about her getting into the party and dancing next to him:
But there was a little bit more weirdness on the balcony, as the Fox livestream showed. Ashley's getting down and dancing got a lot of discussion, particularly this weird moment where she first hugs Joe Biden at about 23:51. Then when she removes her hands, Joe's face seems to drop, as he looks weirdly right at the camera.
Then she looks right at the camera, and makes a weird gesture indicating that she sees the camera is aimed at them. She then goes right back to dancing behind Joe.
There was a lot of speculation about what was going on, and what her message might be with this weirdness:
At a time when they're trying to project why Joe should stay in the race, when he's so incoherent, more weirdness doesn't go well into the mix. Add that to Joe himself talking about being the "first black woman" to serve under a black president and admitting that he needs to get more sleep as well as limit events past 8 p.m.
They just keep digging the hole deeper.