X was all atwitter on Friday with the question of what Jill Biden was doing at a cabinet meeting.
Joe Biden hasn't held one in 11 months, as he's abdicated his responsibilities. At the start of his meeting on Friday he introduced Jill, and then she did all of the talking about the White House Women's Health initiative. She didn't speak for very long, but she walked through some of the initiatives that they are taking -- things that you would think Joe normally would be outlining for the cabinet. You can check out the full comments here.
That has a lot of people wondering what was going on, and talking about Edith Wilson.
Here's the end of what she said. I have a lot of thoughts about the look of this:
Our White House initiative has built momentum for health research focused on women, but we have to keep moving forward. We have to keep wok- — working across government and the private sector to incentive innovative health research for women.
It’s time to write a new story of health care in this country, one where women get the answers we need, where the United States continues to be home to the most cutting-edge research in the world, and where everyone can lead healthier lives.
Notice Joe is the only one not clapping; he just looks out of it.
But everyone else clapped the way you used to clap for old Soviet leaders, because you needed to suck up to the power. That's what it looked like to me. And it made me think about the deal to get him out. She didn't want to go; is part of the deal she has to look like she's significant, with things like this?
There's another reason I ask that question, which was also going viral on X. People were asking why her signature was embossed on honorary legislation folders:
According to RealClear Politics' White House reporter Philip Melanchthon Wegmann:
So, what the heck is going on here? Why would her name be on legislation folders? He signs off on legislation, she does not; she doesn't have any role at all in that process. That's the Presidential Seal. Why would her name be under it? What is the answer to this? Is this more about her desire for power? Nobody elected her to anything. How long has this been going on, and what else has she been inserting herself into?
These are the folks who talk about "democracy" and "norms," but that seems to go out the window when it comes to them.
People had a lot of questions about her role. We're going to keep on it, and we'll keep you updated:
But her time is quickly running out; she's about to lose whatever power she craves. She thought she was going to get four more years, and now all she gets is to go back to Delaware with Joe.