Excuses abound after Obama escorts Biden offstage following another apparent display of decrepitude
President Joe Biden was downtown Los Angeles Saturday evening raising money, but once again, he managed to raise concern about his cognitive decline.
A Quinnipiac University poll found earlier this year that the super-majority of likely voters think Biden is too old to effectively serve another term as president. If re-elected, he would conclude his term at the age of 86 — roughly twelve years higher than the average life expectancy for the American man. According to a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted late last month, concerns over the 81-year-old Democrat's decrepitude have not gone away, with 57% of likely voters indicating that Biden's mental decline was worsening.
Biden has, after all, provided his critics with plenty of fodder in recent weeks and years, evidencing difficulty completing sentences despite leaning into his heavy reliance on cue cards; struggling to stay upright; repeating himself and telling the same debunked anecdote twice over, nearly word for word and in short succession; mistaking the living for the dead and his sister for his wife; confusing the names of disparate nations; spending roughly 40% of his presidency out of office; and showcasing difficulties controlling his temper.
On Saturday, Biden was joined by former President Barack Obama and a handful of professional script readers, including George Clooney, Jimmy Kimmel, Jason Bateman, and Julia Roberts, at the Peacock Theater, where they raised over $30 million for his re-election campaign, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Democratic mega donor Jeffrey Katzenberg, a cochair of Biden's re-election campaign, hyped the event in advance, noting, "The enthusiasm and commitment for Biden-Harris couldn't be stronger. We all understand this is the most important election of our lifetime."
'Obama then grabs Biden's hand to lead him offstage.'
With Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom (Calif.) and other leftist lawmakers looking on, Biden, fresh off visiting his criminally convicted son, once again recycled the false claim that former President Donald Trump advised people to inject bleach during the pandemic as well as the false flag narrative concerning Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. He also likened Trump to Julius Caesar, a politician assassinated by a cabal of other politicians.
After Biden and Obama finished their seated interview with Kimmel, the two stood for applause. Footage shared by Chris Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter shows Biden frozen in place with his hand raised in what appears to be a halted wave. After a pregnant moment, he pivots slightly into another static pose, at which point his predecessor grabs his wrist and gently escorts him offstage.
Gardner noted in his caption, "Barack Obama and President Joe Biden offer final waves to Peacock Theater crowd as Obama then grabs Biden's hand to lead him offstage following 40-minute conversation with Jimmy Kimmel."
Multitudes of users on X expressed pity and concern over the president's apparent decline. Piers Morgan, among them, wrote, "So embarrassing. The Democrats can't let this go on, surely?"
Biden boosters desperately attempted to spin this latest apparent signal of decrepitude caught on video as a hoax.
White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates was especially prickled by the New York Post's description of the incident, tweeting, "Fresh off being fact checked by at least 6 mainstream outlets for lying about @POTUS with cheap fakes, Rupert Murdoch's sad little super pac, the New York Post, is back to disrespecting it's readers & itself once again. Their ethical standards could deal with a little unfreezing."
Bates appears to have been referencing recent reports indicating that Biden confusedly wandered off at the G7 summit in Apulia, Italy, during a parachute exercise and that he also locked up at the White House's Juneteenth event — both of which were caught on camera.
Gun-control activist David Hogg claimed the Saturday video seen by millions of people "did not happen and is a total lie," prompting a "like" from Democratic propagandist Mark Hamill.
'They think you're stupid.'
Ukrainian blogger Olga Nesterova shared heavily edited footage of the final moments of the event, presenting an alternative account of what supposedly happened.
Biden "influencer" Harry Sisson noted, "MAGA IS LYING AGAIN. The new lie is that Biden had to be 'led off stage' by Obama and that he 'froze' but that is COMPLETELY FALSE! This video shows what actually happened and is not some selectively edited garbage. The lies don’t stop from MAGA."
Whereas the Hollywood Reporter video was apparently uncut, Sisson elected to share the heavily edited version shared by Nesterova.
RNC Research tweeted, "Don't believe your LYING EYES, the Biden White House says. Didn't happen! He's TOTALLY WITH IT, his incompetent stooges say — you just never get to see it. They think you're stupid."
The Washington Post and the Daily Beast are among the liberal publications that joined Obama in coming to Biden's rescue. The Post, which has struggled with the truth in recent years, claimed, "The use of these clips is an especially pernicious couple of examples of manipulated video — what we label 'isolation' under our guide to manipulated video — because it's intended to create a false narrative that doesn’t reflect the event as it occurred. The RNC and its avid followers in the conservative media earn Four Pinocchios."
Self-guided or not, Biden's disapproval rating sits at 58% according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll. His approval rating, alternatively, was 40%; 54% of respondents said that Biden's health and age will "severely limit his ability to do the job" if re-elected; 25% said they would have "little effect on his ability to do his job." Only 11% said they would have no impact at all.
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Biden insists he wants to get Lincoln quote right — then suffers yet another malfunction
President Joe Biden made a point Friday of trying to get an Abraham Lincoln quote right when addressing members of the National Governors Association at the White House. Despite his best efforts and having the notes at his fingertips, the 81-year-old Democrat bungled his reference to the Republican president's first inaugural address, once again providing fodder to those critical of his advanced age.
Governors from over 40 states and territories joined Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and various cabinet members Friday for the NGA Winter Meeting. The NGA indicated that those assembled discussed possible bipartisan solutions to some of the various issues now confronting the American people, including housing affordability, AI risks, and disaster response.
After kicking off his brief remarks with an ethnic jibe, suggesting, "I may be the only Irishman you ever met that's never had a drink," Biden noted the portrait of President Abraham Lincoln looming behind him.
"You know, standing here in front of this portrait of the man behind me here, he — he said — and I want to make sure I get the quote exactly right," said Biden. "He said, ''The better angel.' He said, 'We must address the counsel — and adjust the better angels of our nature.'"
"And we do well to remember what else he said," continued Biden. "He said, 'We're not enemies, but we're friends.' This is the middle of, in the part of the Civil War. He said, 'We're not enemies, we're friends. We must not be enemies.'"
Contrary to Biden's suggestion, Lincoln issued his first inaugural address prior to the Civil War on March 4, 1861, stating, "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
After struggling with the quote, Biden quipped about his advanced age, saying, "Folks, I've been around, I know I don't look it, I've been around a long while."
Biden went on to bemoan the bitterness of politics, claiming that "politics has gotten too personally [sic]."
Just days earlier, the Democratic president indicated that he prefers his segregationist mentors to present-day House Republicans whom he stressed are worse than "real racists."
Biden completely malfunctions as he tries \u2014 and fails miserably \u2014 to read a quote from "the man behind me here"— (@)
Unable to turn back time, Biden and his campaign have repeatedly appealed to humor in hopes of defusing concerns about his advanced age. Those concerns have not, however, gone away.
A Quinnipiac University poll revealed last week that 67% of likely voters think Biden is too old to effectively serve another term as president. By way of contrast, 57% of voters said that former President Donald Trump, only four years Biden's junior, is not too old to effectively serve again as president.
If re-elected, Biden would start his second term at the age of 82 and conclude his term at the age of 86 — roughly twelve years higher than the average life expectancy for the American man.
62% of voters told Quinnipiac that Biden lacks the necessary physical fitness; 64% said the Democratic president lacks the mental acuity.
Blaze News previously reported that Biden will not take a cognitive test as part of his upcoming annual physical.
Between the new polling numbers and Biden's latest gaffe, Democrats appear keen to once again paint a happy picture.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 56, told NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday that Biden's advanced age is an asset.
After suggesting Biden's first three years in office were a "master class," Newsom claimed that "it is because of his age that he's been so successful."
Newsom further credited "the wisdom and the character" that Biden has developed over his many decades in politics for the various policies Democrats have been able to drive through in Washington since 2021.
The California governor was not the only Democrat to defend Biden in the face of concerns over his age in recent days.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blasted the New York Times Wednesday for daring to ask questions about Biden's mental and physical fitness.
During a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Wednesday, Jean-Pierre quoted a leftist blogger's sense that "'the Times and other major media outlets ought to look in the mirror.'" Quoting Margaret Sullivan's Substack post further, Jean-Pierre added, "'Self-scrutiny and course correction are not among big media's core strengths.'"
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New Biden attack video goes wrong when people start to notice the glaring problems: '28 cuts in this 2 minute video'
President Joe Biden released a new video on Tuesday attacking Donald Trump and Republicans. Unfortunately for the president, the video generated scrutiny for all the wrong reasons.
In the video, Biden attacks Trump for his remarks critical of NATO and claims Trump and Republicans "refuse" to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin "accountable" for the death of Alexei Navalny because they oppose sending more taxpayer money to Ukraine without first addressing domestic priorities, like the border crisis.
Not sending more money to Ukraine, according to Biden, is akin to "bow[ing] down" to Putin. Of course, it's not clear how taxpayer funding of the Ukraine war is connected to Navalny's death.
While the content of Biden's message generated significant pushback — because it's hardly true that Trump or Republicans are responsible for anything Putin chooses to do or that sending more money to Ukraine will deter Putin when the first $113 billion didn't — the video received attention for two separate, but glaring, reasons.
First, the video, which includes an on-screen caption of Biden's words, contains several spelling errors. The word "strength" is misspelled. Navalny's first name is misspelled. And, at one point, the caption completely omits one of Biden's words.
Second, the video contains numerous edits — more than two dozen, in fact. Moreover, Biden does not appear to speak for more than six seconds at a time without a cut.
"So when you've worked on the producing end as I did in my former life, some things are painfully easy to spot when the post-edit is complete," media expert Joe Concha explained. "In this case, I counted 28 cuts in this 2 minute video. 28. In something this short, *maybe* you do 5-6 cuts max."
— (@)
The significant number of edits suggests that, even with teleprompter help, Biden had difficultly reading his script, thus bringing more attention to his age and concerns about his mental acuity.
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New York Times publisher refuses to bow to Biden administration — then he admits the harsh facts about Biden
The White House is "extremely upset" over the New York Times' coverage of President Joe Biden. But Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger is refusing to kowtow.
Speaking in an interview with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Sulzberger promised his newspaper will cover Biden and Donald Trump fairly, meaning the paper will accurately report on the good and the bad of both candidates.
"We are not anyone's opposition and we're not anyone's lap dog," he said. "We are going to continue to report fully and fairly, not just on Donald Trump but also on President Joe Biden."
Sulzberger then dropped the cold, hard truth about Biden and why the White House is upset at his newspaper.
"[Biden] is a historically unpopular incumbent and the oldest man to ever hold this office," he admitted. "We've reported on both of those realities extensively, and the White House has been extremely upset about it."
Not only is the Times reporting on Biden's age and the concerns about his cognitive decline, but in the wake of special counsel Robert Hur's description of Biden as "an elderly man with a poor memory," the Times is publishing more opinion essays about Biden's age.
— (@)
In addition to the White House's anger, members of the Biden campaign have reportedly also voiced their frustrations. Recently, the campaign invited reporters and editors from the newspaper to campaign headquarters. The mission? To correct what the campaign believes the newspaper is "getting wrong."
In fact, the campaign has met with journalists from most major news outlets about their coverage of Biden. Those meetings have been "substantive" and "productive," according to Semafor, with one exception: the New York Times.
And while even Margaret Sullivan, former public editor of the Times, is criticizing her former employer for covering Biden's faults, Sulzberger recognized why even-handed coverage is important and why the Times cannot ignore Biden's problems.
"We are not saying that [Biden's age and unpopularity are] the same as Trump’s five court cases or that they are even. They are different. But they are both true, and the public needs to know both those things," he said.
"And if you are hyping up one side or downplaying the other, no side has a reason to trust you in the long run," he acknowledged.
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Will Kamala Harris invoke the 25th Amendment against Biden? Senator weighs in
Many people, including Democrats, see Biden’s rapidly deteriorating mental state as a reason to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would transfer presidential powers to Kamala Harris.
Unfortunately, Harris is unlikely to be a better leader than Biden.
“[Kamala] would at least be alert,” says Glenn Beck, but “I don't know if she'd be any better.”
Even though Harris is “mentally competent,” she’s “a nightmare and a total idealogue who’s not all that bright,” says Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) in agreement.
The question everyone is asking is: Will she use the 25th Amendment against Biden? As long as she has the majority support of the Cabinet and two-thirds of the House and the Senate approve it, Harris has the power to dethrone Biden and likely end his 2024 presidential campaign.
Biden also has the power to invoke the 25th Amendment himself, but “that’s not going to happen,” Sen. Schmitt assures, adding that Biden “is not willingly giving this up.”
Even though Biden clearly refuses to acknowledge the “precipitous decline in his capabilities,” the rest of the country can see the plain truth.
“In interviews related to the document case, [Biden] couldn't remember when he was vice president,” Sen. Schmitt tells Glenn. “People see this playing out every day as he struggles to get through sentences, walking from place to place, falling.”
“Do you hear senators talk about this on the other side and say, ‘This is dangerous’?” asks Glenn.
“They, in private moments, will tell you that this is not the same Joe Biden,” confirms Sen. Schmitt. “People get it, people see it – people who serve with him, people who’ve been in the Oval Office talking to him see it.”
Whether or not Kamala Harris will cite the 25th Amendment as evidence to transfer Biden’s powers to herself remains to be seen, along with who the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate will be.
Rumors continue to circulate that Michelle Obama will take Biden’s place at the last minute.
To hear Sen. Scmitt’s thoughts on a third Obama term, watch the clip below.
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Joe Scarborough reveals what Democrats tell him about Biden in private — and it's not good for Biden
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough revealed Wednesday that every Democrat he speaks with privately questions why President Joe Biden is running for re-election.
Speaking with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius about his column arguing that neither Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris should run for re-election, Scarborough shared a personal anecdote supporting the thesis of Ignatius' column.
According to Scarborough, while Democrats publicly support Biden, behind closed doors, they are questioning his re-election campaign because of his age and unpopularity.
"Mika and I, everybody we talk to, every political discussion — it talks a lot about Trump, but when it comes to Joe Biden, people say, 'Man, he's too old to run, isn't he? He's not really going to run?'" Scarborough revealed.
"When I say every discussion, I don't mean 99% of the discussion. Every discussion," he emphasized. "I asked Reverend Al if he was hearing it all the time on our show this past week. He's hearing it as well."
'I have my concerns': David Ignatius says Biden shouldn't run again youtu.be
The private admissions, Scarborough went on to say, show that Democrats are doing exactly what they have criticized Republicans of doing regarding Donald Trump.
"So, you know, we often will complain about Republicans who will say one thing about Donald Trump off the air and another on air," he said. "Well, let me just say: Democrats, off the air, will say, 'Joe Biden's too old. Why is he running?' On the air? They won't say that."
Poll after poll have confirmed what Ignatius fears and Scarborough spoke about.
The latest CNN poll, for example, found that a whopping two-thirds of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters want someone other that Biden to be the Democratic nominee in 2024. Their concern with Biden? His age, health, mental sharpness, and overall ability to carry out his presidential duties.
That poll came on the heels of an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey that found that 69% of Democratic voters believe Biden is "too old."
The problem for Democrats is: if Biden is too old and too unpopular to win re-election, who can they nominate to give them a serious shot at retaining the White House?
For their part, Scarborough and Ignatius admitted they cannot name a single Democrat prepared for that task.
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Jake Tapper drops reality on KJP over new data showing even Democrats think Biden is 'too old' — and her response is laughable
CNN anchor Jake Tapper confronted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday with dismal new polling showing that Americans believe President Joe Biden is "too old" for re-election.
A new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 77% of Americans overall believe that Biden is "too old" to "effectively serve another 4-year term as president." Even worse, a whopping 69% of Democratic voters said the same, showing that Biden's own party is not enthused about his candidacy.
When Tapper asked Jean-Pierre if the poll worries the White House, Jean-Pierre tried to dodge the question by citing Biden's policy actions. But Tapper didn't roll over and became very direct.
"I'm talking about his age and stamina and his ability to do the job. And you're talking about the record. And I understand why you'd rather talk about the record," he said. "But I'm talking about what Americans see when they turn on the TV and they see — you know, Joe Biden's been in politics literally since before you were born."
At first, Jean-Pierre tried to play up Biden's fitness by citing his trip to Ukraine last year after the Russia invasion.
"I'm not saying he's not able to walk," Tapper mocked in response. "I'm just saying: he's 80. I think the average male only lives to be 77 or so."
Then Jean-Pierre followed up with an incredible claim: Biden is in better physical shape than reporters young enough to be his adult grandchildren.
"I have had conversations with some of your colleagues in the White House press corps, when we travel abroad, how it is hard for us to keep up with this president who is constantly, constantly working every day to get things done and making sure that we are delivering for the American people," she said.
Jake Tapper presses White House press secretary on Biden’s age www.youtube.com
Unfortunately for Biden, the AP-NORC poll showed that voters are much less concerned about Donald Trump's age, despite the former president being only three years younger than Biden.
Biden's age is becoming such a significant issue that some Democrats, like Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), are publicly advocating against Biden's re-election campaign.
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Scary stats for Biden: Poll shows vast majority of Dem voters believe he is 'too old' for re-election
The overwhelming majority of Democratic voters — and Americans overall — believe President Joe Biden is "too old" for re-election.
According to the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, 69% of Democratic voters and 77% of American adults overall believe that Biden is "too old" to "effectively serve another 4-year term as president."
If Biden wins re-election, he will be 82 years old on Inauguration Day.
On the other hand, just 51% of respondents said the same about Donald Trump, who is only three years younger than Biden. To be fair, Democrats were consistent on the issue: 71% said they believe Trump is "too old" to serve another four-year term. Conversely, 89% of Republicans said Biden is "too old" while just 28% said the same of Trump.
Importantly, the poll found that among Democrats who believe Biden is "too old," a whopping 85% said they would not like to see him run for re-election. Even 39% who said he is not "too old" do not want him to run again.
These statistics are particularly sobering for the Democratic Party because they demonstrate that a large majority of Democratic voters are not enthusiastic to vote for Biden. And it doesn't take a political genius to understand that a base of voters unenthused about the party nominee is hardly a recipe for success.
On Biden's job performance, poll results didn't get any better. A sizable portion of Democratic voters (23%) disapprove of Biden's job performance, while about one-third knock him for his handling of the economy.
Pollsters, meanwhile, also played a word-association game with respondents. Among the words associated with Biden most often were: "old," "elderly," "outdated," "slow," and "confused." Trump was most associated with words like "corrupt," "criminal," "dishonest," and "untrustworthy."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked on Monday about the poll. She, however, refused to answer about the substance of the survey's findings.
Finally, national polls surveying a hypothetical Trump-Biden rematch have repeatedly shown that Trump and Biden remain in a statistical tie. This, according to CNN polling expert Harry Enten, indicates Trump is stronger than this time four years ago.
"This idea that Donald Trump can't win the general election, I want you to lose that idea," Enten said last week. "This race is very, very close, and Donald Trump is polling better right now than basically at any point during the entire 2020 cycle."
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