Most of us can only judge Biden’s mental sanity by his many struggles in public — most recently, when he spent about 30 painful seconds trying to explain the hostage negotiations. During his busy hours, he forgot the name “Hamas”, he said, referring to a recent meeting with the French president. He died in 1996 and claimed to have discussed the Capitol riot with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, but Kohl died nearly four years before the incident occurred.
We can’t help but wonder, if the president is so diminished in public, what is he like behind closed doors?
Now, the Special Counsel’s Office report pulls back the curtain. Very alarming, based on a review of dozens of hours of recorded conversations between Biden and ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, as well as “direct interactions with and observations of him” during interviews with Justice Department attorneys. The reality of what needs to be done will emerge. I can’t have a basic conversation.
“Mr. Biden’s memory… appeared to have significant limitations,” Hoar wrote. “As evidenced by his recorded conversations with Mr. Zwonitzer in 2017, and as evidenced now by his recorded interviews with our office.” Recorded conversations with ghostwriters are “often painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to recall events and at times straining to read and convey what he wrote in his notes.”
“In interviews with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was even worse,” Ho continued. Biden “doesn’t remember when he was vice president, forgets the first day of the interview at the end of his term (“If it was 2013, when did you stop being vice president?”), and on the second day of the interview. I forgot. when his term began (“2009, Am I Still Vice President?”). He did not remember when his son Beau died, even years later. ”
The report added that Mr. Biden “appeared to have a vague memory when describing the Afghanistan debate, which was once very important to him,” adding, “Among other things, Mr. Biden He mistakenly said, “There is a big difference in opinion.” In fact, Eikenberry was an ally that Biden cited favorably in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama. ”
Mr. Hoar concluded that the jury would likely find “Mr. John.” Mr. Biden’s apparent missteps and failures in sharing classified information with ghostwriters in 2017 are “consistent with the diminished capacity and memory deficiencies he displayed in Mr. Zwonitzer’s recorded interview and in our interview. ”.
As a columnist without a medical degree, I am in no position to diagnose Biden, and neither are most Americans. But what we’re seeing is that his gait has stiffened and his ability to answer simple questions has diminished. According to multiple polls, 76% of U.S. voters believe that Biden is effectively too old to serve as the next president, and 54% believe that Biden is no longer “capable of carrying out the duties of the presidency.” This is why I answered that there is no.
It was based on his public appearance. However, the Special Counsel’s description of private interactions raises such concerns for Defcon 1. If the president’s meetings with Justice Department lawyers are this chaotic, how much worse are his interactions with world leaders and with his own national security officials under circumstances? Is it? room? During the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Biden falsely claimed that none of his military advisers recommended leaving 2,500 troops behind, but in the end, they did. military leaders testified. Did he lie or just didn’t remember what they told him? Which is worse?
A few weeks ago, much of Washington was furious at the defense secretary for weakening the military’s chain of command by not disclosing a serious medical condition. Now, we have reason to be concerned about the person at the top of the chain of command.
Biden’s press conference on Thursday, where he angrily defended his mental acuity (“I mean well, I’m old, I know what I’m doing”), only made matters worse. It was just that. He referred to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the “President of Mexico,” and Ho’s report says that he “disclosed classified materials,” but the special counsel does not believe he shared classified information. He claimed he never said that.
Biden sought to refute the report’s claims, pointing out that his five-hour meetings over two days with the Justice Department took place as he was “dealing with an international crisis.” The first interview took place the day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, and the special counsel’s report said Biden showed “diminished competency and memory deficiencies.” Can the American people afford to appoint a president with a diminished ability to manage international crises?
The president’s inner circle is protective of him, and foreign leaders are reluctant to air concerns about their talks with him for fear of damaging relations with the United States. But the special counsel gave us a behind-the-scenes look at Biden. How can a president effectively conduct diplomacy and make decisions on peace and security issues if he has “struggling to remember events” amid “painfully slow” interactions with others? I wonder?
Wars are raging in Europe and the Middle East. U.S. forces are under attack in Iraq, Syria, and the Red Sea. The risk of war in the Pacific is increasing. And a number of people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list are attempting to illegally cross the southern border into the United States. And apparently, the commander-in-chief in charge of dealing with these overlapping crises is “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
We are now beyond concerned about whether Biden is fit to serve a second term. We have to worry about whether he is fit to finish his first race.