The dam seems to have broken when it comes to the mainstream media sniffing and searching around President Biden’s mental acuity.
Before this week, even so much as asking if he was fit enough to do the job was taboo in most publications. Biden’s mistakes were just harmless gaffes, an endearing attribute of President Empathy who knows how to cut the tension by mangling words or forgetting what he’s talking about.
With the incident on Wednesday where Biden asked if a deceased Congresswoman was present in the room, even after a video tribute was just shown in her honor, some are now speculating that maybe there’s more going on than the White House is divulging.
Here’s a video refresher of the incident in question:
As of Friday morning, more media outlets are talking about the episode and wondering why the White House went to such lengths to avert and spin the incident without actually admitting that the President screwed up.
As Noah Rothman points out, the dam holding back this line of questioning has sprung a leak in the White House press corps:
“What happened here?” one incredulous reporter asked White House Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre. Biden was merely “acknowledging her incredible work,” the secretary replied. “She was on his mind—she was top of mind.” That explanation proved unsatisfying.
“If the late congresswoman was top of mind for the president, and her family was expected to be here, and that’s what the president was thinking about, why was he looking for her?” another reporter asked. When Jean-Pierre repeated her excuse for Biden’s misstatement and insisted that she didn’t find the episode “all that unusual,” the atmosphere in the briefing room soured.
“Frankly, I think the memory of the congresswoman and history requires some clarity here,” a third reporter pressed sharply. “Was the president confused? Was something written in the teleprompter that he didn’t recognize? Help us explain what happened here?”
“I think the confusing part is why if she and the family is top of mind does the president think she’s living, and, in the room,” yet another journalist remarked. Jean-Pierre forced a smile. “When you have someone top of mind, they are top of mind,” she chuckled. “I have John Lennon top of mind just about every day,” one agitated reporter rebutted, “but I’m not looking around for the man.”
To their credit, journalistic outlets declined to spit-polish the president’s performance.
If only those same reporters took the same interest in the economy, inflation, gas prices, sending aid to Ukraine, or a long list of other far more pertinent issues, the Biden administration wouldn’t be able to keep ignoring and downplaying those issues. The cacophony of questions went on and on with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre providing perhaps her worst performance to date in trying to explain without explaining.
As Joel Pollack notes, the media ranted endlessly about using the 25th Amendment to remove former President Donald Trump, why is there no discussion happening now of Biden’s ability to do the job despite obvious and ongoing verbal flaps:
And yet there is no talk about removing him from office, using the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, under which the Vice President and the Cabinet submit a written statement to the leaders of Congress that the President is unable to discharge his duties. When President Donald Trump was in office, the media talked constantly about the 25th Amendment. There were even reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tried to invoke the 25th Amendment and replace Trump with Vice President Mike Pence.
It’s sort of a trick question since a lot of Biden’s advisors and inner circle seem to enjoy having him where he is. They can tell him what they want him to know, trot him out when they need to, and keep him hidden when he needs to stay away from journalistic scrutiny.
Biden wouldn’t be the first Commander in Chief to face questions over mental abilities in discharging presidential duties. According to reports, aides to former President Ronald Reagan once wrote a memo discussing the potential of using the 25th Amendment concerning the president’s inattentiveness:
The president was acting strangely. In the wake of a scandal about his illegal dealings with foreign powers, White House aides felt he was so “inattentive and inept” that a memo sent to the chief of staff raised the prospect of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
The president was Ronald Reagan, who was dealing with fallout from the Iran-Contra scandal. His chief of staff ultimately dismissed the possibility of using the 25th Amendment to remove him, but the incident is one of the few cases in American history in which White House staff seriously suggested it as an option for removing a president from office, based on his ability to perform the job.
If the bar for the 25th Amendment is set at “acting strangely” or being “inattentive or inept,” then what defense does Biden really have? He’s toast!
Jokes aside, Biden’s not going to be removed by the 25th Amendment as there is no one within his cabinet that would dream of launching such a campaign. The narrative would feed right into the criticism and if word ever leaked of consideration, after the “where’s Jackie” incident, the press would be relentless with questions.
Biden’s probably safe from his own cabinet. For now.
