By Now we know why Merrick Garland is doing everything he can to ensure that the audio of Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur interview does not become public.
The elderly president was likely having a bad mental cognition day.
The Wall Street Journal spoke to both Republicans and Democrats who have met with Biden, and they all agreed. Joe Biden is not the same person they met with years ago.
When President Biden met with congressional leaders in the West Wing in January to negotiate a Ukraine funding deal, he spoke so softly at times that some participants struggled to hear him, according to five people familiar with the meeting. He read from notes to make obvious points, paused for extended periods and sometimes closed his eyes for so long that some in the room wondered whether he had tuned out.
Last year, when Biden was negotiating with House Republicans to lift the debt ceiling, his demeanor and command of the details seemed to shift from one day to the next, according to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and two others familiar with the talks. On some days, he had loose and spontaneous exchanges with Republicans, and on others he mumbled and appeared to rely on notes.
“I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I’d go to his house,” McCarthy said in an interview. “He’s not the same person.”
The 81-year-old Biden is the oldest person to hold the presidency. His age and cognitive fitness have become major issues in his campaign for a second term, both in the minds of voters and in attacks on him by Republicans. The White House and top aides said he remains a sharp and vigorous leader.
Some who have worked with him, however, including Democrats and some who have known him back to his time as vice president, described a president who appears slower now, someone who has both good moments and bad ones.
The National Review explains how the WSJ article has blown up one of the biggest talking points from Democrats: that behind closed doors Biden is sharp as a whip.
“The Wall Street Journal article is based on interviews with more than 45 people over several months, ‘with Republicans and Democrats who either participated in meetings with Biden or were briefed on them contemporaneously, including administration officials and other Democrats who found no fault in the president’s handling of the meetings.’ It is far from surprising that Republicans who meet with Biden perceive a doddering, forgetful old man, and Democrats perceive a man so energetic and vigorous, that, as Karine Jean-Pierre put it, ‘I can’t even keep up with him.’
But the Journal offers some hard numbers reaffirming our suspicions that we don’t see the president as often as we used to, and neither do congressional leaders:
‘Americans have had minimal opportunities to see Biden in unscripted moments. By the end of April, he had given fewer interviews and press conferences than any of his recent predecessors, according to data collected by Martha Joynt Kumar, an emeritus professor at Towson University. His last wide-ranging town-hall-style meeting with an independent news outlet was in October 2021.
He has had fewer small meetings with lawmakers as his term has gone on, visitor logs show. During his first year in office, even with pandemic restrictions, he held more than three dozen meetings of fewer than 20 lawmakers in the West Wing. That number fell to roughly two dozen in his second year, and about a dozen in his third year.'”
That did not keep some Biden supporters from trying to keep up the charade, however. “Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski tore into The Wall Street Journal report that President Joe Biden’s mental acuity appeared to be “slipping,” questioning how editors could have missed multiple Republicans saying otherwise,” noted The Daily Beast.
“Scarborough described his past interactions with Biden in recent years along with conversations he’s had with those who’ve personally dealt with the president, saying they’ve described him as resilient.
‘I can tell you what the French delegation told me who were part of the negotiations, that Macron came out and said, ‘Wow, tougher than we expected. Biden was pressing so hard,’ Scarborough recalled. ‘I can tell you the same thing about Middle Eastern leaders that I talk to, and some are suggesting that he, you know, is a bit too tough in negotiations and United States throws their weight around a little bit too much.‘
The MSNBC pair further took issue with the article’s sourcing, claiming it relied mostly on partisan Republicans like former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and associates of current House Speaker Mike Johnson.”
WSJ: ‘Behind closed doors, Biden shows signs of slipping’ is breaking MSDNC’s Morning Joe Scumbag
He goes completely unhinged defending Biden
almost in tears: “He is smart, he is sharp, he is my man crush ”
hilarious pic.twitter.com/XhyHpfDG77
— Andrew Fisher (@acpandy) June 5, 2024
“Morning Joe” is allegedly Joe Biden’s favorite show. He watches it every day, but it’s not clear if the president believes the show is about himself.
So far, Biden has refused to take a cognition test.
In the words of one liberal who has not bought the Biden spin, “if Joe Biden is so sharp behind closed doors, maybe they should record some of that.”
[Read More: Hunter Biden Throws Family Member Under The Bus]
