Something Is Wrong with the President. By Jim Geraghty.
After making no public appearances for four days — during a major foreign crisis — President Biden read a 20-minute speech off a teleprompter on Monday afternoon and took no questions. He immediately returned to Camp David.
He had no events on his schedule Tuesday. On Wednesday, he gave another 20-minute speech about vaccine boosters off a teleprompter from Camp David, and again took no questions. Also on Wednesday, the president sat for an on-camera interview with George Stephanopoulos that did not go well.
According to the White House public records, Biden has had two phone conversations with foreign leaders in the past ten days — one with Boris Johnson and one with Angela Merkel.
As of this writing, Biden has no public events on his schedule for today. He is scheduled to receive the president’s daily briefing from the intelligence community and meet with his national-security team. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, he is scheduled to return to his house in Delaware today.
This is a highly unusual schedule for a president during a foreign-policy crisis. Yes, a president can perform his job anywhere, whether it’s Camp David or his own private residence. But Biden is barely appearing in public, not saying much of anything when he does, not answering any questions outside of his lone scheduled interview, and sounding angry when he did face questions from Stephanopoulos. …
Biden not only dodged questions — we’re used to politicians doing that — he offered a barely coherent word salad in some responses …
Perhaps most unsettling was President Biden’s insistence that nothing could have been done any differently, and that none of the horrors we are witnessing could have been prevented. …
The cold hard truth sinks in:
The obvious answer to why Biden rarely appears on camera or takes questions is because every time he does it, he inflicts more damage upon himself and his agenda. The president whose empathy is endlessly touted now sounds cold and dismissive when asked about Afghans’ desperately crowding into American planes or falling to their deaths.
All of the available evidence indicates that the president ignored the warnings of his foreign-policy team, withdrew the armed forces before evacuating the civilians, gave up Bagram Air Base, and now is in a large-scale foreign crisis that is mostly the result of his own choices.
The emperor’s new clothes:
The president turns 79 in November. He last released a summary of his health condition in December 2019. In May, a White House spokesman said Biden had not had a medical checkup or taken a physical this year, but that he would by the end of the year. There have been no updates on the president’s health since.
Back on July 26, John Ellis astutely analyzed how it was acceptable to acknowledge Biden’s age and mental condition if you used certain euphemisms:
Somewhere along the way of the last few years, Biden transitioned from “young old” to “old.” Veteran reporters describe the transition in code. “He’s lost a step or two.” Or: “he’s lost something off his fastball.”
You’re not supposed to talk about it. If you do, and you’re a Democrat, you’re scolded for aiding and abetting the enemy. If you do, and you’re a Republican or (God forbid) a MAGA voter, you’re a horrible hate-mongerer, trying to overturn the results of a free and fair election (and you probably watch Fox News to boot).
The problem is that it’s there for all to see. Pretending not to see it is untenable.
Something is wrong with President Biden, and we are all being asked to pretend we don’t notice.
Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.
Notice the three colossal ironies in play here for the left?
- The Democrats complained mightily about a rigged election in 2016, pointing to voting machines and Russian interference. But in 2020 it was the Democrats who actually rigged the election, and very likely subverted the voter’s choice for president. Their refusal to allow audits or restore integrity to the process confirms their guilt.
- The left charged Trump with being under the influence of the Russians, of doing their policy bidding. But the Mueller investigation found nothing, there was no compromising material, and anyway Trump is too rich to bribe and made a stack of decisions that hurt Russia. But in 2020 we learn that Biden and his son were accepting money for influence from the Chinese, and his son is infinitely compromised by the Chinese. So far, the winner from every decision by the Biden administration is the Chinese Communist Party — especially throwing the borders open and the manner of the Afghanistan withdrawal. It’s as if Biden actually was a Chinese puppet.
- In 2017 the left claimed Trump was mentally unfit and should be removed for mental incompetence, via the 25th amendment. Now their president, in 2021, actually is mentally incompetent — and needs to be replaced for everyone’s sake.
In each case, it’s a massive case of projection. They accuse, but they are or become the guilty ones. Spooky.
UPDATE: J.E. Dyer expands on that theme:
People keep saying “incompetence” — incompetence! — over and over again, but everyone basically knows that’s not what this is. What we’re witnessing is more like derangement. It’s as if an entire presidential administration has become incapable of the simplest, most ordinary responses. It’s too surreal for conspiracy. It’s more as if they’ve lost control of their minds and can’t even keep up with basic questions from the press corps, much less get ahead of them. …
What we’re seeing the Biden administration actually do — keep creating destructive, chaotic messes, shooting itself in the foot, shooting us in the foot, reducing our allies to exit-seeking cynicism and causing our enemies to cheer in disbelief, throwing trillions of dollars around like children with silly string, piloting an under-scheduled space-cadet presidential figure around, meeting the media with arrogant silence, incoherence, and snark, shrugging at the Constitution, ignoring the earnest appeal of the people on matters like border security and “CRT” in the schools — is what the Trump administration was relentlessly accused of for four straight years, but never actually did. …
And in the Biden administration’s case, it’s so real that it can’t be covered up, repackaged, or explained away, and it’s breaking actual things all over the place. …
Some people would call it karma.
