I think we all knew Joe Biden's mental health was troublesome. He's been a gaffe machine even before he went on the decline. He's never been the most articulate member of Congress, and some of the things he said during the 2008 election would be considered disqualifying if they were uttered today: you can't call a black man "articulate" and "clean," Joe. But now we have this special counsel report that lists, among other things, that Biden can't remember when his son Beau died or his vice presidency under Obama.
Special Counsel Robert Hur shattered the initial 2024 Biden stratagem to keep the president out of the limelight. CNN's Van Jones was one of a few Democrats to toss that into the airwaves, but that's no longer possible. The Hur Report's core findings were that Biden mishandled classified materials, but he's too old and senile to face charges. For Democrats, it's Hillary Clinton in 2016 all over again—where a Justice Department review carried no legal repercussions for the Democratic Party nominee but delivered an election-killer by releasing a politically damaging report.
ABC News found that 86 percent of Americans thought Biden was too old to run again. To Biden's credit, you must respond as soon as possible to this report, which he did last Thursday. It was a disaster, with the president lying about not disclosing classified secrets, which he allegedly did to his ghostwriter. The president was also adamant that he didn't willfully retain documents, opting to blame his staff for the error before mixing up the presidents of Egypt and Mexico. Was the president a tad more animated? Sure, but in all the wrong ways. If memory was an issue, Joe didn't assuage any of those concerns from voters.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered this beauty of an excuse for why we don't see as much of the president during an election year: he's communicating through non-traditional ways. Like how—by carrier pigeon? Or is it through TikTok, which I thought was a banned medium for government employees?
On paper, Biden's team is correct that making Biden more visible is the only way to combat the narrative that he's too old. The problem is that they don't trust him, which was evident with Biden skipping the Super Bowl interview with CBS News. Now, Biden did sit down for a little video on how he's combating "shrinkflation," which was surreal. He's caused the problem with the avalanche of inflationary spending. The best way for Biden to combat this lingering economic woe is to resign from the presidency and allow Trump to get it under control.
Biden's team is going to have to let him go out there. It's inevitable. He's expected to do multiple public events daily unless there's a Democratic Party edict to all precinct captains that lowers their expectations for the leader of their party. If they keep him drugged up in the bunker, it shines a light on the mental health issues.
Suppose he gets out on the stump and relays anecdotes about how he spoke with dead European leaders, including a new military agreement with the Roman Empire. In that case, it focuses on mental fogginess. But Democratic strategists must let him out at some point. For Trump's team, they must wonder if there will be any debates this year. Then again, their focus should be to keep the former president on message and focused. He's already won the 2024 Republican nomination. Focus all attacks on Biden. It was not necessary to attack former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley's husband over the weekend. Let the Hur Report and its damaging findings fester like an open wound. The one thing you don't want to do is give the media, who are desperate to report on anything else, an off-ramp.
Back to Biden. The only saving grace, and we could revisit this later, is that Hur released his findings in February. Hillary Clinton suffered a double whammy from the DOJ with the initial report and presser from former FBI Director James Comey. Then, the re-review of the same classified materials occurred when Huma Abedin's emails were discovered on the laptop of her then-husband, Anthony Weiner, who was under federal investigation for lewd contact with a minor. You could argue that the election was long over before the second review by the FBI, as Hillary Clinton's numbers with white rural working-class voters were what killed her in the end; everyone had made up their minds by that time.
There's no high ground here, even if the White House declares it so, because there are no charges. Biden left classified materials in unsecured locations, lied about them, and disclosed them to unauthorized persons, and there are photos of them being stored in a garage. So, for all the mockery of Trump keeping them stored in a bathroom in Mar-a-Lago, Biden's antics cancel it out. This election will be centered on base turnout alone. Biden stokes those flames by remaining in the public eye, which is the one thing he can't do.
Even with his inartful tongue, if Biden were 15-20 years younger, I'd say he has plenty of time to round the corner on this age issue. During the 2008 election, he did have some good zingers for the Republican opposition, but that was eons ago. First Lady Jill Biden reportedly berates staffers for keeping him in press conferences that go on for too long.
Like the economy, international relations, law and order, and immigration, Biden will fail. The only question is whether harping about abortion for months on end can save him, as Chardonnay-sipping suburbanite women are the only bloc keeping this presidency afloat, but barely.