The Biden White House faces attacks from all sides, though their real enemies appear within the Democratic Party. Last Thursday night, the president’s awful debate performance led to a flurry of anger, frustration, and bewilderment concerning how Donald Trump could so thoroughly demolish Biden. The Biden campaign has opted to pour gasoline on this dumpster fire by ignoring concerns from top donors and supporters, opting to relay how healthy Biden is on various conference calls over the past few days.
The truth is they can’t hide Biden’s mental decline. If you go back, some outlets reported on the president’s declining mental health, only for it to evaporate into the ether days later. The Wall Street Journal was the latest outlet to report on Biden’s mental slippage, which drew the ire of liberals. The publication was vindicated last week, so how could this happen? Why did everyone act blindsided when the voters knew Biden was too old in February?
So the AP, Washington Post, NYT, The Hill, and CNN all published articles dismissing concerns over Biden’s appearance within just the last few weeks.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) July 3, 2024
Now all of these same outlets are publishing stories about how these concerns are real and ongoing.
You see the problem? pic.twitter.com/CNQKz7Gqa7
On Semafor, ex-New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson nailed the primary reason why there was an overall dearth of reporting on the president’s mental health: they feared such stories about the president’s decline would help Donald Trump. Abramson understood that angle but admonished her colleagues, saying it’s no excuse to drop a story. In the interim, the Biden White House was able to pull off an epic cover-up regarding Joe’s state of decrepitude [emphasis mine]:
It’s clear the best news reporters in Washington have failed in the first duty of journalism: to hold power accountable. It is our duty to poke through White House smoke screens and find out the truth. The Biden White House clearly succeeded in a massive cover-up of the degree of the President’s feebleness and his serious physical decline, which may be simply the result of old age. Shame on the White House press corps for not to have pierced the veil of secrecy surrounding the President.
Obviously, the President’s decline was a super hard story to report, even by those who wanted to get it, like the WSJ. Their story did not deliver, using mostly named GOP sources.
But I do think if enough reporters had pushed, the story was reportable. I worry that too many journalists didn’t try to get the story because they did not want to be accused of helping elect Donald Trump. I get that.
But this is no excuse for abandoning our first duty, which is to report the truth and hold power accountable. President Biden should be held accountable for his obvious lapses of mental acuity, even if there are periods of lucidity.
It is simply astounding for the entire country, including its most seasoned reporters, to be as shocked as everyone was by the ugly and painful reality of Biden’s debate performance.
And it is laughable and immoral for Democrats to blame the press now for over-reacting to that reality. The reports of how bad Biden was are certainly not exaggerated. Nor are the reports of Democrats in panic.
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So, Ms. Abramson has zero patience for how CNN framed this media failure:
Lol no it’s not complicated at all
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) July 2, 2024
He asked to speak with a dead congresswoman TWO YEARS AGO https://t.co/0KlgDEho5U
Biden’s age was also a right-wing talking point for years, something the White House was quick to point out to reporters, which may have inadvertently turned off any serious investigation.
For example, deceptively edited clips of Biden from the G7 spread widely by right-wing media figures were made to seem as though he was aimlessly “wandering off” from fellow world leaders when really, he was speaking to parachutists who had just landed during a demonstration.
[…]
Reporters said the White House has not made the press corps’ job easy: The White House has put up guardrails around Biden, they say, and he does not engage in as many interviews or planned press conferences as previous presidents. At those events, the press might be able to gauge how he’s doing on the spot, without prepared remarks.
“They keep him at arm’s length, and he rarely does extended interviews,” the reporter said of the White House, although he acknowledged Biden has started giving more interviews as of late.
[…]
The White House press shop has also been very “aggressive” and “fairly successful” in mitigating coverage of concerns over the president’s age, said another White House reporter who works for a different publication.
“[B]erating reporters who bring them reporting about age concerns, bemoaning that it’s all anyone writes about (clearly, it’s not) and often attacking pieces after they run,” the reporter told CNN. “I think that’s left some folks to conclude that these stories are too painful to report or that they should pick their spots more. It’s clear the age stories that have angered the White House (and the liberal Twittersphere) the most.”
First, Biden’s wandering off at the G7 wasn’t selectively edited. Second, we, in conservative media, were right, and the liberals were wrong. Third, they were afraid to lose access. Well, that’s part of the story, no? It draws more attention to why the White House gets jacked up to 345 when age and mental health are mentioned. And if the president was of sound mind, why aren’t they releasing the audio tapes of Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur during his classified doc probe? It all intersects; wasn’t anyone curious why his staff treated the president with “guardrails” as if this were a nursing home? Sounds like a clue: he’s too old.
The game of keep-away, obfuscation, deflection, and gaslighting is over regarding Biden’s health. The president has one more debate with Trump, and numerous public events are expected as the campaign season intensifies. Can he even do it? At a recent fundraiser in McLean, Virginia, Biden blamed extensive travel and insufficient sleep for his miserable performance. He was at Camp David for nearly a week, with naps included during debate prep, and still got annihilated. Before debate camp, he was on vacation again. It wasn’t traveling or jet lag, Joe. You’re too old to do the job:
If taking two trips abroad wipes you out that much for a debate that was over a week after you returned to America from the second one, you have no business being president of the United States. https://t.co/Q2HpG4hves
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) July 2, 2024
Just checked, Biden hasn’t been out of the country since Saturday, June 15th — nearly 2 weeks before the debate. He was at his Delaware beach house/Camp David with little to no events from the 19th until he left for the debate on the 27th…. https://t.co/lF07JXQ9CH
— Ben (@BenBartlettt) July 2, 2024
Also, take a bow, Wall Street Journal:
When the WSJ reported that Biden was slipping - based on 45 sources - the White House LOST IT, attacking reporters and trying to discredit.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) July 2, 2024
Andrew Bates tweeted about it 74 times.
It only took one debate to vindicate them. Good hit from @AnnieLinskey
pic.twitter.com/FyrXvnBUbF
***
This:
Man, journalists are going to be so surprised when they hear about all of Joe’s shady business dealings.
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) July 3, 2024
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