Biden's age and mental capabilities or the lack thereof, have been an issue for a while now. This especially shows through in the polls as we get closer to the 2024 election. While certain troubling aspects for Biden could improve between now and November, he's objectively not getting any younger. This week has certainly been a doozy with Biden's remarks, as he's repeatedly mixed up foreign leaders, even claiming he's spoken to ones who have been dead for some time. This comes after previous weeks have also been a doozy, setting not only a bad pattern but a bad precedent for Biden.
As Matt has covered, Biden has mixed up dead foreign leaders, not just when it comes to France but also Germany. On Monday, he claimed that he had recently met with François Mitterand, who was President of France from 1981 to 1995 and died in 1996. Ironically enough, he was able to correct himself that Mitterand was from France, not Germany, but the official White House transcript had to correct "Mitterand" to "Macron."
Biden tells crowd he recently met with Mitterrand, former French president who died in 1996.
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 6, 2024
"Right after I was elected I went to a G7 meeting. I sat down and said, 'America is back!' and Mitterand from Germany -- I mean France, looked at me and said, 'how long you back for?'" pic.twitter.com/X7hJH8SHk9
Derek Hunter also had a fitting analysis of these mix-ups in his Thursday column for Townhall, pointing out "Joe Needs Visiting Angels, Not A Second Term."
Then, on Wednesday, Biden tried to claim that he spoke to Germany's Helmut Kohl during the first foreign trip Biden took as president, where he said they spoke about January 6. Except Kohl served as German Chancellor from 1982 to 1998 and died in 2017. It was Angela Merkel who was the chancellor at the time in 2021.
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) February 8, 2024
Concerns with Biden are really getting out of control now, as if it hasn't already for some time now. Biden is still, for now, insisting he's running for reelection. If that remains the case, the American voters actually have the chance to do something about his future come 2024.
Doug Powers, from our sister site of Twitchy, made a fitting post comparing Biden to Aunt Bethany and Uncle Louis from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," elderly characters whose questions about family members' life updates are irrelevant and have been for decades.
Biden's next gaffe will be "Is Rusty still in the Navy?" https://t.co/3WhLhljpkz pic.twitter.com/3KSLpiEUgq
— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) February 8, 2024
As fitting as such a hilarious movie is in this case, foreign leaders are laughing at us, including and especially Russia's Vladimir Putin, as John Ullyot highlighted in a Wednesday column for Townhall.
Even Biden's fellow Democrats are taking issue. Unfortunately for Minnesota's Rep. Dean Phillps, his candid and vocal concerns aren't enough to translate to him making a dent with his primary challenge against Biden. Marianne Williamson also suspended her own primary challenge against Biden on Wednesday night.
In 2016, Joe Biden made the wrong decision by not running, and in 2024 he’s making the wrong decision by running.
— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) February 7, 2024
It gives me angst, but someone in Washington has to be honest and say what the entire country knows.
Compare him at the 2016 convention (link below) to yesterday,… https://t.co/tryzhi6fsV
It's impossible to not pick up on these moments, which are becoming increasingly frequent. The New York Post on Tuesday night published an editorial on how "Joe Biden’s mental decline cannot be ignored."
In addition to mentioning specific instances, and there are plenty to mention, the editorial fittingly writes:
The president of the United States is not all there.
It’s been obvious to many of us for a long time, but it’s now grown impossible to ignore.
...
Basically, every time he’s out in public, he glitches — even when he’s got a teleprompter.
Heck, he’s routinely confused about where to go when he leaves a podium.
No wonder his staff obsessively keeps him out of the public eye (and ear).
They just turned down his best chance to connect with the public in the entire election year, period: the traditional Super Bowl interview, answering softball questions in front of the biggest possible TV audience.
If he can’t be trusted with that, with what can he be trusted?
And how bad is he behind closed doors? The world has no idea, and probably won’t until the tell-all memoirs come out once he’s left office.
It’s deeply sad to watch, but also chilling — dangerous for the nation and a gift to our emboldened enemies around the world.
But it's not just conservatives taking notice. Phillips is still a Democrat, for one. NBC News, of all places, also sounded the alarm, marking a notable shift in how the mainstream media has reacted.
"In his second mix-up this week, Biden talks about meeting with dead European leaders" their headline read.
2019: “Biden doesn’t have dementia, he just has a stutter”
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) February 8, 2024
2024: “Biden is talking to dead people again” pic.twitter.com/mpS6BnaTDc
The New York Post calls on the administration to be forthcoming, but White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who it seems is uniquely unqualified, could hardly be less forthcoming.
When Fox News' Peter Doocy asked her about the incident with Biden mixing up Mitterrand with Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Pierre insisted "I'm not even gonna go down that rabbit hole," despite how Doocy was referencing the president's own words and asking a question surely on the mind of even Biden's fellow Democrats.
She's also tried to pivot in other instances when asked about this alarming concern to do with the president.
PETER DOOCY: "How is president Biden ever going to convince the three-quarters of voters who are worried about his physical and mental health that he's okay even though in Las Vegas he told a story about recently talking to a French president who died in 1996?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 6, 2024
KJP: "I'm not… pic.twitter.com/A98B07TNLy
And, it's not just that the president has mixed up foreign leaders. He's also forgotten words. As the New York Post editorial and Greg Gutfeld's Wednesday night monologue for Fox News' "Gutfeld!," addressed, he couldn't even think of the word "Hamas." A reporter had to suggest it for him.
BIDEN: "There is some movement, and I don’t wanna, I don't wanna, let me be choose my words — there's some movement. There's been a response from the, uh, there's been a response from the opposition, but um..."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 6, 2024
REPORTER: "Hamas?"
BIDEN: "Yes, I'm sorry, from Hamas..." pic.twitter.com/wzYqFZCCjM
That NBC News poll from earlier this week, which Guy addressed on Monday, keeps coming up because it can't be emphasized enough how bad it looks for the president. This doesn't merely apply to the economy, but concerns with Biden's age and fitness to be president. Other polls have already addressed how voters don't think Biden will finish a second term.
"An NBC News poll conducted last month found that 76% of voters, including half of Democrats, say they have concerns about Biden’s mental and physical health," that NBC News referenced piece above mentioned.
I also covered the president's remarks in South Carolina, in which he referred to his likely opponent come November, Donald Trump as the "sitting president" and made some more questionable comments about the death of his son, Beau. "Does Biden Not Know Who the Sitting President Is or Where Beau Died? We Just Saw His Worst Weekend Yet," I offered at the time in another VIP piece. That seems to be changing on a weekly basis, though.
