Last Thursday, we touched upon how even the mainstream media are noticing issues with President Joe Biden's mental faculties, as he repeatedly mixes up foreign leaders, even claiming he recently met with dead ones. The release of Special Counsel Robert Hur's report that same day surely didn't help the situation for Biden, as it stated the president is too old to be charged for mishandling classified documents. And, as we get closer to the 2024 election, more and more polls are coming out, and, at least at this point, they look pretty bad for Biden. Earlier Monday, Matt covered an ABC News/Ipsos poll showing 86 percent of voters feel Biden is too old. This comes after honest admittances from normally friendly liberal media outlets, which did not sit well with Biden's most ardent supporters.
Even before the release of that poll on Sunday, there were plenty of concerns regarding the president to highlight. Biden, who didn't appear for his 7:45 pm press briefing Thursday night until close to 8 pm, was angry and defensive with reporters as they appropriately questioned issues raised by the special counsel about his memory.
Speaking of mixing up leaders, Biden did so again that night, as he mixed up the presidents of Egypt and Mexico when returning to the podium to answer a question about Gaza. He also smeared Israel in the process.
Biden mixes up the presidents of Mexico and Egypt when discussing the conflict in Israel and the Gaza strip:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 9, 2024
"As you know, initially, the president of Mexico El-Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him, I convinced him to… pic.twitter.com/stbbNAMK3x
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who has been dismissive in the past about such concerns, downplayed this mix-up and others during Friday's press briefing, as she had been doing all week. During Monday's press briefing, she continued to be less than transparent about the president's cognitive decline. Jean-Pierre also couldn't speak to the lack of Biden's press briefings, which has been an issue for years.
Thursday night was so clearly problematic for the president that even The New York Times picked up on it. The president's supporters over social media became apoplectic, giving off vibes about the lengths they'll go to in order to blindly support Biden and also their fundamental misunderstanding about liberal media bias.
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There is something mentally and morally broken at the New York Times Editorial section. They helped Trump win in 2016 and they're trying to do it again. https://t.co/f3xHqR1gYm
— Laura Chapin (@LauraChapin) February 10, 2024
If you go to the NYT app, these are the three lead stories you see: yes, one of them mentions Trump, but even that one takes aim at Biden. No mention of Trump’s 30+ gaffes and lies yesterday. You’d think Biden’s age is threatening our democracy based on this. Horrible. pic.twitter.com/kXIjLBhR4E
— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) February 10, 2024
And here’s what their editorial page looks like. I know their different sides of the newsroom, but that doesn’t excuse FOUR stories being about how bad Biden’s age is for him without ANY mention of Trump’s. Our media is failing us so badly it’s not funny. Do better @nytimes /END pic.twitter.com/MZL1lrXXdp
— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) February 10, 2024
We all know why. The media cares about ratings. The media wants the clicks. Covering all of Joe Biden’s policies aren’t exciting, but guess what? They’re what real Americans care about. They couldn’t care less about age if the president gets things done.
— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) February 10, 2024
When you run a publication, the choices you make in which stories to cover and highlight mean everything.
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 11, 2024
On the left, see the top headline right now on the NY Times.
On the right, see the top headline on https://t.co/H6G2WjUs8J.
We think we made the right choice. pic.twitter.com/8070DFCioP
Among the pieces that those like MeidasTouch and Biden delegate Victor Shi took issue with include a piece from the editorial board, "The Challenges of an Aging President," Maureen Dowd's "Mr. President, Ditch the Stealth About Health," Ross Douthat's "The Question Is Not If Biden Should Step Aside. It's How" and Bret Stephens' "Democrats Can No Longer Stay Silent About Biden." They're all worthwhile ideas to ponder, and it's worth pointing to how they're in the editorial section. They're opinion pieces, though the authors certainly aren't the only ones with such views.
Let's also not forget how, as our sister site Twitchy highlighted, The New York Times went with the typical mainstream media accusation of how Republicans had "seized" and "pounce[d]" on the special counsel's report.
Then came the Biden surrogates trotted out for the Sunday shows. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), who serves as a co-chair of the Biden campaign, also complained about media coverage during his appearance on ABC News' "This Week."
"Here's what matters, not the occasional small gaffe. He had a 12-minute press conference where he was focused, engaged, purposeful, and all you're focused on is that one minute at the end," Coons tried to argue as they discussed Thursday's press briefing, although that's not at all the reality we're dealing with, and host Jonathan Karl did correct him on that.
"That's not exactly fair," Karl pointed out, reminding how "this was not just one moment in the 12-minute press conference," as he also played clips of Biden last week mixing up the foreign leaders in France and Germany.
"I mean, there are a number of these incidents. And they may be gaffes. We all make mistakes. We all make mistakes," Karl went on to add. "But this is what the American public is seeing, and it's raised concerns. Our poll shows over 80 percent responding say that they think that Biden is too old to serve as president again."
Coons response reeked of desperation, as he complained, "If press coverage focuses relentlessly on things that don't represent Joe Biden's real body of work, you can push toward that kind of result."
Biden campaign co-chair Chris Coons claims Americans have serious doubts over Biden's mental fitness because of the media pic.twitter.com/WjTm2jfkCH
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 11, 2024
When it comes to that ABC News/Ipsos poll mentioned above, that was mentioned during the episode as well as that very segment with Coons, who came off as desperate as he went from trying to downplay the poll to ranting about how it should have addressed other issues.
Karl also pointed out to Coons that the poll did focus on other issues and showed that voters also disapprove of Biden's handling of immigration. "And the polling shows widespread disapproval of how President Biden has handled the border and also the foreign policy," Karl mentioned.
Not only did the poll show that 86 percent of voters think that Biden is too old for a second term, but more voters trust former and potentially future President Donald Trump when it comes to immigration as well as foreign policy crises under Biden's watch, such as the war between Israel and Hamas and Ukraine and Russia.
When asked who they trust more to do a better job handling "Immigration and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border," 44 percent say they trust Trump more compared to the 26 percent who say they trust Biden more. Just as many say they trust Biden as say they trust neither candidate. Thirty-five percent trust Trump more on the Israel-Hamas conflict, compared to the 27 percent who trust Biden more, and 36 percent say they trust Trump more on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, compared to the 33 percent who trust Biden more.
The poll also wrecks a common narrative not only from Coons, but from other Democrats, in that 49 percent of voters blame Biden "for Congress not passing legislation intended to decrease the numbers of illegal border crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border," while 38 percent say the same about Trump.
Another clip of Coons' appearance also involved him claiming that the report showed Biden was "cleared completely," which has been a common but misleading narrative from the White House.
This wasn't the only poll to be addressed during the Sunday shows. Last week, NBC News released a poll showing that 76 percent of voters are concerned about Biden's age.
On NBC News' "Meet the Press," fellow campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu appeared, where he downplayed concerns about Biden's mental capacities
Complaining that the report constituted an "ad hominem attack that questioned the president's capacity," Landrieu spoke about his long relationship with the president. "I've been working very closely with this president for the past two years. I've been knowing him for 30 years. I have met with him personally. I have met with him with two people, five people, ten people. I have been on trips with him, crisscrossing the country, rebuilding America, based on this incredible infrastructure bill that was passed," he shared. "And I'm telling you, this guy's tough, he's smart, he's on his game. And as Secretary Mayorkas said a minute ago, 'When you go on to brief the president, you better have your big boy pants on.' And this kind of sense that he's not ready for this job is just a bucket of BS that's so deep your boots will get stuck in."
In response, host Kristen Welker reminded him multiple times of that NBC poll. Landrieu answered, in part, by offering "that the president's accomplishments have really been second to none."
Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu says questions around Biden's mental fitness are "a bucket of BS that's so deep your boots will get stuck."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 11, 2024
NBC's Kristen Welker: "Americans don't agree with what you're saying ... 76% of voters are concerned!" pic.twitter.com/cwcr9akc5D
