https://nypost.com/2024/06/30/us-news/disturbing-new-details-emerge-about-
bidens-mental-state-and-the-steps-staffers-go-to-hide-them/

More questions about President Biden�s cognitive state are emerging as a
new poll showed a jaw-dropping 72% of registered voters do not believe he
is mentally fit for the job.

While many Democrats were left flabbergasted and sent into a tailspin by
Biden�s debate debacle last week, the 81-year-old president�s cognitive
slips have been nothing new to his inner circle.

White House aides have been meticulously working behind the scenes
throughout his presidency to minimize his exposure to situations where his
cognitive slip-ups could flare up in public and to adapt the day-to-day of
the presidency to the needs of an octogenarian.

The commander-in-chief is seen as prone to absent-minded gaffes and
fatigue outside of six hours a day � between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. � and
while traveling abroad, Axios said in a new report.

From shorter stairs when boarding Air Force One to guiding him on jaunts
over concerns about his gait and proclivity for appearing lost, his team
has reportedly been forced to step up its efforts over time to shield him
more and more.

�I know many of these people and how the White House operates,� said
Chandler West, the White House�s former deputy director of photography
under Biden, in an Instagram story after the debate, Axios reported.

�They will say he has a �cold� or just experienced a �bad night,� but for
weeks and months, in private, they have all said what we saw last night �
Joe is not as strong as he was just a couple of years ago,� West said.

�The debate was not the first bad day, and it�s not gonna be the last,�
said the ex-administration staffer, who had a first-hand seat to the
president�s behavior.

�It�s time for Joe to go.�

The problem is, �A true succession plan does not exist,� a senior Dem
campaign adviser admitted to CNN. �That�s what makes all of this not just
heartbreaking but very problematic.�

The White House has hit back at these characterizations of Biden�s mental
acuity.

�Not only does the President perform around the clock, but he maintains a
schedule that tires younger aides, including foreign trips into active war
zones, and he proves he has that capacity by delivering tangible results
that pundits had declared impossible,� White House deputy press secretary
Andrew Bates said in a statement.

Bates cited NATO expansion, �outmaneuvering China to bring manufacturing
home,� and �out-negotiating Republican officials as they try to impose
recession-causing MAGAnomics policies and radical abortion bans� as
evidence that Biden is up to the job.

In addition to his mental issues, the elderly president reportedly often
wears orthopedic shoes and has undergone physical therapy to help combat
stiffness, the White House physician previously disclosed.

After his hard fall during last year�s Air Force Academy commencement
caused by him tripping over a sandbag onstage, aides have been careful to
avert any repeats.

Post-debate footage showed the president being helped off stage slowly by
his wife after the 90-minute bout against former President Donald Trump,
78.

A former White House staffer who was tasked with helping to tend to the
president�s accommodations in the executive mansion told Axios that senior
officials often �wouldn�t let us do anything for them,� suggesting it is
to keep Biden�s issues on the down-low.

�In every administration, there are individuals who would prefer to spend
more time with the President and senior officials,� Bates said, crediting
Biden for �achieving historic results for the American people because of
his determination, values, and experience.�

Press access in Biden�s White House has also been remarkably limited.

Three and a half years into his presidency, Biden has held the fewest solo
press conferences of any president since at least the late 1980s � despite
several raging wars, a migrant border crisis and economic upheaval,
according to data from the American Presidency Project.

Moreover, he rarely does sit-down interviews with news outlets. One rare
interview he gave to Time Magazine that was published earlier this month
featured him conflating Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President
Vladimir Putin, as well as making a series of other factual blunders.

�I have been very critical of the campaign strategy and the White House
and their decision to sort of bubble-wrap him in the last year � you can�t
run for president by duck and cover,� a former spokesman for the first
lady, Michael LaRosa recently vented on Fox News� �Media Buzz.�

Several reporters have alleged that Biden campaign officials have sought
to dissuade them from talking with rally attendees who were questioning
the wisdom of having him as nominee.

At times, Biden has quipped about his handlers demanding that he limit his
own question-and-answer sessions during press sprays. In September, an
official was heard telling the press that the conference was over � while
Biden was rambling on. Staffers appeared to turn on music to signal the
end as well.

Behind the scenes, First Lady Jill Biden has reportedly lashed out at
aides who failed to cut short pressers where Biden was making gaffes.

Flashback: WH bristles over �cheap fakes�
Clips of Biden rambling in hard-to-follow tangents, making glaring verbal
mishaps, appearing to struggle on his way off stage and just appearing to
wander around generally have swirled online.

Earlier this month, the White House press team launched a full-throated
effort to push back against many of those clips and bashed The Post�s
reporting on several of them.

Underpinning the White House�s grievances were concerns that the footage
was heavily edited and therefore lacked complete context, thereby painting
an unfair picture of him as infirm.

They called those clips �cheap fakes.�

The motivation was obvious. The White House was endeavoring to disabuse
the pesky narrative about Biden�s age that had long haunted his
presidency.

Biden put on an energetic performance during his State of the Union
address (when he stood behind a teleprompter) in March that eased many
concerns. The goal was to have him do it again.

�Watch Me�
On Thursday, Biden was on the debate stage unfiltered before an estimated
51 million Americans to see.

Biden had long sought to prove his naysayers on age wrong with the simple
retort: �Watch me.� Media pundits and Democrats did just that. And it left
them deeply rattled and panicked.

The president was onstage with a raspy voice, which he later attributed
that to a cold, and struggled to give coherent answers at times while
staring blankly into the cameras at others.

CNN liberal analyst Van Jones appeared to be on the verge of tears
afterward. He was not alone.

Others felt they had been fooled by the White House and Biden�s allies
about the exact state of the president�s condition.

�This is no longer about Joe Biden�s family or his emotions,� an adviser
in touch with the West Wing fumed to Axios. �This is about our country.
It�s an utter f�king disaster that has to be addressed.

�There will be a reckoning.�

A Democrat insider told Page Six that Biden�s Hamptons fundraiser Saturday
did little to ease concerns.

�It was like he was putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound,� the Democrat
veteran said. �He did not have a �bad� debate, he was visibly unwell.�

Unease about his age had long lingered over his presidency, but now
efforts to obscure it fell apart on national television.

Some Democrats told The Post they believed Biden�s inner circle has fallen
prey to a certain level of �delusion� on Biden.

�The level of delusion is wild,� that Democrat said. �I don�t know the
team around him is seeing what everyone else saw. And they need to focus
on getting back on track.�

Even beyond the US, some allies who had been rooting for Biden to prevail
in the Nov. 5 presidential election seemed concerned. But fears about his
mental condition had loomed overseas as well even before the debate.

�He ended the meeting with the same anecdote he started it with,� a source
familiar told the Financial Times about a recent meeting Biden had with an
EU leader, noting that he seemed sharp at first.

�Everyone�s heart sank.�

Biden�s team had been the one that pitched the debate to Trump in the
first place, who promptly accepted it under terms that some of his allies
felt were less than favorable, explaining later that he figured the offer
came as a ploy to entice him to reject it.

Clean-up duty

Top Dems such as National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison as well as
former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have all sought to nudge
the party to calm down.

�I think it�s unhelpful, and I think it�s unnecessary,� California Gov.
Gavin Newsom vented after the debate to MSNBC regarding trepidations about
keeping Biden at the top of the party�s ticket.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 84, and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), 83,
did Sunday news interviews seeking to thaw out concerns over Biden.

> Leroy N. Soetoro wrote:
>
https://nypost.com/2024/06/30/us-news/disturbing-new-details-emerge-about-
> bidens-mental-state-and-the-steps-staffers-go-to-hide-them/
>
> More questions about President Biden’s cognitive state are emerging
as a
> new poll showed a jaw-dropping 72% of registered voters do not
believe he
> is mentally fit for the job.
>
> While many Democrats were left flabbergasted and sent into a
tailspin by
> Biden’s debate debacle last week, the 81-year-old president’s
cognitive
> slips have been nothing new to his inner circle.
>
> White House aides have been meticulously working behind the scenes
> throughout his presidency to minimize his exposure to situations
where his
> cognitive slip-ups could flare up in public and to adapt the
day-to-day of
> the presidency to the needs of an octogenarian.
>
> The commander-in-chief is seen as prone to absent-minded gaffes and

> fatigue outside of six hours a day — between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. —
and
> while traveling abroad, Axios said in a new report.
>
> From shorter stairs when boarding Air Force One to guiding him on
jaunts
> over concerns about his gait and proclivity for appearing lost, his
team
> has reportedly been forced to step up its efforts over time to
shield him
> more and more.
>
> “I know many of these people and how the White House operates,”
said
> Chandler West, the White House’s former deputy director of
photography
> under Biden, in an Instagram story after the debate, Axios
reported.
>
> “They will say he has a ‘cold’ or just experienced a ‘bad night,’
but for
> weeks and months, in private, they have all said what we saw last
night —
> Joe is not as strong as he was just a couple of years ago,” West
said.
>
> “The debate was not the first bad day, and it’s not gonna be the
last,”
> said the ex-administration staffer, who had a first-hand seat to
the
> president’s behavior.
>
> “It’s time for Joe to go.”
>
> The problem is, “A true succession plan does not exist,” a senior
Dem
> campaign adviser admitted to CNN. “That’s what makes all of this
not just
> heartbreaking but very problematic.”
>
> The White House has hit back at these characterizations of Biden’s
mental
> acuity.
>
> “Not only does the President perform around the clock, but he
maintains a
> schedule that tires younger aides, including foreign trips into
active war
> zones, and he proves he has that capacity by delivering tangible
results
> that pundits had declared impossible,” White House deputy press
secretary
> Andrew Bates said in a statement.
>
> Bates cited NATO expansion, “outmaneuvering China to bring
manufacturing
> home,” and “out-negotiating Republican officials as they try to
impose
> recession-causing MAGAnomics policies and radical abortion bans” as

> evidence that Biden is up to the job.
>
> In addition to his mental issues, the elderly president reportedly
often
> wears orthopedic shoes and has undergone physical therapy to help
combat
> stiffness, the White House physician previously disclosed.
>
> After his hard fall during last year’s Air Force Academy
commencement
> caused by him tripping over a sandbag onstage, aides have been
careful to
> avert any repeats.
>
> Post-debate footage showed the president being helped off stage
slowly by
> his wife after the 90-minute bout against former President Donald
Trump,
> 78.
>
> A former White House staffer who was tasked with helping to tend to
the
> president’s accommodations in the executive mansion told Axios that
senior
> officials often “wouldn’t let us do anything for them,” suggesting
it is
> to keep Biden’s issues on the down-low.
>
> “In every administration, there are individuals who would prefer to
spend
> more time with the President and senior officials,” Bates said,
crediting
> Biden for “achieving historic results for the American people
because of
> his determination, values, and experience.”
>
> Press access in Biden’s White House has also been remarkably
limited.
>
> Three and a half years into his presidency, Biden has held the
fewest solo
> press conferences of any president since at least the late 1980s —
despite
> several raging wars, a migrant border crisis and economic upheaval,

> according to data from the American Presidency Project.
>
> Moreover, he rarely does sit-down interviews with news outlets. One
rare
> interview he gave to Time Magazine that was published earlier this
month
> featured him conflating Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian
President
> Vladimir Putin, as well as making a series of other factual
blunders.
>
> “I have been very critical of the campaign strategy and the White
House
> and their decision to sort of bubble-wrap him in the last year —
you can’t
> run for president by duck and cover,” a former spokesman for the
first
> lady, Michael LaRosa recently vented on Fox News’ “Media Buzz.”
>
> Several reporters have alleged that Biden campaign officials have
sought
> to dissuade them from talking with rally attendees who were
questioning
> the wisdom of having him as nominee.
>
> At times, Biden has quipped about his handlers demanding that he
limit his
> own question-and-answer sessions during press sprays. In September,
an
> official was heard telling the press that the conference was over —
while
> Biden was rambling on. Staffers appeared to turn on music to signal
the
> end as well.
>
> Behind the scenes, First Lady Jill Biden has reportedly lashed out
at
> aides who failed to cut short pressers where Biden was making
gaffes.
>
> Flashback: WH bristles over ‘cheap fakes’
> Clips of Biden rambling in hard-to-follow tangents, making glaring
verbal
> mishaps, appearing to struggle on his way off stage and just
appearing to
> wander around generally have swirled online.
>
> Earlier this month, the White House press team launched a
full-throated
> effort to push back against many of those clips and bashed The
Post’s
> reporting on several of them.
>
> Underpinning the White House’s grievances were concerns that the
footage
> was heavily edited and therefore lacked complete context, thereby
painting
> an unfair picture of him as infirm.
>
> They called those clips “cheap fakes.”
>
> The motivation was obvious. The White House was endeavoring to
disabuse
> the pesky narrative about Biden’s age that had long haunted his
> presidency.
>
> Biden put on an energetic performance during his State of the Union

> address (when he stood behind a teleprompter) in March that eased
many
> concerns. The goal was to have him do it again.
>
> ‘Watch Me’
> On Thursday, Biden was on the debate stage unfiltered before an
estimated
> 51 million Americans to see.
>
> Biden had long sought to prove his naysayers on age wrong with the
simple
> retort: “Watch me.” Media pundits and Democrats did just that. And
it left
> them deeply rattled and panicked.
>
> The president was onstage with a raspy voice, which he later
attributed
> that to a cold, and struggled to give coherent answers at times
while
> staring blankly into the cameras at others.
>
> CNN liberal analyst Van Jones appeared to be on the verge of tears
> afterward. He was not alone.
>
> Others felt they had been fooled by the White House and Biden’s
allies
> about the exact state of the president’s condition.
>
> “This is no longer about Joe Biden’s family or his emotions,” an
adviser
> in touch with the West Wing fumed to Axios. “This is about our
country.
> It’s an utter f–king disaster that has to be addressed.
>
> “There will be a reckoning.”
>
> A Democrat insider told Page Six that Biden’s Hamptons fundraiser
Saturday
> did little to ease concerns.
>
> “It was like he was putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound,” the
Democrat
> veteran said. “He did not have a ‘bad’ debate, he was visibly
unwell.”
>
> Unease about his age had long lingered over his presidency, but now

> efforts to obscure it fell apart on national television.
>
> Some Democrats told The Post they believed Biden’s inner circle has
fallen
> prey to a certain level of “delusion” on Biden.
>
> “The level of delusion is wild,” that Democrat said. “I don’t know
the
> team around him is seeing what everyone else saw. And they need to
focus
> on getting back on track.”
>
> Even beyond the US, some allies who had been rooting for Biden to
prevail
> in the Nov. 5 presidential election seemed concerned. But fears
about his
> mental condition had loomed overseas as well even before the
debate.
>
> “He ended the meeting with the same anecdote he started it with,” a
source
> familiar told the Financial Times about a recent meeting Biden had
with an
> EU leader, noting that he seemed sharp at first.
>
> “Everyone’s heart sank.”
>
> Biden’s team had been the one that pitched the debate to Trump in
the
> first place, who promptly accepted it under terms that some of his
allies
> felt were less than favorable, explaining later that he figured the
offer
> came as a ploy to entice him to reject it.
>
> Clean-up duty
>
> Top Dems such as National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison as well
as
> former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have all sought to
nudge
> the party to calm down.
>
> “I think it’s unhelpful, and I think it’s unnecessary,” California
Gov.
> Gavin Newsom vented after the debate to MSNBC regarding
trepidations about
> keeping Biden at the top of the party’s ticket.
>
> Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 84, and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC),
83,
> did Sunday news interviews seeking to thaw out concerns over Biden.
>
> LaRosa mused on X,”Is this a smart surrogate strategy? Sending an
83-year-
> old out on the cable shows today to make the case for the
81-year-old
> candidate?”
>
> Clyburn conceded that Biden’s debate appearance “was a bad
performance”
> but chalked it up in part to excessive preparation.
>
> “I’ve been a part of debate preparation before, and I know when I
see what
> I call preparation overload,” Clyburn told CNN’s “State of the
Union.”
>
> Pelosi sought to defend Biden by hitting at Trump.
>
> “There are healthcare professionals who think that Trump has
dementia,”
> Pelosi contended on “State of the Union.” “His thoughts do not go
> together. Not only that — he just lies.”
>
> Biden himself acknowledged that he had a rough go of things
Thursday night
> while at a rally in Raleigh, NC, the next day, and privately felt
> humiliated as well as “devoid of confidence,” NBC reported.
>
> Bleak polling
> Initial polling in the wake of the debate suggests that faith in
Biden has
> been shaken.
>
> A staggering 72% of respondents in a CBS News/YouGov poll said they
don’t
> think Biden possesses the “mental and cognitive health necessary to
serve
> as president.” It was 41% among Democrats.
>
> But as the Biden campaign noted in a recent fundraising note,
enthusiasm
> for an alternative candidate isn’t particularly strong, either.
>
> Deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty cited a survey from Data for
Progress
> that showed Trump beating all the top Democrats but stressed its
finding
> that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris performed the
strongest.
>
> Biden is expected to be crowned the Democrats’ presidential
standard
> bearer within the coming weeks virtually ahead of the Democratic
National
> Convention.
>
> Conversation
>
> Anthony Armenio
> 2 days ago
>
> I’m one of the 28% of the voters who thinks he should remain on the