Joe Biden wandering away at a G7 summit in Italy, June 2024

Revelations that Joe Biden’s cognitive decline was even worse than what most people thought, and the gymnastics his staff, closest aides, and family performed to hide Biden’s decline, are making headlines, and those headlines are disturbing. Now that Biden’s stage 4 prostate cancer has been revealed, and the likelihood he had the cancer even when he was running for president in 2020, and the likelihood that he and his wife knew about it all along, a lot of questions are being asked about just what the Democratic party was thinking when they put Biden forward as a candidate for 2020, and again when he decided to run for re-election in 2024.

Reports are coming out that, during preparation for the debate with Trump in June of last year, Biden was observed taking naps, lying by the pool, and either disengaged or not being able to follow along with the debate prep. We all saw the stumbling, the mumbling, the incoherent statements, the wandering, the forgetfulness. It was all broadcast on live television. Even still, Biden’s campaign insisted that the president was engaged, in charge, and up for another four years. The press played along, describing Biden as sharp, “the best Biden ever!” – even as they televised all those stumbles, mumbles, incoherent statements, wanderings, and forgettings. The debate against Trump was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Biden’s performance was a disaster. Attempts to shrug it off as a “bad night” went no where. People weren’t just concerned. They were alarmed that this was the candidate of the Democratic party to be president for the next four years.

As it turns out, it may just be that Biden hadn’t been much of an acting president for the previous four years. His cognitive decline was such that, according to some theories, Biden became an empty suit, and the country was being run by a small team of close allies to Biden, as well as his wife, Jill and son, Hunter. What is worse, people were discussing his cognitive decline even before he announced his candidacy for president in 2019. So, why did the Democratic Party run a man in 2020 for whom many had concerns about his capacity to function as a sitting president for the following four years, and run him again when the entire country shared those concerns?

Two possible reasons come immediately to my mind: pride and power. Biden is a proud man. The image he tries to create of being an everyday guy who gets along with the ordinary folk is, I think, lost on most people. Joe Biden is not ordinary folk. He has been one of the most powerful and influential politicians in Washington, DC for decades. He likes that. I’m not begrudging him that, either. He worked to get elected, and then regularly re-elected as a senator from Delaware. It was unfortunate, in my mind, that Barack Obama chose him as his running mate in 2008 because it lifted Biden, who otherwise likely had no real shot at the White House, into a serious contender. But let’s not pretend that Biden’s just ol’ Joe yukking it up with the guys in the barbershop while they watch the ball game on the corner TV. He has been a genuine power player. My judgment is that he has proved himself one of the most corrupt politicians on the scene, peddling his influence to push foreign policy for the financial benefit of his family, both with Ukraine and China. But that’s when he had the cognitive ability to manage such things. Based on reports from staff and aides, Biden hasn’t had that capacity for some time now.

But he couldn’t let go. Biden’s pride – it was no secret that he always wanted to be president, if only to say that he was president – and his desire for power kept him in the running. And, when his decline came to a head, it was his closest aides and family that kept him in the running, long after Biden was beyond the point where he could no longer reasonably function as a world leader, nevermind the leader of the free world. Why? Because they lived the pride and power vicariously through the “the Big Guy.” And, according to some, not even vicariously. These people held real power, power that Biden had as president but couldn’t command. So they did. They made decisions that only the president can make, because the president was in no shape to make them.

The column by Katy Balls for The Times of London linked above cites those who, in many minds, really ran the White House during Biden’s presidency, especially in the last year or more. Writing for Politico of a small group of aides and family members dubbed by others as “the Politburo” after the Soviet-style inner circle that surrounded the president of the USSR, James Kirchick mentions first Mike Donilon, a close friend of Biden’s for forty years, as the leader of “the Politburo” and the political director of the group. Steve Ricchetti, Ball writes, managed legislative affairs and let anyone have it who questioned Biden’s cognitive health. Ron Klain, Biden’s chief-of-staff until 2023, remained in the mix even after he left his post. It was Klain who reported, to his shock, how disengaged Biden was during his debate prep. Bruce Reed, apparently, was Biden’s policy wonk. He helped prepare Biden for the debate with Trump and insisted he was still able to run after the disastrous night. Anthony Bernal was Jill Biden’s chief aide and ran damage control for the president in a role that Ball describes as “casting out potential heretics.” Kamala Harris was in the mix, but only barely. Her job, as far as Biden’s team was concerned, was to make sure, as Biden himself put it, there was “no daylight” between the two in terms of policy. Biden’s team felt the need to keep Biden on the ticket because they were convinced that Harris couldn’t win. The “no daylight” expectation ultimately failed Harris. Her polling was devastated when she was asked by Sonny Hostin on “The View” what she would have done differently over the previous four years than Biden, and Harris said she couldn’t think of anything. Harris basically admitted that the next four years with her at the helm would be the same dumpster fire that Biden’s administration had been. No wonder she got clobbered!

At the center of it all, however, was “Dr. Jill.” Jill Biden loved being First Lady and she didn’t want to give it up. She was the one most responsible, other than Biden himself, of course, of convincing Joe to run in 2020 and again in 2024. She has been labeled “Lady McBiden” (after Lady MacBeth) for the role she played in bringing her man to power and her attempts at keeping him there. After the June debate against Trump, Jill chimed, “Joe, you did such a great job! You answered every question! You know all the facts!” Okay, if that’s a direct quote of what Jill Biden said (from Kirchick’s column), then that is so disturbing. She sounds like a woman talking to her child, not a First Lady encouraging the President of the United States for a job well done. Kirchick writes, “One feels slightly more respect for Jill learning that she has since expressed private regret for this performace.” Is he talking about Joe’s performance or hers? Either way … nah … not a lot of respect for her. Sally Quinn, widow of long-time editor of The Washington Post Ben Bradley, and a contributing columnist herself, accuses Jill Biden of elder abuse. Yep. Makes sense to me. Her husband was in no position to run again – really, in no position to run the first time, given the failure of his presidency – and yet she pushed him on. Why? Because she couldn’t let go of the pride and power. She was, presidential historians are claiming, one of the most powerful First Ladies in history, mostly because her husband was so incapacitated.

This draws parallels to Edith Wilson, First Lady to Woodrow Wilson, who hid the effects of her husband’s stroke and, for all intents and purposes, filled the shoes of the president for the remaining more than a year of Wilson’s second term. This had massive consequences for world history. Because of Wilson’s inability to provide support for the League of Nations, the United States never joined the League. Without American muscle, the League was powerless to stop Hitler’s rise and conquest of Europe. What would have been different had Edith Wilson acknowledged her husband’s incapacitation and allowed the Constitution to play out? Would Thomas Marshall been able to summon the necessary support for the League in Congress, creating a stronger League of Nations capable of facing off against Hitler? We’ll never know. But Edith Wilson’s sin of omission is a dark stain on the presidency.

Just so Jill Biden. “Dr. Jill’s” refusal to encourage her husband to step down ruined the Democrat’s chances of beating Trump. The party that constantly calls Trump a “threat to democracy” threw democracy out the window when Biden was allowed to coronate Harris as his heir. He wanted her to succeed him because he wanted someone who would provide “no daylight” with his policies, which would prove, at least in Biden’s mind, that his presidency was a success. He selfishly wanted the American people to vote on his legacy, even if he wasn’t running himself, hoping (expecting?) they would affirm it. Harris was the only one who represented that legacy, because she was his number-two in the White House. And the Democrats caved to the selfish old man’s desires. As much as they insist that Trump is the incarnation of evil, the Hitler of the 21st century, the racist, misogynistic, dangerous threat to civilization, they were willing to hand him the White House to satisfy the selfish desires of a cognitively incapacitated octogenarian.

How long will it take for the Democratic Party to recover from this? It will likely take a while. I say that not as an enthusiastic Republican (I am neither enthusiasitic about American politics right now, nor a Republican), but as one who thinks that America works best when competing parties keep each other honest. The Democrats had already run afoul of the American people for their extreme leftist ideas: abortion without restrictions, transgender ideology (including hormone therapy and sex-change surgery for children), a weak foreign policy that kow-towed to China and proved unable to effectively counter Putin, weaponizing government against political enemies and ordinary citizens who opposed their goals, dependence on hostile foreign governments for our energy needs and an extreme green agenda. The list goes on. But now the Democrats have to contend with the fact that they gaslighted the American people on the one issue that represents the heart of American political life: they allowed a man who was unfit for the office of president to remain in power, so that his unelected friends and family members could rule in his stead. Americans regard their presidency with pride, I think. When the president visits foreign nations, he represents us. When he gives a speech, especially from behind the Resolute Desk, he is speaking to us and for us. We instinctively want our president to succeed, to be a great president, to face crises head-on and effectively, and to keep the peace. We want his support for our efforts to achieve the American Dream. All of this was taken from us when Joe Biden reached the point where he could barely string two coherent thoughts together. And we saw it live on TV. How will the Democrats overcome that break in trust with the American people? I don’t know. Maybe – hopefully – it will inspire the rise of truly meaningful third parties. The two-party system is not working well for our country. We are polarized. Perhaps more political parties will give people a chance to participate in meaningful ways in the political system, even when their party is not in the White House. Effective minorities can band together and make a majority. Today, it’s almost considered treason for a Democrat to vote for a Republican bill, or vice-verse. How’s that working for us?

Our presidency is too powerful. Trump has signed 152 Executive Orders so far in just the first four months of his second term. 152! That’s only ten shy of Biden’s total over his four years. If he keeps that pace, he’ll sign over 1800 EO’s over his four year second term. What happened to Congress? Laws are supposed to be passed by the Legislative branch, interpreted by the Judicial branch, and enforced by the Executive branch. Congress has surrendered it’s power to the presidency. They need to take it back.

Well, I’m starting on an entirely different path here, so I had better close. Bottom line: the Democrats who enabled Biden, the press who ran cover for him, and his family that pathetically put him up for a position he was not fit to fill have committed a serious disservice to this country. They ought to be held accountable, but they will not be, at least criminally. For better or worse, it isn’t against the law to run a cognitively impaired person for public office. But the Democrats may be held accountable in the next few string of elections. That is, if Trump himself doesn’t prove an even greater disaster than Biden.

I pray for my country.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.