A Tipping Point on Biden’s Decline
Democrats have been reassuring themselves that President Biden’s cognitive decline is no obstacle to his re-election, but perhaps this week will be a tipping point. Special counsel Robert Hur’s report about the President’s failure to recall basic facts of his life and Mr. Biden’s multiplying public lapses are ample reason for urging him to withdraw from the 2024 race.
*** Mr. Hur’s account of his five-hour interview with Mr. Biden opened a rare window on the President in private.
His account exposed what many Americans have suspected based on Mr. Biden’s many public misstatements and faltering physical presence. He couldn’t recall which years he was Vice President or even when his son Beau died.
He said an ally in the Obama Administration’s debate over Afghanistan was on the opposite side. Democrats are raging against Mr. Hur, but they should be grateful.
Mr. Biden’s mental frailty is one reason Mr. Hur offered for not presenting the President’s document-mishandling as a criminal offense before a jury.
His report is also forcing Democrats to confront the political reality that Mr. Biden’s decline could re-elect Donald Trump. Mr.
Biden compounded the damage with his performance in a rare 13-minute press appearance at the White House on Thursday night. He was angry and snappish. Worse, he confused Egypt’s President with Mexico’s in relation to Gaza, of all places.
He also created a problem for Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi by saying he had to be persuaded to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. This followed Mr. Biden’s confusion in recent days over the names of German Chancellors and French Presidents he had spoken to.
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