In an article that revealed the president now “shuffles” and that staffers worry he may trip over wires, The New York Times once more raised the possibility that Joe Biden might be too old to seek re-election.
Biden, 79, has reportedly lost energy, and some of his aides claim that he frequently shuffles while walking, raising concerns that “he will trip on a wire.”
Additionally, he frequently makes mistakes when speaking in front of an audience.
Biden’s staffers admitted to the liberal New York Times that they often hold their breath during his speeches in anticipation of whether he will finish without making a mistake.
The Times has recently started questioning Biden’s suitability for office, a sharp change from its vociferous backing of him in the lead-up to the 2020 election.
The Times’ Peter Baker reports in Saturday’s article, “At 79, Biden Is Testing the Boundaries of Age and the Presidency,” that the president’s “age has increasingly become an uncomfortable issue for him, his team, and his party.”
Baker also talked to Democratic strategists who are worried that Biden running for re-election for a term in the White House that will end when he is 86 is “unwise.”
Since before he was elected, Biden, the oldest president in the history of the United States, has faced criticism for both his physical and mental health.
During events during his presidency, he has made a number of mistakes, including on Friday when it appeared that he was reading from a teleprompter.
He lost control of his bike last month while riding close to his Delaware beach house, and after the accident, he hopped around to show he wasn’t hurt.
Staff members reportedly cringed at the attention the bike fall story received, and many insisted the president is still sharp and inquisitive, according to The Times.
Biden’s health is allegedly a “sensitive topic” in the White House, according to aides.
Biden is mentally focused on his role as president, according to more than a dozen current and former senior officials and advisers, who “uniformly reported” this.
He grills his staff about contentious issues during meetings, they claimed, and works with them to strengthen speech flaws.
They also mentioned Biden’s deteriorating energy levels and increased propensity for stumbling or falling, saying he now appears to be older than he did in previous years.
According to a study by Very Well Health, persons over 65 are more likely to slip and fall, with many of these accidents being brought on by an inappropriate shift in body weight.
According to the CDC, falls are not a natural part of getting older and can be avoided by removing trip risks and engaging in balance and strength training.
Despite concerns from certain staff members about Biden’s physical security during public engagements, his team claims no extra arrangements have been made for the president.
In fact, Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor, Biden’s doctor, said in November that the 78-year-old was “a healthy, energetic male who is fit to properly fulfil the duties of the presidency.”
Biden’s atrial fibrillation was disclosed in his medical report, however it was stated that it was “stable and asymptomatic.”
According to the study, his “ambulatory gait is perceptibly stiffer and less fluid than it was a year or so ago,” and due to gastroesophageal reflux, he constantly coughs and clears his throat.
Biden has been criticized for operating as president five and a half days per week and participating in “less than half as many news conferences or interviews” as his recent forerunners. Additionally, he frequently escapes Pennsylvania Avenue on the weekends.
Similar concerns about Donald Trump’s age and health surfaced throughout his one-term in office, and if he decides to run for government again in 2024, he’ll probably have to deal with an even greater barrage of rumors and innuendo.
The claim that Biden takes days off from his position was refuted by the White House.
President Biden works every day, and since presidents may carry out their duties from anywhere in the world, spending weekends away from the White House has long been customary, according to deputy press secretary Andrew Bates.
According to his aides, the president himself has ordered that his calendar be as full as possible.
He constantly adds new commitments to his calendar, whether they be calls to the new CEO or late-night meetings with members, according to deputy chief of staff Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, who spoke to the newspaper.
When he recently traveled to Madrid for the NATO summit, Biden received criticism for skipping out on certain evening events with other foreign leaders.
However, according to his aides, he was busy and “stayed up working late each night of the trip out of view.”
Analysts are nevertheless concerned about Biden’s reelection intentions despite the physician’s apparent clean bill of health and testimony from his team.
David Gergen, a key advisor to four presidents, said: “I don’t feel it’s wrong to pursue that job after you’re 80 or in your 80s.”
I recently turned 80, and over the past two or three years I’ve come to the conclusion that it would not have been wise for me to try to head any organization.
You’re not quite as keen as you once were, he continued.
“Aging cannot be sugarcoated.” S. Jay Olshansky, a longevity expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, reiterated this sentiment and added: “Right now, there’s no evidence that the age of Biden should matter one ounce.” Things go wrong as we age, and the hazards increase as we become older.
If people disagree with his views or what he says, that is great; they may choose another candidate. However, it has nothing to do with his age.
Biden’s political operatives maintain that he will run for president once more in 2024 despite doubts about his viability.
This has been questioned, and cynics claim that Biden will likely wait before dropping out of the 2024 race in order to avoid being a lame duck president.
With Vice President Kamala Harris scoring poorly among supporters, his party is having a hard time coming up with a potential replacement.
People who are acquainted with Biden’s campaign said that in recent weeks at fundraisers and other party gatherings, he has been pitching fellow Democrats on his reelection strategy.
According to insiders, Biden would present himself as the only Democrat capable of defeating former President Donald Trump, who has expressed interest in running again.
A Democratic source supposedly close to Biden’s campaign told NBC News in late June that the argument he was making at this stage in 2018 about why he thought he would have to run was essentially the same.
He simply went through each applicant.
According to White House insiders, the president will complete his reelection plans after the midterm elections in November and submit his paperwork in early 2023.
In the same way that he utilized the 2018 midterms to prepare for his 2020 presidential campaign, his advisers also said that he is using the midterm elections as a “test run for 2024.”
An important White House adviser told the news organization, “It’s the kind of stuff you can only demonstrate, not describe.”
Regardless of what his team thinks, the 46th president is still being questioned about his health, a topic that has been hotly disputed throughout his 2020 campaign.
Donald Trump made a lot of allegations against Joe Biden during their election debate, despite the fact that the 75-year-old Trump has also been the target of inquiries regarding his own mental health.
Recently, when the president made yet another error in which he appeared to read speaking instructions off his teleprompter, Republican strategist Greg Price made fun of Biden on Twitter.
It is remarkable that a higher proportion of women consistently register to vote and cast ballots than does the corresponding proportion of men. Quote complete. Repeat the line,” the president commanded at a Friday speech at the White House.
Women do not lack political or electoral power.
Price compared it to Will Farrell’s Ron Burgundy’s inability to break from the script on his teleprompter despite grammatical problems and glaring inaccuracies when he posted the video on social media.
Burgundy’s embarrassing on-air speech mishaps are a running joke in the entire film.
Price shared a video of Burgundy’s irate TV team and implied that the White House workers working behind the scenes felt the same way.
Emilie Simons, the White House’s assistant press secretary, refuted Price’s assertion that Biden erred.
No, Biden said, “Let me repeat that statement,” Simons wrote.
Biden lost control of his bicycle last month while riding close to his Rehoboth Beach residence.
He had stopped to say hello to a group of folks who had gathered near the bike track in Gordon’s Pond State Park and were shouting “Happy Father’s Day” at the president.
When he attempted to get off the bike, his shoes became caught, forcing him to fall over sideways and cause a frenzied rush of Secret Service and press to assist him.
After the incident, which saw Biden remain on the ground for around 10 seconds before being pulled up by numerous Secret Service agents, who then rushed the downed Democrat, gasps sounded out from the audience.
A little while later, Biden was mingling with the audience and even inviting one woman to meet his dog, Commander, who was nearby being walked.
Despite the fall, the president did not appear to sustain any wounds or abrasions, and the White House declared that he did not require medical attention as a result of the incident.
After the fall, Biden himself assured reporters, “I’m good.”
The nation’s ongoing supply chain crisis was the topic of Biden’s speech in April, at which point he turned around, extended his hand as if to shake, turned his back on the main audience, and left the stage.
Republicans are criticizing Biden’s cognitive ability after the 79-year-old president earlier stated that he had been a “full professor” at the University of Pennsylvania despite never having taught a class there.
In March, while delivering his State of the Union address, Vice President Biden made a mistake by confusing the country facing invasion with Iran.
In a scathing letter published in February, more than three dozen House Republicans expressed their concerns about Biden’s suitability for office and asked that he take a cognitive test.
Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician, had also written a similar letter in June 2021, but Biden’s team does not appear to have responded publicly.