Joe Biden
Joe Biden announced 21 July 2024 that he will end his presidential re-election campaign, bringing an abrupt and humbling conclusion to his half-century-long political career and scrambling the race for the White House just months before Election Day.
The turning point came on June 27, when Biden and Trump met each other on stage in Atlanta, Georgia, for the first debate of the 2024 presidential race. But Biden, who had spent days at the presidential retreat Camp David preparing for the debate, delivered a noticeably wobbly performance. From the moment he stepped on stage, observers noted his stiff walk and hoarse voice. And it only got worse from there, as he delivered meandering answers and incomplete thoughts. Biden’s debate performance reignited long-standing criticisms that the 81-year-old was simply too old to handle the pressures of the presidency.
On 28 February 2024 Presidential physician Kevin C O'Connor reported that Joe Biden "continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations... the President was demonstrating a perceptibly stiffened ambulatory gait as compared to before his foot fracture.... much of his stiffness is in fact a result of degenerative "wear and tear") osteoarthritic changes (or spondylosis) of his spine. ... An extremely detailed neurologic exam was again reassuring in that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's or ascending lateral sclerosis... This exam did again support a finding of peripheral neuropathy in both feet. No motor weakness was detected. He exhibits no tremor. either at rest or with activity. He demonstrates excellent fine motor dexterity... The President has been happily married for 46 years. He does not use any tobacco products, does not drink alcohol, and he continues to work out at least five days per week.... President Biden is a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief."
On 07 November 2020, the Associated Press projected that Biden had passed the 270 electoral vote margin needed to win the presidency. Biden had 290 electoral votes, according to the AP. The Democratic candidate, 77, was projected to have surpassed the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to win his hard-fought matchup with incumbent Donald Trump. The 74-year-old Republican has not conceded defeat and vowed to pursue a number of legal challenges in several battleground states.
Biden started with a base of 187 Electoral College votes from the District of Columbia and 14 solidly Democratic states, including two of the country’s largest: California, which is worth a whopping 55 Electoral College votes, and New York, which holds 29. Biden easily picked up Colorado, Virginia and New Hampshire on election night, which added 26 votes to his column to bring him to 213. The process appeared to stall as the count of millions of mail ballots in all-important Pennsylvania and Georgia ground on with the presidency hanging in the balance and no clear winner.
Joe Biden clinched the Democratic Party nomination on 06 June 2020, setting up a general election matchup with Donaldt Trump. Biden passed the 1,991 delegates needed based on estimates from votes in from the Tuesday 02 June 2020 primaries. On 24 April 2019 Former Vice President Joe Biden finally announced he was seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, instantly catapulting him to the top of an increasingly crowded Democratic field vying to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump.
Joe Biden is a natural politician, among the most gifted and talented of moden times. His experience in the areas of foreign affairs, criminal justice and domestic policy is unmatched by other presidential candidates. Joe Biden represented Delaware for 36 years in the U.S. Senate before serving as 47th Vice President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Few politicians are as iconic, or as beloved, as Joe Biden. Biden has come back from both professional missteps and personal heartbreaks. After the train accident that took the life of his first wife and daughter, he commuted everyday via Amtrak between Washington and Deleware to be with his sons. Son Beau Biden died in 2015 after battling brain cancer at age 46.
Biden's reputation is a decent, plainspoken, patriotic statesman of integrity. Biden ran in 1988, but dropped out during the campaign after allegations that he had plagiarized a speech from a British politician. He also ran in 2008, but quickly dropped out after making little headway in a year in which Barack Obama exploded onto the national scene. He is one of the few politicians around who cares about people and who understands how negotiations work. The respect he has earned from both sides of the aisle is a pretty strong indication that he knows how to bridge divisions. Joe Biden was born in 1942, and would be 78 years old upon becoming President after the 2020 election, and 86 years old after two terms. Is he too old? Biden would become the oldest person ever elected president, easily eclipsing the record set by Ronald Reagan. Reagan won a second term in 1984 at the age of 73.
Joe Biden represented Delaware for 36 years in the U.S. Senate before becoming the 47th President of the United States. He gave his support to several U.S. foreign interventions, including the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and was instrumental in passing gun control legislation as well as a major overhaul of the criminal justice system.
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., was born November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the first of four siblings. In 1953, the Biden family moved from Pennsylvania to Claymont, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School and served on the New Castle County Council.
Biden has been in national politics almost his entire career. When he was 29 years old, he launched a long-shot Senate race against Delaware Republican Caleb Boggs, a war hero who had never lost an election. Biden edged out Boggs by a percentage point. His victory in 1972 made him, at that time, the second-youngest senator in U.S. history.
That victory was followed a few weeks later by unimaginable heartbreak: His wife, Neilia, and baby daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car crash a week before Christmas while shopping for a Christmas tree. His two sons, Beau and Hunter, suffered serious injuries but survived the accident, and Biden took the Senate oath of office at Beau’s hospital bedside in 1973. Biden wrote in his memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” that his sons “saved my life” after the accident with their emotional support.
Biden began commuting to Washington every day by train, a practice he maintained throughout his career in the Senate.
In 1977, Biden married Jill Jacobs. Jill Biden, who holds a Ph.D. in Education, is a life-long educator who taught at a community college in Northern Virginia. The Biden’s son, Beau, was Delaware's Attorney General from 2007-2015 and a Major in the 261st Signal Brigade of the Delaware National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq in 2008-2009. Beau died in 2015 after battling with brain cancer with the same integrity, courage, and strength he demonstrated every day of his life. Biden has cited his family’s grief following Beau’s death in May 2015 as a reason he did not enter the Democratic presidential primary that year against Hillary Clinton.
Joel Goldstein, of Saint Louis University School of Law, the author of two books on the vice presidency, said the way Biden handled the tragedies “says something about his resilience, character and strength.” Goldstein said “You get the sense that he, as someone who having suffered those tragedies, is very empathetic with other people. He is a comforter.”
His other son, Hunter, was an attorney who managed a private equity firm in Washington, D.C. and was Chairman of the World Food Program USA. And his daughter Ashley was a social worker and is Executive Director of the Delaware Center for Justice. Vice President Biden had five grandchildren: Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel ("Maisy"), Natalie, and Robert Hunter.
As a Senator from Delaware for 36 years, Vice President Biden established himself as a leader in facing some of our nation's most important domestic and international challenges. As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years, then-Senator Biden was widely recognized for his work on criminal justice issues, including the landmark 1994 Crime Act and the Violence Against Women Act. As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years, then-Senator Biden played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy. He has been at the forefront of issues and legislation related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia.
As the 47th Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden has continued his leadership on important issues facing the nation and has represented our country abroad traveling over 1.2 million miles to more than 50 countries. Vice President Biden has convened sessions of the President’s Cabinet, led interagency efforts, and worked with Congress in his fight to raise the living standards of middle class Americans, reduce gun violence, address violence against women, and end cancer as we know it.
The Vice President played a key role in acting aggressively to arrest the crisis, restart growth and job creation, rebuild the economy on a stronger long-term foundation, and expand opportunity for all Americans. The Vice President was tasked with implementing and overseeing the $840 billion stimulus package in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which helped to rebuild the economy and lay the foundation for a sustainable economic future. He fought for America’s auto industry, saving 1.5 million jobs up and down the supply chain. The Vice President also led the Ready to Work Initiative, the Administration’s key effort to identify opportunities to improve the nation’s workforce skills and training systems to help better prepare American workers for the jobs of a 21st century economy.
With decades of foreign policy experience in the U.S. Senate, include serving as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Vice President Biden advised President Obama on international issues. The Vice President was committed to investing in the foundations of American leadership. That means smart investments in our military, but also ensuring a vibrant economy and a tolerant society. America not only leads with the "example of power" but crucially through the "power of example." America must work with international and local partners to share the burden and invest key actors in long-term success. This is key to good policy foreign policy. Demonstrating this belief, the Vice President represented the country in every region of the world, traveling to more than 50 countries during this Administration.
Joe Biden announced 25 April 2019 he would seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, instantly catapulting him to the top of an increasingly crowded Democratic field vying to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump. "The core values of this nation… our standing in the world… our very democracy...everything that has made America -- America --is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States," Biden said.
He would make history if elected by becoming the oldest person ever to enter the presidency. Biden had twice before run for president, seeking the nomination in 1988 and 2008, but failed to gain much support from voters either time. He was forced to drop out of his first presidential race over a plagiarism scandal when he quoted the British politician Neil Kinnock verbatim during a debate at the Iowa State Fair, but did not cite him. He dropped out of the 2008 race after coming in fifth place in the Iowa caucuses, capturing less than 1% of the vote.
It's no secret that Vice President Biden has struggled with a stutter throughout his life. During his second campaign, Biden was known for his propensity to make verbal gaffes, including when he described his then-Democratic rival, Barack Obama, as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Biden has more recently said he believes his verbosity would not necessarily hurt him if he ran for president again, writing in his memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” that by 2016, “The voting public was tired of careful and carefully packaged candidates.” He added, “My reputation as a ‘gaffe machine’ was no longer looking like a weakness. The public could see that I spoke from the heart and I meant what I said.”
The 76-year-old politician’s old-school style of glad-handing and pressing the flesh came back to haunt him, when at least seven women, including a one-time candidate for lieutenant governor in Nevada, accused him of inappropriate touching, hugs and kissing at public events. While Biden has defended his past behavior as consistent with his lifelong effort to make a “human connection” with women and men alike, he pledged in a recent video to be “mindful” of people’s boundaries going forward.
Biden, who was born in Scranton, Pa., and later moved to Delaware, had a quality that many of his challengers lack — more than a half of century of experience in government and a long record of political decision-making — some of it at the highest echelons of government.
Biden expressed regret for parts of his Senate record, including support of the sweeping 1994 crime bill with its tougher sentencing requirements and his vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He also apologized for his treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination hearing, saying in March, “To this day, I regret I couldn’t come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved.”
For all of the political retribution Biden faces for his past actions, he also boasted major successes, such as sponsoring the Violence Against Women Act, which made it easier to prosecute domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. Biden was also instrumental in helping to pass the Brady Bill, which required background checks for the purchase of most fire arms.
After less than one year in office, an increasing number of Americans were saying President Joe Biden is not “mentally sharp”, according to a poll released 23 September 2021 by the US-based Pew Research Center. The survey also found Biden’s poll ratings plummeting, showing that 56 percent of respondents said that President Biden’s mental faculties are “not at all well” or “not too well.” In contrast, just 43 percent of respondents believed that the phrase “mentally sharp” described him either “very well” or “fairly well.” The drip-drip in gaffes and the forgetfulness of Biden at a time the country contended with domestic and international political polarisation was for many laying bare some of the frailties of their president.
Voters in the United States expressed growing doubt about President Joe Biden’s physical and mental competence to perform his duties. A new Politico/Morning Consult poll revealed on 17 November 2021 that less than half those questioned actually have faith in his capabilities. Only 40 percent of respondents say they believe Biden - the oldest president in US history - is in good health, 46 percent think that he is mentally fit and 44 percent that he is stable, the poll results show. The poll also revealed that only 41 percent of voters believe Biden is capable overall to lead the United States. This represents a 29-point shift in public opinion about the status of Biden’s mental and physical health since the last Morning Consult survey in October of 2020.
A 61% majority of US voters want President Joe Biden to stand down at the end of his four-year term and make way for someone new to head the Democrat ticket, according to a HarrisX poll commissioned by The Hill. "By contrast, 24 percent of respondents said he should run for president again and 15 percent said they were unsure," The Hill said in its 17 November 2021 report on the survey. Among Democratic voters, fewer than half (45%) said they want Biden to seek a second term, with 37% hoping the president will let someone else represent their party and 18% who were unsure, according to the poll. The poll also found 46% of registered voters said they think that Biden has done less than expected since entering the White House while 23% said he's done more than expected and 31% who said he has done about as much as expected. Among independents – a key bloc of swing voters - 59% said they would prefer another Democratic candidate in 2024, with 17% wanting Biden to seek a second term and 25% who were unsure, the poll showed.
Just 36% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, compared with 53% who disapprove, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on 18 November 2021. While Republicans and Democrats were predictably polarized, independents were decisively negative on the president’s performance, with 56% disapproving. Quinnipiac’s poll found that Americans want Republicans to take control of the House of Representatives and Senate from Democrats by margins of 46 to 38 and 46 to 40, respectively. Independents favor Republicans in the congressional races by a 10% margin – 41 to 31 in the House and 44 to 34 in the Senate. When asked an open-ended question about the most important problem the US faces today, respondents cited several common concerns: division and polarization, at 11%; economic woes, 10%; the border crisis, 8%; and inflation, 8%. Only 5% cited the Covid-19 pandemic. About half (51%) said they don’t believe that Biden is honest, the Quinnipiac poll found. Only 41% of respondents (including 32% of independents) said they think the president is honest.
“Dismal” didsn’t seem to capture the true awfulness of Joe Biden’s poll numbers in July 2022. His approval rating cratered to just 33 percent in the NYT/Siena College poll; and a Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that just 18 percent of Americans want him to run for re-election in 2024. Nearly two in three — 64 percent — think he should walk away. His numbers in the Pew poll are equally dreary. Even with his dreadful numbers, Joe Biden still leads Donald Trump in hypothetical matchups. The NYT/Siena poll has the deeply unpopular president nevertheless leading Trump 44 percent to 41 percent. The Yahoo News/YouGov poll has him up 44 percent to 43 percent in a 2024 re-match. Biden himself likes to say, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.”
If Democrats incur major losses in November's midterm elections and the control of both chambers of Congress slips away from their hands, US President Joe Biden could quickly find himself on the brink of impeachment, Newsweek reported 16 July 2022. The conclusion came after several Republicans indicated that the GOP would take a shot should the party assume control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said in January that there were "multiple grounds" to impeach Biden, while Republican Representative Ken Buck voiced a similar sentiment later in April, saying that the House Judiciary Committee would "hold the hearings to determine whether impeachment is appropriate.
Among those constantly urging his impeachment is Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene. Following her impeachment articles which she introduced in 2021, arguing that Biden abused power to help his son Hunter facilitate shady business deals with China, Taylor-Greene reaffirmed her commitment.
Joe Biden was using "pills" during his 2020 campaign in order to enhance his cognitive performance before public appearances, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has claimed, citing a witness familiar with the matter. "His staff, supervised by Dr. Jill, his wife, was giving him pills before every public appearance. Checking the time, and at the certain hour giving him a dose of something," Carlson said. He also claimed that his source noted Biden was "like a small child" before taking his alleged medication. Before the "pills" allegation, the conservative pundit claimed that Biden is suffering from dementia and is "incapacitated."
Rep. Lauren Boebert [R-CO-3] claimed "President Biden has demonstrated repeated memory issues that range from forgetting the name of the Pentagon, Department of Defense, and Secretary of Defense, to forgetting the purpose of his visit to survey winter storm damage in Texas. He has also refused multiple times to take a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA), like his predecessor, at the request of Members of Congress. Furthermore, the American people have lost trust in President Biden’s ability to lead. As of August 22, 2021, 51 percent of Americans do not feel that President Biden has acted competently as President of the United States, 74 percent of Americans believe the removal of American troops from Afghanistan has gone badly, and 50 percent of Americans disapprove of the way President Biden is handling his job as Commander in Chief.""
The term "Biden crime family" is a pejorative phrase used by some individuals who accuse President Joe Biden and his family of engaging in criminal activities or unethical behavior. However, it is important to note that these claims lack substantial evidence and are primarily propagated by political opponents or conspiracy theorists.
It is claimed that the American deep state regained power after the electoral fraud that brought Joe Biden to the White House. The phrase "Hunter Biden's laptop" refers to a controversial incident that emerged during the 2020 United States presidential election. In October 2020, the New York Post published a series of articles based on materials allegedly sourced from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, the son of then-candidate Joe Biden.
The laptop was said to have been dropped off at a repair shop, which claimed that it was never picked up. It was reported that the laptop contained emails and other documents that raised questions about Hunter Biden's business dealings, particularly in Ukraine and China, and suggested potential improprieties. The laptop story sparked a significant amount of controversy and debate. Critics of the Bidens saw it as evidence of corruption or unethical behavior, while others viewed it as a politically motivated smear campaign or an attempt at disinformation.
It is important to note that the authenticity and origin of the laptop and its contents have been widely questioned. The laptop's chain of custody and the motives behind its release raised concerns about its credibility. Moreover, the story received limited coverage in mainstream media outlets due to concerns about its sourcing and verifiability.
During the presidency of Barack Obama (from 2009 to 2017) his right hand man with a “delegation” to handle international politics was Joe Biden. It is claimed that in April 2014 when Burisma Holdings, the largest energy company in Ukraine (active in both gas and oil), hired Hunter Biden as a consultant with a salary of $50,000 a month. Joe Biden continued the American policy aimed at regaining possession by Ukraine of those areas of the Donbass that had become Republics. The Donetsk area is believed to be rich in unexplored gas fields that had been targeted by Burisma Holdings.
The New York Post reported Joe Biden had threatened “to withhold a billion dollars loan guarantee in the United States during a December 2015 trip to Kiev... If [the Procurator General Shokin] is not fired, you will not have the money”. And the Prosecutor was effectively fired, supposedly saving Hunter from further scandal.
Trump renewed his attacks after the younger Biden pleaded guilty in June 2023 to two misdemeanor tax charges following a years-long investigation, in a plea deal that is expected to keep him out of prison. The Republican 2024 frontrunner lamented that the prosecutor “gave out a traffic ticket instead of a death sentence.”
Trump skewered Hunter with a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, arguing the cocaine discovered in a cubby in the White House’s West Wing earlier in July 2023 belonged to the younger Biden, whose struggles with crack addiction are well-documented. “THEY 100% KNOW WHO IT IS,” Trump wrote regarding the cocaine culprit, claiming, “If they don’t release information, it means they destroyed the tapes & the Cocaine was for use by Hunter, & probably Crooked Joe, in order to give this total disaster of a President a little life and energy!”
It is common for political figures and their families to face scrutiny and criticism, especially during election cycles. While there have been allegations and investigations surrounding some members of the Biden family, no credible evidence has been presented to support the idea of a "Biden crime family" involved in organized criminal activities or corruption.
The US Congress began the procedure to remove President Joe Biden from power 12 September 2023. Congressmen were in no hurry: three years have passed since the New York Post newspaper, owned by the conservative Karabas-Barabas - Rupert Murdoch, published correspondence from Hunter Biden's laptop. For three years now, anyone in our world who might care has known that Biden Sr. is called “the big guy”. After three years of behind-the-scenes trading, negotiations, intrigue and blackmail, Biden Sr. was officially charged not with bribes, but only with the fact that he lied, as if he knew nothing about the transactions of his unlucky son.
On 14 September 2023 Hunter Biden was charged with three charges, on which he faced up to 25 years in prison. A grand jury in the Delaware agreed on a three-count indictment: two related to Hunter Biden making false statements to purchase a Colt pistol while denying drug use, and the third to possession of a weapon while using drugs. Hunter Biden, who became the first child of a sitting US president to face charges, is charged with two counts of willful tax evasion. Officials say he failed to pay more than $100,000 in 2017-2018, which could have resulted in 12 months in prison on each count. Biden Jr. was also charged separately, according to which in 2018 he, knowing that he was using illegal drugs, owned a Colt pistol. This also violates the law and carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison.
Washington Post writer Mark Thiessen compiled a list 29 December 2023 of the worst actions and decisions of US President Joe Biden in 2023.
- In first place was Biden's statement about his intention to re-run for a new term in 2024. Thiessen confirmed that Biden has become the least popular American president since the end of World War II. The newspaper added: “A poll conducted by Monmouth University in October showed that 76% of participants believe that he is too old to run for another term, and a poll conducted by CNN in August showed that 67% of Democrats want someone else to be their party’s nominee.” He considered that Biden's intention to run for president would force him to confront the revenge between him and former US President Donald Trump. The journalist stressed that the majority of Americans do not want such elections. He pointed out that the current US president's decision increases Trump's chances of winning the presidency.
- Thiessen also pointed to delays in arms supplies to Ukraine and his handling of the migration crisis on the country's southern border as Biden's worst moves in 2023. He noted that the situation there "has gotten worse under his leadership."
- The writer did not ignore US purchases of uranium from Russia , which tripled by the end of the year. He considered that these actions would only increase Washington's dependence on Moscow.
- The journalist added in his article that Biden in 2023 “allowed Iran to attack American forces with impunity.” He also recalled the incident of the downing of a Chinese balloon , which it was claimed could collect intelligence. Thiessen confirmed that the president allowed this to happen.
- He also criticized Biden for failing to control the anti-Jewish protests in the country that began after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Fox News placed US President Joe Biden on its list of the most failed politicians in 2023. The television channel explained its choice of Biden as one of the most failed politicians because, as the 80-year-old commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, he faces a possible investigation that could lead to his removal and continues to struggle with his low popularity ratings among voters. The channel indicated that the questions are not only about Biden's age and his possible involvement in corruption when he was Vice President, but also about his support for Israel in its war on the Gaza Strip.
The report 08 February 2024 by special counsel Robert Hur concluded that no criminal charges should be brought, and that many of the classified documents found in Biden’s offices and home were kept by mistake. But the report's citations and characterizations of the 81-year-old president's memory as he runs for a second term could be politically damaging. the report stated "In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (“if it was 2013—when did I stop being Vice President?”), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (“in 2009, am I still Vice President?”). He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died."
Biden, at turns defiant and bitterly jocular with the reporters called in for the last-minute remarks that evening, parried questions over a section of the report in which the author described the 81-year old president as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." Peter Doocy: "How bad is your memory? And can you continue as President?"
President Biden: "My memory is so bad I let you speak."
Biden replied to a reporter who asked after his memory and cited voters’ concerns over his age. "I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing... I’ve been president, I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation." Members of House Republican leadership wrote in a joint statement. "A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office."
Biden’s physician in February 2024 declared him fit for duty, despite being treated for multiple medical conditions, non-valvular atrial fibrillation, hyperlipidemia, gastroesophageal reflux, seasonal allergies and sensory peripheral neuropathy of both feet. Dr. Kevin O’Conner also wrote that the president’s stiff gait and obstructive sleep apnea remained stable.
Biden drew immediate online reaction after once again confusing the names of foreign political leaders. Shortly after insisting that his memory was "fine," Biden proceeded to refer to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi as the "president of Mexico." New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser exclaimed, "Yeesh. ‘President of Mexico’ Sisi. Bad for Biden in an appearance meant to dispel concerns about his age. What a year this day has been." Biden has gaffed names his entire career.
The 2024 State of the Union Address was given by the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, on Thursday, March 7, 2024, to the 118th Congress. "I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while. (Laughter and applause.) When you get to be my age, certain things become clearer than ever. "I know the American story. Again and again, I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation, between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.
"My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy, a future based on core values that have defined America — honesty, decency, dignity, and equality — (applause); to respect everyone; to give everyone a fair shot; to give hate no safe harbor. (Applause.)
"Now, other people my age see it differently. (Laughter.) The American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me. I was born amid World War Two, when America stood for the freedom of the world. I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, among working-class people who built this country....
"I’ve known our North Star. The very idea of America is that we’re all created equal, deserves to be treated equally throughout our lives. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I won’t walk away from it now. "
Matthew Yglesias wrote 08 July 2024 " a large share of the video “evidence” of Biden’s incapacity was flagrantly clipped or cropped to give a dishonest impression. I was also aware that both Republicans and leftists had been insisting that Biden’s brain was cooked since 2019 and that he’d accomplished an awful lot — winning the primary and the general election, passing two big partisan bills plus two big bipartisan ones plus several smaller deals, adding Finland and Sweden to NATO — for a guy who was allegedly incapable of doing the job. ..... Five days before the debate, someone who’d seen Biden recently at a fundraiser told me that he looked and sounded dramatically worse than the previous times they’d seen him — as recently as six months ago — and that they were now convinced Biden wouldn’t be able to make it through a second term. I blew that warning off and assumed things would be fine at the debate."
After what many deemed a disappointing performance by U.S. President Joe Biden in the 27 June 2024 debate against Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, Democrats were discussing whether their 81-year-old incumbent should be replaced at the top of the presidential ticket by someone younger. The Biden campaign’s strategy “to get an early debate on the books in order to change the arc of the campaign failed,” said Jim Manley, a political strategist who has worked for several top-tier Democratic Party senators over the decades. Biden needed to reassure loyalists, as well as try to persuade the small but critical number of independent voters in swing states, that he is still mentally and physically fit to lead the nation.
Biden’s debate performance was catastrophic. It not only validated the biggest concern voters have about him—it also suggested that he is incapable of waging a vigorous campaign. Speaking initially in a soft and hoarse voice, Biden came off as incoherent at times, appeared confused, lost his train of thought and verbally stumbled during his 90 minutes at the lectern opposite Trump, who was more articulate and less combative than usual, although the former president uttered many more untruthful declarations than Biden.
“The most salient detail of the evening was Biden's tone of voice, which was faltering and not strong. It was his inability to come up with easy-to-follow coherent answers to questions, and he did that half the time, but half the time he didn't, and in a number of cases he lost his train of thought,” Michael Kimmage, professor of history at The Catholic University of America in Washington, told VOA’s Ukrainian Service. Biden spent much of the 90-minute event staring at nothing in particular with a pained and vacant expression.
The editorial board of the New York Times and what seems like every liberal columnist on its payroll called for Biden to drop out of the race. So did the editor of the New Yorker and top names at the Atlantic, the New Republic, and the American Prospect. According to a CBS News poll conducted over the weekend, an astonishing 72 percent of the country does not believe that Biden has “the mental and cognitive health to serve as president.”
Biden’s campaign explained that the president had a cold. His performance suggested something more concerning as he stumbled over his words, corrected himself in mid-sentence and flubbed figures. “There’s panic in the Democratic Party,” Maria Shriver, a prominent member of the Democratic Kennedy clan, said on social media, terming Biden’s performance “heartbreaking in many ways.” Democrats began speculating about who might step forward to try to replace Biden, if the president were to bow out. Besides Harris, among those on the short list are four state governors: California’s Gavin Newsom, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper. All have been viewed as likely presidential primary contenders for the party in 2028.
“I know I’m not a young man,” said a somewhat rejuvenated Biden the next day at an afternoon rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. “I don’t debate as well as I used to” but “I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done.” Trump “is literally a threat for everything America stands for” and is motivated by revenge and retribution,” added Biden. “Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.” Privately, according to Politico and the New York Times, Biden’s inner circle realize that he looked clueless and confused, but they blamed other people — and not the president being 81 and experiencing cognitive decline — for that perception.
Joe Biden claimed that too much international travel was the reason for his disastrous performance in the first US presidential debate with Donald Trump last week. The 81-year-old Democrat’s campaign previously attributed his poor showing to a cold and misguided preparation by his aides. Addressing his supporters at a fundraiser in McLean, Virginia, Biden said: “I wasn’t very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple of times… shortly before the debate,” as quoted by Politico. Axios, citing an anonymous person close to Biden, alleged that his team had chalked the president’s flop up to him being “over-prepared and relying on minutiae when all that mattered was vigor and energy.” His campaign supposedly blamed Biden’s aides for preparing him for the “wrong debate.”
“The fact is that, you know, I wasn’t very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones ... before ... the debate. Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage," he said. "That's no excuse but it is an explanation.”
"I am running. I am the leader of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out," Biden told his staff, according to a campaign aide. Biden told Democratic governors at the White House 03 July 2024 that he would stop scheduling events after 8 pm, and that he knows he needs more sleep. The debate last week started at 9 pm. Senior Democratic leaders have been expressing support for Biden following the recent debate, saying he should stand fast against the growing angst among his party colleagues.
National and state-by-state surveys show Trump gaining ground after the fallout from the debate even as pollsters say the matchup is still very close. the Biden campaign released an all-staff memo showing that Biden had slipped only slightly in national polling against Trump since the debate and that the race essentially remains a dead heat. Other independent polls, however, have shown Trump gaining ground since the debate, which was viewed by 51 million people.
In September 2023, David Ignatius, columnist for the Washington Post, wrote an opinion piece entitled "President Biden should not run again in 2024". The 81-year-old Biden's performance in the presidential debate against Donald Trump, described as the worst by a candidate in recent history, triggered panic and talk of finding a replacement – including among his own Democratic Party loyalists. "The evidence was there in front of everyone, nearly a year ago," Ignatius said. "People are finally, with a sudden, stark realisation, understanding that it's true".
Ignatius noted that "there are many options in the Democratic Party" who are ready to run against Donald Trump. But Vice President Kamala Harris "is one of the weaker options", he warned, advocating for a "wide open campaign". Given the current situation, "if you had to bet today, you'd say Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States," Ignatius said. He added: "I personally shudder to think what that means."
No incumbent president has had an approval rating this low at this stage of the election since George H. W. Bush more than three decades ago—and, other than Biden’s 2024 opponent, former President Donald Trump, no incumbent has trailed this far behind in the horse race polling since Jimmy Carter’s reelection bid 44 years ago.
The New York Times: “several current and former officials and others who encountered him behind closed doors noticed that he increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations . . . the lapses seemed to be growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome.”
A report from NBC quoted an unnamed senator: “The country saw [at the debate] what those of us who have had personal interactions with him have all known for the last two and a half years.”
New York magazine reported yesterday that disturbed “Democratic officials, activists and donors” have been questioning since January whether Biden could serve another term, or even serve until Election Day: “Longtime friends of the Biden family, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, were shocked to find that the president did not remember their names. At a White House event last year, a guest recalled, with horror, realizing that the president would not be able to stay for the reception because, it was clear, he would not be able to make it through the reception.”
The American people have seen a tired face, the old-man stare, and could hear the quieter, slower speech.
Biden felt “personally hurt” and “betrayed” by an apparent lack of faith in him by many Democrats following his disastrous debate with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, NBC reported on 19 July 2024. Biden’s on-stage performance – described as “fumbling” and “incoherent” – as well as several follow-up gaffes, left many Democratic leaders and donors scrambling to find a replacement for the 81-year-old candidate. While some Democratic heavyweights – including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton – have publicly reiterated their support for Biden, they have done little to consolidate the party behind him, NBC reported.
Sources claimed to NBC that Biden “feels angry” at efforts to force him out of the White House race, with one person suggesting Democratic leaders were essentially helping Trump, who recently survived an assassination attempt, to secure victory. “Can we all just remember for a minute that these same people who are trying to push Joe Biden out are the same people who literally gave us all Donald Trump? In 2015, Obama, [Nancy] Pelosi, [Chuck] Schumer pushed Biden aside in favor of Hillary [Clinton]; they were wrong then, and they are wrong now,” an NBC source said, referring to Clinton’s loss against Trump in 2016.
Matthew Yglesias wrote 28 October 2024 " at the end of the day, while it’s perfectly cogent to say that Biden was pushed out of the race, it’s also completely true that he stepped down voluntarily. He is ultimately a person of decency and honor who cares about his legacy. A Trump-like egomaniacal SOB could have just brazened through it despite everything, because the party structures that pushed him out were, in fact, pretty hollow."
After the election, Nate Silver wrote that in 2020: "Voters had seen what Biden and Harris had to offer. They were promised a quick return to normalcy — that was a more tangible promise than Democrats typically offer and one reason that Biden won when Harris and Hillary Clinton didn’t. And they didn’t get it when the summer of 2021 became all about the Delta variant, inflation, and the supply chain crisis: Biden’s approval ratings turned south at that point and never recovered. Then Biden decided to govern like FDR and run again rather than be a caretaker president or a “bridge to the future.”"
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