President Joe Biden conducted a press conference on Thursday evening with the express intent of proving wrong the accusations that his mental faculties are in severe decline. While questions about his grasp on reality have long plagued the chief executive, it was the release of special counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s mishandling of classified information that drove the president to the podium — a rare appearance that not even the deaths of three U.S. servicemembers could prompt. Hur ultimately found it inadvisable to press charges against Biden because “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Hur went on to itemize examples of Biden’s poor memory:
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. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he “had a real difference” of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama.
The press conference that followed was all the evidence a disinterested party would need to conclude that the sitting president of the United States is unwell and unfit.
President Biden mixing up the presidents of Egypt and Mexico:
BREAKING: After saying my memory is fine – Biden just referred to Sisi as the president of Mexico, not the president of Egypt. pic.twitter.com/BBTieFDaw6
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) February 9, 2024
President Biden forgetting where his son Beau received a rosary that his father now wears:
In a press conference aimed at convincing Americans his memory is fine, President Biden forgets the name of the church where his late son Beau got the rosary he now wears every day. pic.twitter.com/YsvgNvbd33
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 9, 2024
In the interest of context, here’s the full press conference:
The press conference was a disaster for a president experiencing some of the lowest popularity of the modern presidency — a man who desperately needs to convince his party that he has what it takes to get them over the line in November. Falling flat on one’s face after indicating with the bat where one intends to hit a homer is a very mythologically Greek result (of which Katerina Sakellaropoulou is the sitting president, in case the White House claims her for some other country).