Once, while standing in a press scrum at the Capitol many years ago, I watched Joe Biden take questions for about 20 minutes from a gaggle of reporters. He was friendly with some, polite with others, and tenacious about his talking points. He had a slight stutter, and on occasion tripped over a few points. I knew him peripherally but had never questioned him before. On that day, I was there to talk about Tom Capano, the former Delaware deputy attorney general who’d recently been convicted of murdering Anne Marie Fahey, the appointments secretary to then-Governor Tom Carper.
I was writing a book, “Above the Law,” about the murder and, of course, I’d spent far too much time covering Capano’s trial. Until I’d met Donald Trump, I’d never met anyone as narcissistic or bat guano crazy as Tom Capano. He tried to implicate most of Delaware’s politicians in the murder he committed and was successful in embarrassing a friend or two about their sexual exploits, but nothing else.
My question to Biden was perfunctory as there was no indication – despite Capano’s vague aspersions – that Biden had anything to do with Fahey, and had very little to do with Capano. He deflected my question, and then said “Tom Soprano was no friend of mine.” I chuckled. After all, “The Sopranos” was a hot show at the time and many in Delaware had made jokes about the Capanos being the Delaware Sopranos – including one man who drove around in a convertible during jury deliberation outside of the courthouse playing the theme song from the Godfather.
I took it as a good joke, but a reporter friend of mine who covered Biden often said he was a “human gaffe machine.” Meh. I didn’t see it that way, but that has long been his reputation and during his tenure as vice president many in the West Wing often made such remarks.
Now, however, the man who was once called a human gaffe machine is viewed as suffering from dementia and some are calling for his ouster as the Democratic candidate for president in 2024.
If he did nothing else Thursday night, he should have put those thoughts to rest. With a combative press corps facing him, Biden showed up to make a statement about the special prosecutor who investigated him for keeping sensitive government documents from his tenure as vice president. The investigation showed he had done nothing wrong, but the prosecutor made several snarky comments about Biden’s age – including allegations that Biden couldn’t remember when his own son died.
Donald Trump immediately said Biden lied to the nation. (This from a guy who rarely told the truth to the nation and was so prolific at lying that many pundits made bank on simply counting the lies). He also accused Biden of being an old man who wasn’t charged with a crime because he was suffering from dementia. This also coming from a man who can’t recall who the Speaker of the House of Representatives is, or who ran for president a few years ago.
“My memory is fine,” Biden said during his 20-minute statement.
He then took fewer than 10 questions from the gathered press. He acknowledged his age, denied he had memory problems, made a joke at the expense of a few reporters, fired back against another and called us out for asking a question that was an opinion, or a “judgment”. Of course, Biden ended it all with one final gaffe, confusing Egypt’s president for Mexico’s.
Here's the moment where Joe Biden left the podium, came back, and then called the leader of Egypt the "president of Mexico." pic.twitter.com/lpM2qvh1Yf
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) February 9, 2024
Yes, the President’s age is an issue. But no more so than Donald Trump’s. They are essentially the same age. The difference is that, as Biden pointed out, he handled an international crisis in Gaza, and at the same time sat down for five hours with prosecutors to answer their questions.
Biden took responsibility for not overseeing his staff during the storage of sensitive material. Trump, on the other hand, infamously answered a question I asked him about COVID by saying “I take no responsibility.”
The snarky question regarding Biden’s memory of the death of his son brought out rancor in the president when recalled on stage. He let his humanity show. You could see his lips pursed as he seethed recalling the question from the special prosecutor.
In those moments, when he is ferociously defending himself and his family, Biden is at his best. But, it does not dismiss legitimate concerns regarding his age. But the press fails the public when we don’t hold Donald Trump accountable for the very same things. Yes, Biden said something about Mexico that was silly, but if you’ve covered him enough, you understand that he is still a human gaffe machine.
Biden’s fiery declaration and his handling of the press was Biden at his finest. But it exposed the inherent weakness in Biden’s presidency: He’s not around enough.
He has had just two full-fledged press conferences in the White House. He’s notoriously absent when we need questions asked and answered. His appearance before the press was not for the “Open Press” it was for pre-credentialed media and the pool of reporters who always cover him.
Biden’s appearance of having mental acuity problems are of his own making. By this time in the Trump White House, that moron had at least started showing up in the Brady Briefing room to take questions about COVID and other issues.
Biden refuses. On the few occasions where he has spoken to the press and taken questions, however, he has done extremely well. If he wants to show that he has no mental acuity problems he needs to show up more often and before a full press. If he doesn’t, then he has no one to blame but himself for the perception that he is losing his marbles.
Look at Trump. He almost certainely has mental problems, yet he shows up all the time and never shuts up. His people still love him. Because Biden won’t show up, he leaves oxygen in the room that Trump happily steals.
This does not bode well for the coming election.
There are some in the Democratic Party who would love to see Biden step aside. There were questions about that Thursday night in the Diplomatic room. The answers Biden provided should be amplified if he wants to persuade others. Otherwise he’s going to be hearing a lot more where there that came from – because everyone wants something to talk about – even if it’s not important to talk about.
That has never been more apparent than the fact that Biden had to spend five hours answering questions about his handling of sensitive material while also having to handle an international crisis.
I’ve covered both presidents. Biden is Biden. Trump is Trump. One is an aging politician who is known as a gaffe machine, and the other is a narcissistic mentally incompetent fascist. If there is a problem figuring out who the better choice is, perhaps mental acuity problems are more widespread than we thought.
