Several close associates of the Biden family expressed concern over President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline as far back as 2023, as revealed in a recent report. Olivia Nuzzi of New York Magazine interviewed various Democrat figures who began to doubt Biden’s ability to serve another term as early as January, but hesitated to openly address the issue.
Nuzzi wrote:
“When they discussed what they knew, what they had seen, what they had heard, they literally whispered. They were scared and horrified. But they were also burdened. They needed to talk about it (though not on the record). They needed to know that they were not alone and not crazy. Things were bad, and they knew things were bad, and they knew others must also know things were bad, and yet they would need to pretend, outwardly, that things were fine. The president was fine. The election would be fine. They would be fine. To admit otherwise would mean jeopardizing the future of the country and, well, nobody wanted to be responsible personally or socially for that.”
It was reported that individuals described as “longtime friends of the Biden family” were surprised to discover that Biden could not recall their names. During a White House function in 2023, one attendee was dismayed to learn that Biden would not be attending the reception due to his inability to endure it.
“The guest wasn’t sure they could vote for Biden, since the guest was now open to an idea that they had previously dismissed as right-wing propaganda: The president may not really be the acting president after all,” Nuzzi wrote.
Nuzzi stated that it was becoming more and more difficult to reach Biden, even for regular official government matters.
“Others told me the president was becoming increasingly hard to get ahold of, even as it related to official government business, the type of things any U.S. president would communicate about on a regular basis with high-level officials across the world,” she wrote.
“Biden instead was cocooned within mounting layers of bureaucracy, spoken for more than he was speaking or spoken to,” she wrote.
Earlier this year, following Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s disclosure of his hospitalization for prostate cancer surgery, the White House acknowledged that Biden was unaware of the cancer diagnosis or his defense secretary’s prolonged absence. It was also a period of increased tensions in the Middle East, with Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria targeting U.S. troops.
Following Biden’s debate performance in June, during which he had difficulty articulating his thoughts and completing sentences, there has been speculation in Washington about the possibility of him being replaced as the Democratic presidential nominee.
