After many questioned why Biden did not receive a cognitive exam after his annual physical, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that such as exam wasn't necessary.
“If you look at what this president — he passes a cognitive test every day, every day, as he moves from one topic to another topic, understanding the granular level of these topics … this is a very rigorous job.”
Keep in mind, this is the same man that Democrat donors raised alarms about over his reliance on notecards for private events.
"President Biden has been using notecards in closed-door fundraisers, calling on prescreened donors and then consulting his notes to provide detailed answers, according to people familiar with the routine,” Axios reported last month. "Why it matters: Biden's reliance on notecards to help explain his own policy positions—on questions he knows are coming—is raising concerns among some donors about Biden's age."
Reporters asked Jean-Pierre about Biden's heavy reliance on notecards during Tuesday's White House press briefing, and she deflected.
"The President, who has had a — probably one of the most successful first three years of an adm- –administration than any modern-day president — he’s done more in the first three years than most presidents who had two terms," she said. "You’re asking me about notecards?"
Related: Don’t Count on Joe Biden Debating Trump This Fall
Yet later on, not only did Joe Biden rely heavily on notecards when reporters started asking him questions, but he also went blank, then started mumbling about how he couldn't answer questions or else he'd "get into trouble."
"A confused-looking President Biden once again admitted he’d get in “trouble” for taking questions at a press briefing Tuesday — just hours after his press secretary staunchly defended his mental acuity," the New York Post reports.
The 81-year-old commander in chief started uttering the familiar, yet bewildering, refrain before he even lifted the microphone off the table at the launch of a task force aimed at lowering costs for American families.
“I have a lot of questions. I better not start the questions. I’ll get in trouble,” Biden mumbled, garnering a few laughs from the audience.
He delivered a ragged exhale into the mic before placing it back down and stared blankly ahead with his mouth agape, ignoring some of the reporters’ last-ditch attempts to squeeze in a final question as they were leaving.
Video of the exchange was shared on X/Twitter by former Hillary Clinton advisor Peter Daou, who was utterly shocked by Biden's performance.
"Oh my Lord," he wrote. "This man is not well."
Oh my Lord. This man is not well. pic.twitter.com/5UoEW90FD6
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) March 6, 2024
Of course, he's not well. Poll after poll shows that Biden's age and cognitive decline are huge liabilities for him. While they won't admit publicly that there's a problem, it's obvious that Joe Biden's handlers are instructing him to stick to a script and don't want him answering questions that haven't been pre-screened or had responses drafted in advance.
For sure, you can expect that the White House is on edge about Biden's State of the Union address on Thursday night and will no doubt make a big deal of it if Biden manages to read off his script without tripping over himself. But this is not a problem that is going away or that the occasional moment of coherence can negate. There are just too many instances of Biden being clearly "not well" to ignore. That's why Biden's defenders keep trying desperately to make Trump's age an issue, even though there's no comparison between the two men.
