Conventional wisdom is that Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump was the watershed moment that ultimately ended his campaign. But perhaps it wasn't. Yes, Biden was suddenly under significant pressure to end his campaign after that, but his defiance and reluctance to quit appeared quite genuine, and while he may have had a few gaffes afterward, he really pushed himself to appear more robust and energetic after that.
However, now we're starting to get more details about Biden's trip to Nevada last month that was cut short, allegedly over a COVID diagnosis. According to more recent reports, Biden had a health emergency in Las Vegas that required road closures in case he needed to be treated at University Medical Center. That trip to the hospital never happened, and Biden was transported directly to the airport.
We've been hearing that Biden suffered what is called a "transient ischemic attack," which is commonly referred to as a mini-stroke. It sure does fit. In the few public appearances that Biden has had since, particularly his Oval Office address where he spoke about his decision to drop out, it seemed he wasn't well at all.
Recordings of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department's protective detail on the day of his sure do suggest he had a serious medical emergency. Jennifer Van Laar reviewed the audio on Friday.
The three recordings span a time frame of a few hours and are not timestamped, so it's difficult to get exact time frames from them. Two of the clips, each about four minutes long, are clips from the general channel where LVMPD coordinated additional units (meaning, units that were not involved in the protective detail) used to shut down traffic and secure the routes after the sudden change of plans. The third, the event channel for the officers involved in the protective detail, is about 43 minutes long. We are sharing the audio in full here so readers can listen for themselves.
In both of the four-minute clips, officers are requested to respond Code 3, meaning in an emergency response posture.
She went on to explain that about 21 minutes into the clip, an officer asks if another is available for a phone call. The next update over the radio states that "they’re on a hold for something regarding the president," and officers are instructed to allow some traffic through intersections while they wait. Shortly after, the protective detail is informed that POTUS is "421." The team is waiting to see how the situation develops before taking further action. Code 421, according to LVMPD's code sheet, indicates a sick or injured person.
It goes without saying that roads wouldn't be closed over a COVID diagnosis.
We know that Joe Biden was aggressively resisting dropping out of the race, and it looked like if he had been able to make it through the weekend, the donors who were keeping their checkbooks closed may have relented and realized he wasn't going to drop out. Perhaps the medical emergency and his obviously deteriorating condition were what really made Biden realize he couldn't continue and why he finally, after weeks of pressure, finally succumbed and dropped out.
Joe Biden didn't want to drop out and was desperately trying to hang in there. His medical emergency, perhaps more than anything, made him realize he couldn't continue.
