This saddening news of President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis has added fuel to questions about his health during his presidency.
No one wants to see the former president and long-time senator facing a serious illness, and I hope that his treatment is effective.
This announcement was made the same week of the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s explosive book Original Sin. This deeply reported book is based on interviews with over 200 people — many of them Democratic operatives and insiders — and details the astonishing lengths to which President Biden’s team and the broader Democratic establishment went to conceal the president’s cognitive and physical decline from the public.
Original Sin exposes one of the most cynical political cover-ups in modern American history, and it explains why Democrats have a trust issue with the American public. This well-earned lack of trust has led to questions about whether Biden may have hidden his prostate cancer too, although there is no evidence to support that he did.
Based upon recent revelations, there can be no question that Republicans and many others, including myself, were justified in sounding the alarm about Biden’s fitness to serve during the re-election campaign.
At the time, Biden’s team hit back with performative outrage and engaged in kabuki theatre.
His team dismissed concerns about his age and acuity as dirty politics. But those close to Biden knew they were handling a president who was no longer fit for office. According to accounts of Original Sin, his team choreographed nearly every aspect of Biden’s life — including limiting unscripted interactions, scripting meetings down to the minute, and escorting him to and from Air Force One helicopter to prevent a potential, devastating fall. They even contemplated putting Biden in a wheelchair after the election.
The cover-up extended to his cognitive decline too. Biden reportedly forgot key names, including major celebrities like George Clooney and even senior members of his own team. Cabinet secretaries were sidelined, and staff members devised elaborate strategies to avoid placing him in situations that might expose his decline.
Just this past week, audio from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s October 2023 interview with President Biden was released. Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland was held in contempt by the U.S. House of Representatives for refusing to release them. In February 2024, Biden and his covert operations team were apoplectic about Hur’s decision that it would be difficult to prosecute Biden in the classified documents matter because Biden was a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and it would be difficult to prove the mental state of willfulness. Biden angrily responded that his memory was fine and his team exalted that this was a “partisan hit job”.
The audio proves otherwise as the recordings show Biden was confused, rambling, and couldn’t even remember when his son Beau died.
Biden’s team continued to trot out his disingenuous talking points, insisting that he was sharp and physically fit. Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates asserted that “not only does the president perform around the clock, but he maintains a schedule that tires younger aides, including foreign trips into active war zones.” Apparently, however, Biden had difficulty functioning outside of a 6-hour window between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Like the man behind the curtain in Oz, Biden’s team spun a grand illusion, staging a show of leadership while concealing Biden’s fragility, more devoted to self-preservation and power than being honest.
Here’s where the culpability deepens, Democratic leaders knew. They saw the same signs the public saw and in many instances saw it firsthand and acknowledged it privately. Yet instead of standing up, they continued to vouch for Biden’s fitness.
A month before his disastrous debate with Trump, I wrote a column calling President Biden unfit for office. At that time two-thirds of voters had little or no confidence that Biden was physically fit to be president. Anyone who has watched a family member or close friend decline with senility, dementia or physical ailments had all of the evidence they needed when they watched even his composed public appearances provide clear and unsettling clues with his often incoherent rhetoric and gaffes, confusion and instability.
And, following his disastrous debate performance, Biden’s team tried to convince us that it was simply a bad night, blaming the debate preparation team for his poor performance. And, in the days following the debate train wreck, Democratic leaders were conspicuously silent, failing to speak out publicly. My column calling for him to withdraw just a few days after the debate, was one of the very first of its kind in the country and published well before any major Democratic leader called on him to publicly step aside.
And, the longer they failed to speak truth to power made it more unlikely the Democrats would win in November. When they finally did, Biden had no choice but to step aside, but behind closed doors, in classic backroom style, Democrats had already crowned his successor, Vice President Kamala Harris.
This isn’t just a Biden problem that can be conveniently swept under the rug. It’s a Democratic Party problem — a failure of leadership, transparency, ethics and accountability.
The result? Democrats lost national trust and the party’s favorability rating stands at 29%, a record low. To be fair, that isn’t simply about the cover-up and lack of leadership. It also reflects a party in the wilderness, confused about their values, and unable to muster the leadership to meet Americans where they are on key issues. It is no wonder that only 35% of surveyed Democrats are very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party.
Democrats would love nothing more than to move on — to refocus on President Donald Trump and reframe the midterm elections as a battle for democracy. But its not that simple. They can’t claim hindsight when they bear collective responsibility for the outcome of the 2024 election.
Related Articles
Biden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer Colorado is part of 20 lawsuits (and counting) against Trump. Here’s what AG Phil Weiser says is behind the strategy. Legal experts say Trump is unlikely to win Colorado lawsuit against “sanctuary” policies. But he may not care. Colorado sues Trump administration to free funds for electric vehicle charging Asylum-seeking Honduran mother is still sitting in an Aurora ICE center six months after being detainedUntil Democrats acknowledge the cover-up, they undermine their own credibility and won’t be able to regain public trust.
It will surely be impossible for them to authentically critique Trump’s mental acuity and fitness.
Doug Friednash grew up in Denver and is a partner with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck. He is the former chief of staff for Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Democratic leaders must acknowldege the cover-up of Biden’s mental and physical weaknesses (Opinion) )
Also on site :