Biden's BFFs Knew the Cognitive Decline Was Real
The president's defenders had private concerns. But publicly? Gaslighting.
President Joe Biden's steadfast insistence that nothing short of divine intervention could end his re-election campaign hasn't quite staunched the bleeding. ABC's George Stephanopoulos, whose interview with Biden on Friday was intended to reassure fellow Democrats, now says Biden is clearly incapable of serving four more years. Some Congressional Democrats have turned on him, and others are hinting that they would prefer if he stepped aside.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D–Va.) called on the president to "do the patriotic thing for this country." And even political figures who are ostensibly backing him have sent some mixed signals. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated that she would support Biden in whatever decision he made, even though Biden has already decided to keep running. This is like when Tony Soprano ostensibly left it to his underlings to decide whether to carry out hits, saying, "I'm sure you'll do the right thing."
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But the most devastating defection for Biden might very well be George Clooney, who wrote an op-ed for The New York Times on Wednesday calling on the president to drop out. Clooney is not merely a celebrity supporter—he's actually a major fundraiser for Biden.
"Last month I co-hosted the single largest fund-raiser supporting any Democratic candidate ever, for President Biden's re-election," he writes. "I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced."
"But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time."
Clooney is at least somewhat qualified to judge Biden's cognitive decline for himself; he recently saw Biden up close. His June 15th fundraiser for the president, which featured Jimmy Kimmel interviewing Biden and former President Barack Obama, brought in $28 million for the campaign. Former Obama advisors David Axelrod and Jon Favreau, who also attended the fundraiser, told CNN that absolutely everyone who interacted with Biden at the event came away deeply concerned.
.@davidaxelrod tells me on @InsidePolitics that George Clooney's assessment of Joe Biden was "devastating and it's what people fear." @jonfavs, who was at Clooney's fundraiser, adds "every single person I talked to at the fundraiser thought the same thing." pic.twitter.com/ZWdVwhayhQ
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) July 10, 2024
These sudden disclosures certainly tell us something about Biden's fitness. They also reveal the extent of the media's perfidiousness on this topic. Recall that video footage from this very fundraiser was widely derided as having unfairly portrayed Biden as in decline; it was supposedly one of the textbook examples of Republicans seizing on what White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described as "cheap fakes." She wasn't the only one, of course: The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, and countless other media organizations flatly asserted that critics of the president were duping the masses into doubting his fitness for office based on misleading, manipulated videos.
But now we know that behind the scenes, Biden's most loyal foot soldiers knew the videos in question had not been manipulated, and that concerns about Biden's cognitive decline were valid—they even shared these concerns. In their haste to accept the White House's spin, acquit the president of age-related issues, and instead blame Republicans for "pouncing," did mainstream reporters forget to ask Biden's buddies what they thought about his recent behavior?
This Week on Free Media
I'm joined by Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon—my former, occasional co-host on Rising—to discuss Biden's very bad week, The View's odd defense of the president, and whether Project 2025 is a fascist plot.
Worth Watching
We are now halfway through the second season of House of the Dragon, which debuted a very strong episode last Sunday: "The Red Dragon and the Gold." (Spoilers to follow). At long last, we were treated to a real battle between the dragons and their riders, as the forces of Team Green lure Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) into an ambush.
I'm pleased by the show's faithfulness to the source material, which is a substantial improvement over Game of Thrones. Author George R.R. Martin appears to retain greater control over this series than the previous one, and as a consequence, there are far fewer examples of characters behaving in arbitrary and inconsistent ways. I am particularly impressed with our primary antagonist, King Aegon II Targaryen. There's some slight resemblance to Joffrey Baratheon from the original series, in that they are both angry teenagers and illegitimate monarchs; but whereas Joffrey was psychotic, cruel, and cowardly, Aegon is at least somewhat well-meaning. He does not enjoy hurting other people, unless they've wronged him. (Who can begrudge a father for wanting to slaughter his infant son's killer?) He's a a bit of a moron and a drunk, but he's not entirely unsympathetic. The actor, Tom Glynn-Carney, is doing a terrific job: I was delighted by his genuine affection for his dragon, Sunfyre.
The same goes for Best's Rhaenys, who quietly urges her dragon onward with the remark "We're off to battle again, old girl." When Prince Aemond Targaryen appears on scene with the monstrous Vhagar, Rhaenys knows she's toast, but she does her duty, anyway: a real MVP. The CGI dragons are rendered beautifully, and unlike in the latter seasons of Thrones, the HotD showrunners actually deploy them for effective narrative purposes. When dragons go to war, the whole world burns.
