I argued yesterday that the mainstream press is beginning to realize that Joe Biden is unpopular, but that it has not yet grasped that he deserves to be so. Instead, many journalists seem to believe deep down that Biden’s unpopularity is a conspiracy. Today, Axios makes my point for me. In a post titled, “Scoop: Biden team’s don’t-let-him-trip mission,” the outlet confirms that:
As voters express deep concerns about the 80-year-old president’s age and fitness for office, Biden’s team is taking extra steps to prevent him from stumbling in public — as he did in June, when he tripped over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy.
These steps are concrete, not rhetorical. Axios notes that:
Biden’s balance difficulties are likely the result of what his physician has diagnosed as “a combination of significant spinal arthritis” and “mild post-fracture foot arthritis.”
As a result:
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With a physical therapist, Biden has been doing exercises to improve his balance as far back as November 2021.
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Since his stumble in June, he has been wearing tennis shoes more often to avoid slipping — and using the short stairs on Air Force One, entering the plane on a lower deck than before.
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Biden works out many mornings with physical therapist Drew Contreras, who also worked with former President Obama.
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Biden’s doctor has recommended exercises for balance, which he called “proprioceptive maintenance maneuvers.”
Axios confirms that Democrats are worried about the issue. “Democrats,” it notes, “including some in the administration, are terrified that Biden will have a bad fall.” “Some Democrats,” it adds, “worry about Biden having an accident like Republican Bob Dole did in September 1996, when he accidentally fell off a stage at a rally weeks before the election.” Moreover:
Some senior Democrats privately have been frustrated with Biden’s advance team for months, citing the sandbag incident and noting that the president often appears not to know which direction to go after he speaks at a podium.
But then, because it can’t help itself, Axios relapses, proposing that:
Often without context, Republicans have used video clips of Biden looking confused about where to go after speeches to raise further questions about his age.
Pick one! Is Biden’s age a real concern? Or are the Republicans making it up? Clearly, the clips to which Axios refers are not “without context,” because Axios literally just provided the context — which is that, per the Democrats they contacted, “the president often appears not to know which direction to go after he speaks at a podium.” And Republicans obviously aren’t “using” video clips to “raise further questions” in some dastardly, underhanded way; those video clips are simply confirming what Americans — including Democrats, “some in the administration” — can see with their own eyes.
It is worth saying once again that the idea that Joe Biden is too old to be president is not a plot or a conspiracy or an operation. It’s a fact that almost everyone can see. 69 percent of Democrats think he’s too old. His own team is worried about his age. To avoid a public manifestation of his infirmity, he’s “wearing tennis shoes” and using “the short stairs” and “doing exercises to improve his balance.” That’s not the Republicans’ fault; it’s a product of the passage of time.