Three quick follow-ups on the topic of today’s Morning Jolt, the mounting evidence suggesting that something is wrong with President Biden, and that he is having some sort of difficulty executing the duties of his office…
One: Is it normal for an American president to take 36 hours to respond to an urgent call from the U.K. Prime Minister? Sure, some delay, during an ongoing foreign crisis, is to be expected. But a day and a half?
Two: As of this writing, shortly after 2 p.m. Eastern time, President Biden has no events listed on his schedule for today, tomorrow, or this coming weekend. The Federal Aviation Administration has pushed back the flight restrictions for “VIP travel” around Wilmington, Delaware from Friday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern to 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, August 23. Despite the severity of the current crisis, it appears Biden still plans to spend the weekend at one of his homes in Delaware.
A White House official notified the White House pool reporter at 12:50:
This morning, the President and Vice President met with their national security team to discuss security, diplomatic, and intelligence updates in Afghanistan. They discussed the status of operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), which continues to be secure and operational as a result of DOD’s efforts; our efforts to evacuate U.S. citizens, Embassy personnel, SIV applicants and their families, and vulnerable Afghans as quickly as possible; and that every day we operate troops on the ground are at risk. The national security team updated the President and Vice President that DOD has evacuated 7,000 people since August 14 and 12,000 people since the end of July. The President, Vice President, and their team also discussed their focus on monitoring for any potential terrorist threats in Afghanistan, including from ISIS-K. The President and Vice President met with Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, Chairman Milley, Director Haines, Director Burns, National Security Advisor Sullivan, Ambassador Wilson, General McKenzie, Admiral Vasely, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Finer, Homeland Security Advisor Sherwood-Randall, and other senior officials.”
Three: For everyone responding with “duh, everyone could see this, Jim, everyone could see this for years, what took you so long to write about this?” I refer you to this September 12, 2019 Corner post and the August 11, 2020 Morning Jolt. People have wondered if Biden was starting to lose some of his mental acuity for a long time, and certainly since he started his 2020 presidential campaign. (As I wrote after the first debate, Biden “seems to have aged a decade since he left the vice presidency.”)
But this is different. Biden is commander-in-chief now. People’s lives depend upon his decisions. An aging president is a far more troubling problem than an aging candidate.