Joe Biden is a wild animal that can not be tamed, or at least that’s the perception White House staffers are sharing. According to Politico, some of them have gotten into the habit of muting or even turning off the president when he’s speaking because they are so anxious that he’ll go off-script, begin taking questions, or otherwise

And while this is being spun as a concern that he’ll simply end up off message, I think we all know what that really means.

NEW: When Biden gives public remarks, some White House staffers will either mute him or turn off his remarks.
It’s not indifference. It’s anxiety.https://t.co/oOOdi0Ogzl pic.twitter.com/iOkdZoJwL8

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) September 7, 2021

I suppose this is part of working for a president who is in steep mental decline, and Biden shows no signs of slowing down. The concern about messaging is obviously not about him daring to touch on a policy issue he’s not “supposed to,” but the fact that his mind continually melts anytime he’s not on a teleprompter, and it often does even when he has one.

The bumbling, the fumbling, the forgetfulness, and the anger have become a common aspect of Biden’s public outings, with the latter being of the most concern for anyone trying to keep him in line. None of that is the result of a stutter. It’s the result of a president who isn’t mentally capable of doing his job.

But isn’t there something a bit nefarious about having a Commander in Chief so heavily controlled by nameless, faceless staffers? The American people did not actually elect the people who appear to be running our government. Telling Biden he can’t take questions? Giving him cheat sheets with big pictures on them? It’s all pretty disturbing when you consider the president is supposed to be somewhere close to the smartest person in the room, ready to make nation-shifting decisions at a moment’s notice.

Does anyone believe Biden is up for that?

A president should not need to be controlled at this level. It’s one thing to settle on a congruent messaging strategy. All White Houses do that. But it’s another thing to be so terrified Biden will snap at a reporter or start riffing on “the thing” that staffers are having to cope by muting his public appearances.

That reality has left a hole in the Biden administration’s ability to handle the onslaught of crises now befalling the nation. The president is not able to address the nation at the spur of the moment. He’s not able to take an hour’s worth of questions to soothe a nation on edge. Instead, everything he does must be tightly managed and scripted, and the moment Biden strays, trouble follows.

It must be a nightmare to work under those conditions. Yet, I certainly don’t feel sorry for his staffers. They backed this guy and helped put him in office. Now, they get to enjoy the fruits of that at our expense.