Joe Biden is finishing up a banner week of showcasing his ongoing mental decay, and that means the mainstream press is in damage control mode. Axios was ready to go on Sunday morning with a report that attempts to explain away the president’s verbal fumblings. Ironically, the report manages to make some pretty notable admissions despite the comical framing.

One of the things at issue is Biden’s recent proclamation of “God save the queen, man” at the end of a speech. Here’s what that sounded like for context.

Biden wraps up his remarks in Connecticut: "Alright, God save the queen, man" pic.twitter.com/NJShsIA1eg

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 16, 2023

President Biden often uses old-timey expressions that confound even his own staff. That happened again Friday when he ended a speech on gun violence with “God save the queen, man.”

• Even Olivia Dalton, the White House’s principal deputy press secretary, didn’t know what her boss meant. When journalists asked, she replied only that he “was commenting to someone in the crowd.”

• Later, the White House didn’t respond when Axios asked what Biden had meant.

You have to love the idea that randomly pleading for the queen as a US politician ending a speech is just an “old-timey expression.” I’ve got grandparents. I’ve never heard them say that, and you’d expect people from the South to be even more into folksy sayings. Why did Biden actually say what he said? No one knows, and that’s the point.

The article in question then dropped this absolute gem of a paragraph. Truly, this might be one of the most amazing things I’ve seen written in the political press public.

Biden’s quirky aphorisms are sometimes weaponized by Republicans to insinuate the 80-year-old president is in mental decline. But Biden has been using unique phrases for years — but even some of his aides aren’t exactly sure what he means by them.

You see, it’s just those dastardly Republicans who are weaponizing Biden’s senile breakdowns. It’s not that he’s, you know, actually senile and in severe mental decline. Someone really needs to stop the GOP from pouncing and seizing so much.

And come on with the assertion that Biden just uses “unique phrases.” No, he says crazy, sometimes completely incoherent things at really inappropriate times. That’s something a lot of 80-year-olds do, and it’s one of the reasons why this specific one has no business being president.

Besides, isn’t it a problem that his own aides have no idea what he’s trying to say at any given moment? What a president says matters. It affects everything from relationships with foreign nations to the individual lives of Americans. The fact that he’s just spitting into the wind with wildly weird stuff, often at times that exacerbates the issue, is a problem.

Axios ends their write-up with this attempt at clean-up.

There are legitimate questions about Biden’s age and stamina as he runs for a second term — but his off-beat proverbs are just Biden being Biden.

No, no they aren’t. It’s obvious they aren’t. The press is doing the American people a deep disservice by continuing to pretend this is all just normal or “Biden being Biden.” The presidency isn’t a retirement job. Everyone should stop treating it as such.