Though Joe Biden has been infamously incoherent and gaffetastic throughout most of his long time in public office, it’s a problem that’s gotten much worse over the last 15 years or so, becoming more noticeable during his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president, during the roughly two years he ran for president in 2019 and 2020, and becoming even more troublingly pronounced over the course of the 19 months he’s been in the White House.

What’s been especially disturbing about Biden’s incoherency and tendency to ramble on into nothingness is the way the press reacts to it: By either pretending everything’s fine when it’s not or by shamelessly running interference for Biden, as CNN has done more than once when his mental fitness and ability to lead has come under fire from Republicans.

But one can only ignore the elephant in the room for so long before it screams out to be acknowledged, and two instances of the elephant making itself known come to mind: One from December where Biden admitted in so many words during a press conference that he is controlled by his notorious handlers, and one from Friday during a White House event where he literally admitted that he took control, but shouldn’t have because he’s “not allowed to do that”:

MAYOR PATTERSON-HOWARD: Thank you so much, Mr. President, for —

MS. RODRIGUEZ: Oh —

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I’m sorry.

MAYOR PATTERSON-HOWARD: She’s —

THE PRESIDENT: I — I took control. I shouldn’t do that.

MS. RODRIGUEZ: No problem, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: I’m not allowed to do that. Go ahead. You tell me.

MS. RODRIGUEZ: I think we’re going to go ahead and have the rest of the conversation closed press. So, thank you all so much.

Biden then answered one question before his handlers again herded the press away like cattle, with Biden looking on and lost like a deer in headlights:

"I took control. I shouldn't do that. I'm not allowed to do that," Biden says before his handlers kick out the press. pic.twitter.com/kfiha6HN3G

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 26, 2022

When I see things like this, it makes me sad – and it’s not just because I don’t like Joe Biden but because it’s genuinely worrying to see the leader of the free world being controlled like a puppet everywhere he goes, and him going along with it – presumably because he knows its better for him and all involved if he limits his interactions with the public and the press.

I’m not one for term limits nor am I someone who discriminates based on age, but between how Biden often stares off into space when he makes a public appearance, and the way House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at times struggles to articulate what she wants to say, it makes me think that maybe an age limit should apply not just to members of Congress but also candidates for president.

Because one of these days there’s going to be someone in a position of great power and influence who starts to not be in their right mind but who won’t resign gracefully, and it’s frightening to think of what they could do and how many they could hurt with that power.

I don’t say this lightly nor do I say it mockingly. I’ve had people who were very near and dear to me decline in that way when they got older, and it was absolutely heartbreaking to watch.

For as much as we’ve speculated over whether Biden will run again in 2024, maybe it’s good thing that others are lining up behind the scenes and putting out feelers in the event that he doesn’t. Because as much as I don’t like Democrats, the idea of having one in office who is so out of it that the people around him are the one calling the shots scares me even more than one who is fully coherent and knows exactly what they’re doing.

The old saying about the devil you know comes to mind here, if that makes sense.

Flashback: The Most Shameful and Sobering Commentary of All on Joe Biden Has Just Revealed Itself