The Elephant in the Room Roars to Life

Though the signs of decline have been obvious since well before he was inaugurated, this week – over a year and a half into Joe Biden’s time in office – the mainstream media have finally taken off the kid gloves on the issue of Joe Biden’s mental fitness after the elephant in the room finally roared to life.

As we previously reported, a clearly unprepared press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was peppered with a barrage of questions Wednesday about President Joe Biden calling out and searching for Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) during a White House conference on hunger, apparently forgetting that she’d passed away nearly two months ago in a car accident along with two aides.

“Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?” a befuddled-looking Joe Biden said as he looked around the room for Walorski.

For those who missed it, watch:

“Where’s Jackie?” Biden asks, referring to Rep. Jackie Walorski, who died in a car accident in August.

The WH was going to play a tribute video to her during this event. pic.twitter.com/FXZKmqEBW0

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) September 28, 2022

Jean-Pierre’s initial responses to the questions that were raised afterward were to completely dodge the issue, proclaiming Walorski was “at top of mind” for Biden as there will be a “bill signing in her honor this coming Friday,” where Biden will also get to connect with her family.

But the questions about Biden’s flub kept coming, and not just from conservative-leaning news outlets but also from some that are generally considered Democrat-friendly. According to a lengthy video thread from Newsbusters managing editor Curtis Houck, at least six different reporters, including some from CBS News and CNN, wouldn’t let the issue go, flustering Jean-Pierre who continued to refuse to acknowledge that Biden had, as NPR artfully put it, “misspoken.”

I don’t think it’s a mere coincidence that a day after the Biden White House completely lost control of the narrative on Joe Biden’s mental fitness that there is no press briefing scheduled on the calendar for Thursday:

No press briefing on the WH schedule today after @presssec Karine Jean-Pierre's embarrassing attempt to explain Joe Biden's "Where's Jackie" moment yesterday pic.twitter.com/7GooCQHk9D

— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) September 29, 2022

The significance of the media finally shining a brighter spotlight on Biden’s frequent bouts of forgetfulness cannot be overstated:

It feels significant that this incident isn’t just getting the Twitter viral video treatment, but is actually getting written up in the New York Times.

Joe Biden’s mental fitness is an issue and it’s time the press takes it seriously. No amount of briefing spin can change that. https://t.co/XRR2G8rYsz

— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) September 28, 2022

We’re in the midst of a major sea-change on this issue, in my opinion. Especially when you consider that as recently as June and not long after Biden’s infamous bike fall, CNN’s Brian Stelter and John Harwood (who are no longer with the network) falsely claimed that all of this was solely pushed by “right-wing media,” ignoring the fact that during the 2019-2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign season, a number of Biden’s Democratic opponents and even some in the mainstream media raised questions about Biden’s fitness to serve as president and commander in chief considering how he looked and sometimes acted confused and out of sorts while on the campaign trail.

The self-imposed media moratorium on questioning Biden’s mental health and state of mind appears to be officially over at this point, because the incident with him calling out for Walorski was just too concerning, too eye-opening even for those in the press who had previously operated from the “insensitive” perspective on questions that have been raised for over three years now (including during his time on the campaign trail) about Biden’s state of mind.

Whether or not any of this crystallizes with voters to any significant degree remains to be seen, but based on the scattered polling I’ve seen over the last year, when it comes to voter concerns about “Lost in Space” Biden’s fitness to lead, slim majorities are already expressing doubts on whether he should seek a second term in part because of his age and questions about his mental acuity.

All of this also leads to even bigger questions, such as if Biden’s mental health really is on the decline, just who is actually running this country right now?

It’s no laughing matter; it’s a very serious one, especially considering the very powerful position Biden holds. Serious enough that not even the Democrat apologists in the White House press corps can ignore it anymore.