Alarming revelations about Joe Biden‘s decline have raised questions about how long the president was impaired while leading the country and how long his staff, close advisors, and family were covering up the truth.
Concerns about Biden’s age had already begun when he announced his 2020 campaign at the age of 77.
Democrats groaned as the former vice president struggled through primary debates, frequently stumbling over talking points while mixing up his sentences.
At the time, the most favorable interpretation was that it was just ‘Biden being Biden’ – he was the affable gaffe-ridden politician who struggled from early youth with a stutter.
When the coronavirus pandemic took place during the general election, Biden’s staffers almost breathed a sigh of relief when the president was no longer expected to campaign publicly, risking slip-ups and errors.
Instead, he was quarantined in his family basement where he could be trusted to deliver short scripted speeches and tightly controlled remote video interviews over Zoom.
Despite some concerns about his age, the public saw Biden successfully perform during the 2020 presidential debates as he rhetorically tangled with Donald Trump on two occasions about the future of the country.
Biden won the presidency in 2020, but he was still protected in a closely watched cocoon of staff as the pandemic raged and his public and media appliances were limited and carefully scripted.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden wait to take a photo with staff outside the White House
Perhaps the first time the public started to become alarmed was when President Biden demonstrated his dramatic physical limitations, falling repeatedly on the stairs while boarding Air Force One on March 18, 2021 for a trip to Atlanta, Georgia.
White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted the president was doing ‘100 percent fine’ and blamed the wind for his stumbles.
By August 2021, however, Biden started to demonstrate real struggles in communicating and reacting to major public events.
During the botched exit from Afghanistan, President Biden continued keeping his remarks closely scripted for days, refusing to respond to shouted questions from reporters and staying on script with his talking points.
The country was not satisfied with his responses, prompting staff to schedule an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos to allow the president to defend his decision to pull U.S. troops from Afghanistan
Biden made multiple errors and gaffes throughout the interview that aired on August 19, 2021 and they had to be clarified and corrected by the White House.
The subsequent terrorist suicide bombing that killed 13 American warfighters and more than 170 Afghan civilians shook Biden as he struggled to defend the botched exit from the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden pauses and grips his folder while listening to a question from a reporter
Joe Biden slips three times as he climbs stairs to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland
When he finally took questions from the press, Biden found himself frustrated, struggling to finish sentences and recall basic facts and talking points.
At one moment he bowed his head with frustration and anger, clenching his briefing book of talking points as Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked him a question.
Even many who voted for Biden questioned the president’s ability to handle the chaotic events, and the decisions he made about the way to withdraw forces from Afghanistan.
Biden’s performance as a major world leader during the Russian aggression in Ukraine also prompted questions about his abilities.
In January 2022, Biden held an extended press conference after a long drought in commutations with the White House press.
Even before it was over staff had to clarify Biden’s remarks about Russia making a ‘minor incursion’ into Ukraine that might not trigger a response from the United States and NATO allies.
A National Security Council spokeswoman immediately said that Biden was only speaking about possible non-military, paramilitary, or cyber attacks. The president had not even finished speaking.
After his press conference White House press secretary Jen Psaki also issued a statement to clarify the president’s remarks.
President Joe Biden delivers a speech marking the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
In March 2022, White House staff also scrambled to correct Biden after he delivered a speech in Poland to confront Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
‘For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,’ Biden declared forcefully, suggesting he was supportive of regime change in Russia.
The White House immediately said that Biden’s comments were not about regime change and that it was not in his prepared remarks.
Biden continued his presidency clutching detailed notecards from his staff reminding him where to go, what to say, and who he was talking to.
His coughing was no longer smothered by the occasional cough drop, his voice grew thinner and weaker, and his gait grew more stiff, prompting additional questions about his abilities.
In June 2022, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre hyperbolically defended Biden’s acuity.
‘Oh, my gosh, he’s the President of the United States, you know, he – I can’t even keep up with him,’ she told CNN’s Don Lemon in an interview, urging skeptics to look at the work he was achieving.
But in September 2022, Biden sparked more concern after he arrived at an event with members of Congress and called out to Rep. Jackie Walorski, who had passed away more than a month earlier in a car crash.
‘Jackie are you here? Where’s Jackie?’ Biden said, appearing unaware of her passing.
The White House defended Biden’s question and would only say that the deceased congresswoman was ‘top of mind,’ during his remarks.
In June 2023, Biden tripped over a sandbag and fell sprawling on stage at the Air Force Academy’s commencement ceremony. White House aides responded that the president was ‘fine’ after the undignified incident.
‘Calm down you nervous nellies,’ wrote Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain on social media, scolding Democrats for questioning the president’s health.
‘He’s fine,’ White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt tweeted afterward. ‘There was a sandbag (seen left) on stage while he was shaking hands.’
By October 2023, Biden struggled during his interview with Special counsel Robert Hur about classified documents found in his possession.
Hur’s report revealed his honest assessment, that Biden was a ‘sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.’
When the details were released in early January, Biden was furious about the accusation.
He was running for reelection and already fighting off suggestions that he was too old and senile to be seeking a second term.
Biden held a press conference defending his abilities, but after insisting ‘my memory is fine,’ he mistakenly referred to the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, as ‘the president of Mexico’ without correcting himself.
Throughout, Biden’s staff repeatedly defended the president’s mental and physical abilities.
But behind the scenes donors attending fundraising events were incredibly alarmed as he often trailed off during speeches and struggled to remember who he was talking to.
At public events, Biden appeared at times to be lost on stage, looking to staff to point him in the proper direction.
Biden’s public demeanor was so bad by the summer of 2024 that donors were openly questioning the president’s decision to run for reelection.
President Joe Biden participates in the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios
In the presidential debate in June 2024, Biden struggled to finish his sentences and mixed up his prepared talking points as he tried to compete with Trump.
Biden’s frail, hoarse and raspy voice alarmed debate viewers as he claimed there were ‘a thousand trillionaires’ in the United States who needed to be taxed more.
Later in the debate he declared that ‘we finally beat Medicare’ and struggled to deliver his prepared attacks on Trump.
‘I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either,’ Trump quipped.
The botched debate performance prompted a host of Democrats to publicly call for Biden to exit the race.
But the White House continued defending Biden’s abilities
During a NATO summit on July 11, Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as ‘President Putin’ before correcting himself.
The president also referred to his vice president as ‘Trump’ instead of Kamala Harris during a press conference at the summit.
‘Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I didn’t think she was qualified to be president,’ he said.
Biden continued insisting he was ‘fine’ and fit for reelection.
‘If I slow down, I can’t get the job done. That’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet, none,’ he said.
By July 21, Biden announced he would drop out of his presidential campaign.