Let's (try to) put politics aside and ask the most basic question: Is Joe Biden fit to be President?

Since his disastrous debate two weeks ago, the evidence against him has only mounted, as the truth about the cordon that hides Biden from the world leaks out.

The question the world should be asking is not if Joe Biden can defeat a Democratic insurrection and remain his party’s Presidential nominee.

Nor is it if he can defeat Donald Trump in November, an outcome betting markets suggest is possible, if unlikely.

Those issues are fascinating, of course. Maybe Biden can use the power of incumbency to overcome his party’s doubt - then eke out a win over Trump, especially if the media stop asking hard questions and instead rally for him as they did in 2020.

But those questions are ultimately about process and politics. They’re distractions from the real issue: if Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. can (and does) function as President.

What we have learned in the last two weeks is that Biden’s closest aides have gone to desperate lengths to keep anyone outside their inner circle from learning the answer to that question. (A fact that strongly suggests the answer is no.)

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(Looking for the answers. With your help.)

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What’s even more striking is that outside their inner circle includes not only the public and the media, but people who are theoretically close to Biden, like his largest donors, his mid-level staff, and his own cabinet.

In the wake of Biden’s June 27 debate, those people are speaking out.

Whether they are speaking because they believe Biden cannot beat Trump, because they are personally angry at being denied the truth, or because they genuinely fear Biden’s incapacity is another interesting but irrelevant question. What matters is that they are speaking, usually but not always anonymously.

Collectively, their words paint a devastating picture.

On July 7, the political newsletter Axios reported Biden’s appearances - even in small, private fundraisers - are choreographed literally to the step.

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(Stay, Joe, stay!)

SOURCE

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The next day, the Wall Street Journal reported that aides have openly coached Biden on answers in private events:

At a fundraiser in New York around the time of the United Nations General Assembly last fall, Biden seemed at a loss trying to answer questions about the Middle East from people in a photo line, according to a person there. An aide whispered in Biden’s ear, the person said, and the president then answered.

Two days ago, CNN reported Biden’s Cabinet meetings are equally scripted, down to the minute:

Ahead of closed-door Cabinet meetings that Biden attends, it is customary for Cabinet officials to submit questions and key talking points that they plan to present in front of Biden ahead of time to White House aides, two sources with direct knowledge told CNN.

“The entire display is kind of an act,” one of those sources told CNN. “They would come and say, ‘Hey, the president is going to call on you about 25 minutes in, and ask this question.”

Apparently even those preparations and protections are not enough, though.

CNN’s most stunning revelation: Biden has not convened a full Cabinet meeting since October 2023, nine months ago. A Cabinet secretary - a Cabinet secretary! - told CNN he¹ sees Biden so rarely that he is “uncertain of Biden’s condition.”

On July 2, Politico wrote that even at the top of the White House, aides outside Biden’s inner circle are not allowed to speak honestly to him:

During meetings with aides who are putting together formal briefings they’ll deliver to Biden, some senior officials have at times gone to great lengths to curate the information being presented in an effort to avoid provoking a negative reaction.

[A senior] official said, “He doesn’t take advice from anyone other than those few top aides, and it becomes a perfect storm because he just gets more and more isolated from their efforts to control it.”

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Of course, the efforts extend to Biden’s public appearances and media interactions.

As the Wall Street Journal explained in its July 8 piece:

White House aides often erect barriers to keep reporters from asking Biden questions. Journalists are sometimes kept dozens or even hundreds of feet away from the president at events. White House staff often blast music so questions can’t be heard during the president’s exit.

The efforts to control what the public hears extend even after Biden has spoken.

On Thursday, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported White House staffers pressed a local radio station to edit a taped interview with Biden before it aired in order to remove his gaffes, including his odd and false claim that:

I have more blacks in my administration than any other president, all other presidents combined, and in major positions, cabinet positions.

On July 4, the Washington Post noted Biden’s complete reliance on teleprompters not even in small private events with his biggest donors, who “increasingly are treated not to informal private remarks from the president, but to the same scripted comments he makes in public.”

On the very rare occasions when Biden gives press conferences, the Post wrote,

His staffers call reporters in an effort to ferret out what questions they might ask, a practice that was not typical in earlier presidencies. For some major interview opportunities like the Super Bowl, Biden’s team has simply declined, giving up a chance that most politicians would grasp at eagerly.

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Maybe most disturbing of all, Biden’s inner circle has even blocked the White House residence staff - an apolitical group sworn to secrecy - from seeing him close up.

Axios reported on June 30 that:

Even the White House's residence staff, which serves the first family in the mansion's living quarters, has been kept at arm's length… “The separation between the family and the residence staff was so big, so divided," [a former residence] official said. "It's not supposed to be and usually isn't, even in the Trump White House.

It noted an incident in July 2021 when Biden’s political staff blocked the residence aides and White House butlers from seeing Biden after he abruptly “sat down” in a White House room.

“The episode left residence staff feeling like his close aides were creating a barrier around anything possibly related to the president's health,” Axios wrote.

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(Support my fight for the truth. For less than 20 cents a day.)

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Until the debate, the inner circle’s efforts mostly succeeded, in part because the elite media helped cover for Biden.

Reporters made clear distinctions: noting Biden’s age was allowed, as it was an undeniable fact. Noting his obvious physical infirmities was marginally acceptable, as long as it was done so respectfully.

But questions about his cognitive fitness were largely off-limits. To ask them was to join the vast right-wing conspiracy.

Now, of course, the press is chasing the truth aggressively.

But Biden’s inner circle still keeps Biden’s secrets. The castle has fallen, but the keep remains unbroken.

So we still do not have an answer to the most important question of all: how far and how fast has the President’s brain declined, not just since 2020 but in the last few months?

The reporting will continue. But until the conspiracy of silence of those closest to Biden cracks, we may be denied the definitive answer every American deserves.

1. CNN uses “they” in its story to hide the Cabinet secretary’s gender.