Yet Again, It's Not Dementia

There's been a lot of reaction to President Brandon's multiple gaffes over the weekend in Poland, which I've discussed here, as well as to his more recent attempts to claim they weren't gaffes at all. For instance,

Doocy: "The big things you say on the world stage keep getting walked back."

Biden: "What's getting walked backed?"

Biden: You told troops they are going to Ukraine, the U.S. would use a chemical weapon, and called for regime change in Russia.

Biden: "None of the 3 occurred." pic.twitter.com/cwZPzANIoC

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 28, 2022

Elsewhere,

When Biden was asked by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy to clarify his assertion that Russian President Vladimir Putin would trigger a “response in kind” if he used chemical weapons, the president grew indignant.

“I’m not gonna tell you. Why would I tell you?” he replied. “You gotta be silly.”

When Doocy told Biden the world wanted to know what he meant, he dismissed the question.

“The world wants to know a lot of things,” he replied. “I’m not telling them what the response will be… then Russia knows the response.”

Biden was asked about his other two comments that required clarification from the White House, including a comment to American troops about what they would see when they got to Ukraine and his comment about regime change in Russia.

“None of the three occurred, you interpreted the language that way,” he complained.

He indicated he believed everyone criticizing him for his comments about Putin was being dishonest.

Tucker Carlson, who at best is not up to the standard once set by El Rushbo, is urging those around him to invoke the 25th Amendment:

So you know exactly what that is. You've seen it in people around you, people you love. It has nothing to do with politics. What you just saw is a man who is losing the ability to regulate his emotions. Uncontrollable flashes of anger are common among people who are aging, particularly among men, and they often accompany senility. Losing it is a very frustrating experience and your heart goes out to anyone who is.

. . . All right. Joke's over, too much is at stake. If there was ever a time, if there was, in U.S. history, ever a time, to invoke the 25th Amendment, it is now. As Joe Biden himself put it, "For God's sakes, this man cannot remain in power," for all of our sakes.

I certainly agree that something is gravely wrong. The problem is that it isn't dementia, which in any case is a medical condition that requires a medical diagnosis, which Tucker Carlson is not qualified to make. What Biden is doing is simply "gaslighting", which is a common term for an identifiable interactive strategy. He's simply denying things took place, or he's insisting that people are interpreting his remarks incorrectly, or he's insisting that people are "silly".

The impression I have is that at the cabinet level, people are doing what they can to countermand anything that may go awry, and nobody is going to push any nuclear buttons. The problem is that due to an election that looks less and less legitimate, given the extent to which the media promoted a false narrative of a Ukraine phone call on one hand and suppressed a true narrative of the Hunter laptop and extensive conflicts of interest in the Biden family, a man who was never fit for the office has found himself in it.

There isn't going to be an easy fix. Nobody is going to get the collection of hacks and incompetents in the cabinet and Democrat congressional leadership we have now to invoke the 25th Amendment, and that isn't the appropriate remedy anyhow. Not much of anything can be done until Republicans can take over congress afer the November election, but even then, committee investigations will have little effect. Without a major revelation, impeachment is just as feckless a move for Republicans as it's been all along for anyone, and let's face it, that goes all the way back to Andrew Johnson.

These are things Biden understands. Whatever comes up, he's fully aware that he can hold onto his office with its perks and graft with the same lies and gaslighting he's always used. The only slight chink in the armor will be what can actually be found in Hunter's extravagant lifestyle, how it's been funded over decades, and what kind of skim the Big Guy took off the top. But even that will be no slam dunk, and it's a mistake to assume Biden will just one day shuffle off the stage in a fog.