Friday, June 14, 2024

This Can No Longer Be Ignored

Up tp now, I've been extremely reluctant to come to any medical-related conclusion about Joe's condition. Yesterday's vignette from Italy above changed my mind -- it shows him wandering away from the group of G7 leaders watching a skydiving demonstration. I've had several relatives who were affected by dementia, and what Joe did there was a little too familiar. According to the Mayo Clinic,

Wandering and becoming lost is common among people with Alzheimer's disease or other disorders causing dementia. This behavior can happen in the early stages of dementia — even if the person has never wandered in the past.

. . . Wandering isn't necessarily harmful if it occurs in a safe and controlled environment.

The G7 meeting is about as safe and controlled an environment as you can find, but what we see in the video clip is Joe apparently becoming distracted from the main event, wandering a few paces away from the group, and then becoming confused. Prime Minister Meloni belatedly recognizes the problem, possibly prompted by President Macron, steps over and seizes him gently by the elbow, and pulls him back. Joe, apparently sensing that something was off but not quite understanding exactly what, compensates by putting on his sunglasses.

Once again, I'm not a medical professional, I haven't examined the president in person, and I'm not qualified to make a medical diagnosis. On the other hand, if you do a search of web sites that give advice on wandering, none of them tells you to get a medical diagnosis -- they seem to assume you recognize the symptoms easily enough, and they just tell you to implement preventive measures, which can certainly include placement in a memory care facility.

Here's a post on X, for what it's worth:

Harry Cole is the Political Editor of the UK Sun, so we may surmise that he does have diplomatic sources with credibilty on the subject. He expanded in an article at the Sun:

"He's losing focus in meetings. Sometimes he's very sharp sometimes, he's very much not. So some worrying developments there.

. . . "Everyone's putting a slight brave face on it this morning. We've got some more for that for the paper tomorrow. But you can see from that footage yourself, can't you?

"This is getting embarrassing now. It makes you really wonder how President Biden is going to be able to run an election campaign in October and November for re election and if that is a man who really thinks he's going to get through the next four years?"

But this is just the fallout from from this week's G7 meeting. Apparently before the G7 episode yesterday went viral, Byron York, a highly conventional sort of guy, wrote in the Washington Examiner,

On Monday evening, the president attended a Juneteenth concert on the White House lawn. It wasn’t a complicated event, as presidential appearances go. All President Joe Biden had to do was walk out of the White House, join the crowd listening to the music, and make some brief remarks.

. . . Everyone was standing and swaying and clapping to singer Kirk Franklin’s performance. Everyone, that is, except Biden. As the scene unfolded around him, the president stood still and absolutely motionless, his hands hanging by his side. His face had a frozen expression, and his eyes seemed fixed, staring straight ahead. This went on for about a minute.

Look at your watch or phone and set it for a minute. It’s a long time. Biden was briefly engaged by Floyd, then resumed staring. Finally, he seemed to come out of it, ending the episode.

A few commentators have compared this to Mitch McConnell's "brain freeze" episodes last summer:

The Republican leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, experienced another public health scare on Wednesday when he appeared to freeze for more than 30 seconds while speaking to reporters in his home state, Kentucky.

McConnell, 81, was eventually escorted away by staff, footage from an NBC News affiliate showed.

Asked for his thoughts about running for re-election in 2026, McConnell laughed and said: “Oh, that’s a … ” He then appeared to freeze.

Possibly in response to these episodes, McConnell announced that he would retire as Republican Senate leader this past February, but he would hold onto the job until the November election. He's 82. Although the Trump campaign has posted clips of the G7 video, there's been no official commentary on Joe's episode, Newsweek sent an e-mail to the White House, buit so far, there's been no comment.

I can't imagine that nobody is talking about this, or the Juneteenth freeze, or the generally woozy performance last week in France, behind the scenes. According to the Daily Caller,

Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna claimed Thursday on Fox News that lawmakers are “hearing” that President Joe Biden won’t be his party’s nominee.

. . . [Y]ou know, a lot of people realize that Joe Biden is likely not going to be the nominee,” she continued. “Which is from what we’re hearing on Capitol Hill, [Republican California] Representative [Kevin] Kiley had reported that Kamala Harris [is] actually eyeing a run for California governor because of it.”

“Right, that’s the backup plan. So you are hearing also in D.C. that Joe Biden isn’t going to be the Democrat nominee?” Watters asked.

“Correct,” Luna responded.

. . . Reports have circulated that top Democratic Party officials are allegedly panicking over the chance that Biden may lose the 2024 election to Trump, according to Politico.

This will make the June 27 debate with Trump all the more important. The problem for Joe is that his condition has visibly worsened in recent months, and pumping him up with whatever is going to have fewer and fewer effects. Beyond that, I've simply got to assume there's a lot we aren't being told -- and oddly, there's been little comentary from anyone on the G7 wandering, and so far, there's been no White House response. This in itself prompts me to follow this story closely.

posted by test @ June 14, 2024   0 Comments