Cheat sheets, specially adapted stairs, constant naps • Not allowed to talk freely
With only a couple of days left in office as President of the United States, several close associates of Joe Biden are now talking about his aging.
According to the New York Times, the sources testify that they were more aware of the president’s problems than they admitted to the outside.
At the same time, Joe Biden has received a lot of attention in the media, when his slippage testified to his old age.
The events that shook Biden’s staff
He has repeatedly tripped over the words and made mistakes, and fell. For example, he confused Iraq with Ukraine, and blamed Hezbollah and not Hamas for the October 7 attack on Israel.
One of the worst incidents was when Biden tripped over a sandbag after a speech in Colorado. It took the Secret Service agents five seconds to help the president to his feet.
The president has also been caught on film appearing to freeze, staring off into the distance. It also attracted a lot of attention when he fell off his bike.
Not allowed to speak freely
Joe Biden’s aging has been a bigger problem than just the events that have been noticed in the media. According to New York Times sources, the president’s strategists internally flagged as early as 2022 that his age was his biggest problem. It is supposed to be about 20 people in the staff who worked on managing and covering up Biden’s aging.
The outgoing president was under no circumstances allowed to speak freely, according to the data. Teleprompters were also used for smaller events.
The staff made sure he was surrounded by staff when, for example, he walked from the White House to the president’s helicopter Marine One, to minimize the risk that the media would see his stomping. It was also ensured that the stairs to the government plane were significantly shortened.
Refused to cast the foot – despite the fracture
After breaking his foot while playing with one of his German Shepherds shortly before he was sworn in, Joe Biden refused to cast or wear a foot orthosis. He didn’t want to be seen as weak. But the result, according to his advisers, was a fracture that did not heal, which contributed to his difficulty walking steadily for a long period.
According to the information given to the newspaper, the president could be having a “bad day”, which meant that he was in a bad mood and the staff needed to move meetings forward.
Two staffers who planned the president’s schedule say in retrospect he shouldn’t have traveled so much during the election campaign. Before his big debate with Donald Trump, he had been exhausted and needed to take frequent naps during the preparations.
Perhaps the debate, described as “catastrophic” by Democrats, was the nail in the coffin that caused Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race three weeks later.
Donald Trump is sworn in as the new president on Monday, January 20.