It's not really about Biden's brain — unless it is
Depending on who you ask, the renewed focus on the president's mental acuity is an election-year distraction, a legitimate point of concern, and sometimes both


It was supposed to be a victory lap over an exonerating special counsel report that absolved President Joe Biden from any criminal liability for mishandling classified material. It was intended to be an opportunity for the president to push back on the report's allegation that Biden might appear as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" to any potential jury. And for the first part of his remarks on Thursday evening, Biden did just that, joking that "I'm well-meaning, and I'm an elderly man, and I know what the hell I'm doing" and sparring with Fox News' Steve Doocy by quipping that "my memory is so bad I let you speak."
Q: "How bad is your memory? Can you continue as president?"President Biden: "My memory is so bad I let you speak...my memory is fine." pic.twitter.com/Le4DpoqP7HFebruary 9, 2024
That feistiness, however, disappeared a short while later when Biden incorrectly described Egyptian ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the "president of Mexico." It was an embarrassing (if relatively innocuous) slip-up under ordinary circumstances, but one rendered all the more pointed and alarming given the context of the evening's press conference — called in part to refute doubts about Biden's memory. The mistake, hardly unique for a man notorious for verbal flubs, nevertheless immediately reopened a long-simmering debate over Biden's age and mental fitness. It also renewed talk on the age and mental fitness of Donald Trump, his likely 2024 presidential challenger.
It's an issue fraught with allegations of hypocrisy, agism, and genuine questions about what it means to have an octogenarian occupying the most consequential office on Earth. So what is the debate over Biden's brain really about?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'We're in a grim situation'
Special Counsel Robert Hur's report "strips away the defenses that Biden's press operation has used to protect him," said Democratic party strategists who spoke with NBC on Thursday. "For Democrats, we're in a grim situation," one member of the House told the network on condition of anonymity, calling the Hur report and Biden's subsequent gaffe "a nightmare" that "weakens President Biden electorally."
With a recent poll showing more than three-quarters of Americans have "major" or "moderate" concerns about Biden's mental acuity, his advisers and Democrats at large "will be weighing whether Biden needs to take a different approach to questions about his age," Financial Times said. Questions about Biden's age are the "most persistent political threats" faced by his reelection team, said Politico, which called the issue a "profound and growing problem" for the president.
Up until now "the conversation about Biden's age among commentators on the left has run something like this: So, uh, Joe Biden is pretty old. Should we be worried about that?," The Atlantic's Helen Lewis said, adding that nothing has come of that observation "because nothing else flows from it." What's changed, said Lewis, is that we now have "some evidence that Biden is, at best, no longer the politician he was a decade ago."
'An endless loop'
Focusing on Biden's mental health is a "disservice to the American public," political analyst Asha Rangappa said on X. Instead, the media should be "discussing the legal distinction between Biden's handling of classified documents and Trump's" to inform voters about the "relevant differences between the candidates."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
On Bluesky, journalist Michael Hobbs questioned what we're doing with this "fake controversy," stressing that "if knowing basic facts about foreign countries is important to you, the choice in the upcoming election is very clear." The media hypocrisy in focusing on Biden in light of Trump's own mental health history muddles the "binary choice" between the two candidates, said conservative CNN analyst Ana Navarro. Trump "makes as many gaffes, probably just not as much scrutiny, as Joe Biden does." The former president last month repeatedly mistook GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley for Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi and seemingly claimed Barack Obama was the current resident of the White House.
Ultimately, regardless of fairness or hypocrisy, "these ongoing gaffes and the media's coverage of these gaffes will dog Biden's presidential campaign for the rest of the year," said former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, despite unequal attention paid to Trump's "mental health issues and fascist talk."
"Hope the Dems have a plan (or at least a plan B)."
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures Dancing for tradition, the World's Ugliest Dog, and more
-
August 15 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Friday’s political cartoons include Jeffrey Epstein files distractions, a Nobel Appeasement prize for Trump, and revisionist history in Washington DC
-
'Actual poop': the messy ending of 'And Just Like That...'
Talking Point Reviewers slam 'unfunny and hateful' finale to 'Sex and the City' reboot
-
Why do Dana White and Donald Trump keep pushing for a White House UFC match?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The president and the sports mogul each have their own reasons for wanting a White House spectacle
-
The push for a progressive mayor has arrived in Seattle
The Explainer Two liberals will face off in this November's election
-
What does occupying Gaza accomplish for Israel?
Talking Points Risking a 'strategic dead-end' in the fight against Hamas
-
JD Vance rises as MAGA heir apparent
IN THE SPOTLIGHT The vice president is taking an increasingly proactive role in a MAGA movement roiled by scandal and anxious about a post-Trump future
-
'America is becoming a nation of homebodies'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Recreation or addiction? Military base slot machines rake in millions.
Under the Radar There are several thousand slot machines on military bases
-
Redistricting: How the GOP could win in 2026
Feature Trump pushes early redistricting in Texas to help Republicans keep control of the House in next year's elections
-
How does the EPA plan to invalidate a core scientific finding?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Administrator Lee Zeldin says he's 'driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion.' But is his plan to undermine a key Obama-era greenhouse gas emissions policy scientifically sound — or politically feasible?