How Biden's enablers may have delayed his bowing out
Joe Biden's inner circle faces calls for a reckoning for allegedly shielding the president — and the public — from questions of aging and electoral viability
![Dozens of portraits of Joe Biden out of focus, with one one clear image circled](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/i7eubviMVCL3upDGxY2RCa-415-80.jpg)
In the wake of President Joe Biden's historic decision to abandon his reelection campaign and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in his stead, nearly everyone has pointed to Biden's disastrous debate performance as the moment when his capacity to run for office truly came into broad public question. Not only did Biden falter during the debate itself, but his halting, unsteady performance stood in stark relief against the campaign's fervent claims that the president was both physically fit and mentally acute enough to wage a national campaign — to say nothing of leading the nation for another four and a half years. Biden did not simply have a bad debate night, but he did so at the expense of a longstanding effort by his team to portray the 81-year-old chief executive as spry and vigorous.
Questions about Biden's record-setting presidential age are nothing new, having played a not-insubstantial role in his last presidential election four years ago. Despite — or perhaps because of — those longstanding concerns, the president's unmistakably frail showings not only led to his ultimate decision to end his reelection campaign, but prompted many to ask whether some among Biden's aides and advisers have been publicly denying age-based concerns they privately know to be true. Biden's own claims of mental and physical fitness notwithstanding, was the president enabled by some to run for high office to the detriment of the voting public, and himself?
'An increasingly protective circle'
"While it's clear the president had aged in the past year," many White House staffers were taken aback by the "version of Biden, faltering and dazed, that showed up at last month's debate," CNN said. Many of those same staffers "blamed the president's inner circle of advisers and family" for orchestrating a "painstakingly choreographed daily operation designed to prevent him from being in unscripted settings for extended periods of time."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
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.
"It's not like Biden's inner circle didn't know this," said one Democratic strategist to the network. But while his inner circle may have, many in the wide constellation of Democratic operatives and donors feel "misled by what they say is an effort to tamp down concerns, raised well before the debate, about whether Biden is fit for a second term," The Wall Street Journal said. The president's "small clutch of advisers have built an increasingly protective circle around him," Politico said. That his difficulties during the debate "came as such a shock" to so many was the "result of how effectively his top aides and the White House on the whole has, for three and a half years, kept him in a cocoon."
That alleged cocoon not only prevented the public from seeing the extent of Biden's aging, but may have prevented Biden himself from understanding this moment in history as well. "There was a belief that the president isn't getting an accurate assessment of where the race stands right now," said one member of Congress to Puck, following a phone call between lawmakers and the president in the weeks before he dropped his campaign.
'The price they will pay'
For their part, Republicans have seized upon the dissonance between Biden's alleged vigor and his apparent frailty by alleging the president and his team colluded to perpetrate a "whopper" of a "coverup" for which the Democrats will ultimately pay an electoral price, The Wall Street Journal said. Democrats "underestimate the price they will pay for lying this way" because for "all our willingness to forgive and forget, Americans don’t like being played for suckers." To that end, some conservative lawmakers have demanded audio from Biden's interviews with then-special counsel Robert Hur this past October, which would "show exactly what we all saw on the debate stage a couple weeks ago," and which Democrats "want to cover up," said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) earlier this month.
Biden's decision to run and remain in the race for as long as he did may have been the result of a close cabal of advisers shielding him, and the public, from the reality of his political viability, but in a way so too was his ultimate decision to drop out. Even as Biden was finishing his concession letter on Sunday afternoon, "unaware White House officials and the president's allies were still pressing reporters with comments about how determined the president was to stay in the race," The New York Times said.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Leave the crowds behind at these 7 sensational hotels
The Week Recommends Traveling in September means more room to explore
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The history and impact of HBCUs
In depth Schools have long been desegregated, but historically Black colleges and universities are still filling a need in the United States
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Aide to NY governors charged as Chinese agent
Speed Read Linda Sun, the former aide to Kathy Hochul, has been accused of spying for the Chinese government
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Is post-election violence inevitable, win or lose?
Today's Big Question As Election Day draws near so does the prospect of a violent response, no matter the eventual outcome
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Why are Democrats suing the Georgia election board?
Today's Big Question Worries about 'chaos on Election Day'
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'It's not supposed to be this way'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Harris, Biden campaign together at union rally
Speed Read The sitting president and Democratic presidential nominee joined forces in battleground state Pennsylvania
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
What are the lessons from Ukraine's Russia incursion?
Talking Points And what do they mean for Putin's red lines?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Harris claims steadfast values in CNN interview
Speed Read This was Harris' first major television interview since she became the Democratic presidential nominee
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'The federal government's response to the latest surge has been tepid at best'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published