As a longtime baseball fan and political observer, I often think of Yogi Berra's famous quote, “It's hard to predict anything, especially the future,” but I think an April 2021 Human Events article nailed it:
“One thing is for sure: President Biden will likely continue to embrace the old joke that you can tell if a politician is lying by watching their lips move. But just like we can't take our eyes off a train wreck in progress, it will be interesting to see whether President Biden's defining characteristic is his compulsive lying, his dementia, or an inflammatory mix of both.”
Clearly, we have seen both during his three years as president, and as many experts have noted, the dementia is worsening.
There are plenty of examples that show Biden is ignorant of the truth. His disastrous plan to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and his claim that there was “unanimity” among civilian and military advisors on the “success” of border and immigration policy are patently absurd. Military leaders know how to do a strategic withdrawal, and our southern border leaks like a sieve.
The president’s September 2021 comments about the cost of a massive “infrastructure” bill supported by his administration were comical and barely coherent, both Biden trademarks: Here is a verbatim quote from a White House transcript of the speech.
“We're talking about a price tag. There's a zero price tag on the debt. We're paying it. We're going to pay all of our spending. So they're — and of course people are saying, 'Well, you know, originally it was $6 trillion, now it's $3.5 trillion. Now it's going to be $2.9 trillion? That's –'”
“It's going to be zero. Zero. Because in the plan that I put forward, and as I've said from the beginning, I said, 'I'm running to change the dynamics of economic growth.'”
A zero price on an infrastructure bill? Gerald Baker of the Wall Street Journal writes, “The Biden bill would be paid for with the biggest tax increases in history. You have a right to argue that it's a cost worth paying, but you can't argue that it's costless.”
Anyone who has followed Biden's political career will see this as part of a pattern. Over the decades, he has become notorious for gaffes, blunders, and lies. During his time as a senator, Biden's dishonesty was so notorious that congressional staff began circulating a fake resume claiming he was the “inventor of polyurethane and the weed eater” and a “member of the Rockets (1968).”
Over time, his lying habit began to overlap with clear evidence of cognitive decline. During his 2008 presidential campaign, Biden explained to the public that “Franklin Roosevelt was on TV when the stock market crashed (in 1929).” In fact, Roosevelt didn't become president until 1933, and his first television appearance was six years later.
Since that gaffe, Biden, now 81, has become increasingly flubbed and flubbed in his public remarks, most notably during last month's presidential debate with Donald Trump in Atlanta, where he at times mumbled, slurred and incoherented.
Biden's cognitive decline is nothing new, but it's getting worse. In March 2021, the leader of the free world forgot not only the name of his Secretary of Defense, but also the name of the building in which the Pentagon is headquartered. Since then, the president has avoided opportunities to take unscripted questions from reporters. And for good reason. The New York Times reported on July 2:
“In the weeks and months before President Biden's politically devastating performance at the Atlanta debate, current and former administration officials and others who met with him privately said he became increasingly disoriented, lethargic and lost track of conversation.
As a physician, I can recognize the signs of dementia when I see them: the president's subterfuge, stammering, memory loss and a barrage of incomprehensible word combinations that psychiatrists call “word salad.”
Biden clearly does not have the qualifications to be president, if at all.