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Biden aides, top Dems won’t admit to covering up his decline

To anyone who wasn’t getting paid to overlook it, former President Joe Biden’s decline was as obvious as a blood-red eye.

Calls for the Democratic Party to promote anyone but an obviously ailing Biden to the top of the ticket started in 2020 and only got louder in 2024, when Biden was forced to abort his reelection campaign after a disastrous debate performance. In spite of the mountains of evidence and a new book from CNN’s Jake Tapper detailing an alleged White House cover-up, Biden aides are still confidently (and anonymously) asserting that Biden never faltered.

"There were physical changes as he got older, but evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity," a spokesperson told Axios earlier this week. “We are still waiting for someone, anyone, to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president."

Tapper’s upcoming book makes a strong case that Biden had lost several steps, sourced from interviews with White House and party insiders. The book notes that Biden forgot the names of staffers and famous supporters, and relied on scripts from his subordinates to make it through high-level meetings. Still, high-level Dems like Chuck Schumer refuse to honestly grapple with their role in biffing a layup election against a convicted felon whose last term closed with a global pandemic.

The people who kept the president’s downturn out of the public eye are lifting their defense entirely from a possible schoolmate of Biden’s: “Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”

It can get better…

The art of spoiling Trump's deal: Sit back and wait

The good news for critics of the Democratic Party? We don’t need them to do anything to derail Trump’s agenda. Columnist Lucian K. Truscott IV points out the best way to avoid the most damaging aspects of Trump 2.0 is to wait until he gives up. Read more.

They said what?

• “It’s not my lane”

  House Speaker Mike Johnson turned a blind eye to President Donald Trump’s acceptance of an obvious bribe from the Qatari government.

• “I have a bulls**t detector”

  Rep. Eric Swalwell refused to let justifications of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador fly during a hearing on Tuesday. The California Democrat pressed Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem over an edited photo of the Maryland man’s tattoos.

• “You are the wrong person for this job”

  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., came in for a drubbing from Democratic lawmakers during a Senate hearing on Tuesday. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland spoke frankly to the antivax crusader in charge of the country’s public health, letting it be known that she thinks he’s a quack.

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Before you go…

Ben Shapiro is cracking under the pressure to shill for Trump

Feeding the seemingly endless appetite for conservative rage has turned countless failed screenwriters into MAGA celebrities. But even sycophants have their limits. Amanda Marcotte dove into the ways that Trump's second term is straining Ben Shapiro’s ability to cheerlead for the GOP. Read more.