Joe Biden is no longer mentally well enough to be president

[Kamala Not Either...]

The spectacle of Joe Biden’s psychological and cognitive decline is
both sad and deeply alarming. At a press conference in Hanoi on
Sunday, the 80-year-old US president was cut off mid-flow by his
aides after yet another rambling and often incomprehensible
performance in which he described climate change deniers,
bafflingly, as “lying, dog-faced pony soldiers” and appeared to
confuse the movie Good Morning, Vietnam with a song.

Since 1973, American psychiatrists have observed the so-called
“Goldwater Rule” that clinicians do not offer public opinions on, or
diagnose those whom they have not personally evaluated; this
followed an ugly controversy in the 1964 presidential election in
which more than 1,000 of them had declared Barry Goldwater, the
Republican nominee, unfit for office. And — more generally — this
has discouraged journalists and other observers from commenting
recklessly upon the psychological state of politicians.


In June, the president ended a speech in Connecticut with the words
“God save the Queen, man”. In the same month, he declared that
Vladimir Putin “is clearly losing the war in Iraq” and announced
“plans to build a railroad from the Pacific all the way across the
Indian Ocean”.

In March, on the day of the Nashville school shooting, Biden said,
‘I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream’


Biden’s psychological condition cannot be sealed off as a private
matter. As the most powerful figure in the free world and leader of
the mightiest nation on Earth, he bears almost unimaginable
responsibilities. His mental impairment is a matter of geo-political
consequence, as well as personal poignancy.

For his fellow Democrats, this presents a hideous dilemma. As the
2024 presidential election draws closer, it is being asked with
increasing urgency whether he can, or should face the rigours of
another lengthy campaign and a likely rematch with Donald Trump.

It is absolutely true that the Republican ex-president, who is 77,
also talks nonsense in his public appearances. But he does so with
vigour and energy. Opinion polls suggest that voters are less
concerned by Trump’s age than they are by Biden’s.

Assuming that the president does not change his mind about a second
term, the options available to Democrats are bleak. Under the 25th
amendment of the US constitution, vice-president Kamala Harris and a
majority of the cabinet could relieve Biden of command for being
“unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”. In recent
interviews, Harris has pointedly said that she “may have to take
over” and is ready to do so.

But Biden’s forcible removal would be another constitutional
precedent for a nation still coming to terms with the 91 criminal
charges laid against Trump. It is a conceivable outcome — but only
just.


The Democrats are also haunted by the memory of 1968, when Lyndon
Johnson declared that he would not stand in a second presidential
election, and (after the assassination of Robert F Kennedy), the
eventual candidate, Hubert Humphrey, was defeated by Richard Nixon.


As things stand, Americans will have a choice between a candidate
facing serious jail time and an incumbent who can barely speak
sense; between deranged criminality and advancing senility. The
republic is in grave peril.

Matthew d’Ancona is a columnist

https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/joe-biden-us-president-
mental-health-b1106452.html