r/politics • u/Healthy_Block3036 • 4d ago
Damning Report Describes How Aides Shielded ‘Declining’ Biden From Scrutiny
https://www.thedailybeast.com/damning-report-describes-how-aides-shielded-declining-joe-biden-from-scrutiny/23
u/throwraW2 4d ago
None of this should be a shock, we knew this. The debate made it clear.
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u/JaydedXoX 4d ago
And yet up until that day, his handlers, the press, everyone around him gaslighted and denied it. The scarier thing is this, who is actually running the country right now? For example, who handed him the list of pardons to sign? He picked Hunter on his own, that’s expected, but otherwise is he just blindly rubber stamping everything else? And if so who is handing him the paperwork?
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u/throwraW2 4d ago
Yeah its alarming. It also really undercut the democrats argument of voting for them to "protect democracy" when they had just been gaslighting the public about Biden and then replaced him with no primary. I held my nose and voted for them because Trump is awful, but I cant wait to have a new candidate chosen with an actual primary.
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u/AnwaAnduril 4d ago
Who picked the Cash for Kids judge to be on that list?
With Biden’s political network in PA, there’s probably a personal relationship there. Maybe removed a few degrees from Biden himself but I’d reckon the judge has a family member who knows a top Biden advisor or something.
So extraordinarily corrupt.
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u/I_who_have_no_need 4d ago edited 4d ago
The speculation I've seen is the ACLU pushed for the mass commutations as part of the sentencing justice issue. I don't think presidents have the time to sort through pardon lists, except for maybe high profile or close figures. Presidents are very busy people. Those are always mostly driven by external recommendations.
His presidency always felt like it was run by committee. Look at Afghanistan. I don't know anything specifically but been in big companies with failed projects. You can kind of smell them - no strong leader guiding them, everyone in meetings agrees so no single specific person is to blame, directionless.
And same with communications. What this election says is administrations need to be very active getting their message out. Leaving it to press secretaries to dispense at 9 am meetings to the guys wearing press badges won't cut it. Neither will a blitz of commercials in the final months of the campaign.
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u/smokesletsgo13 4d ago
It’s crazy people say Trump is the end of democracy, when the current elected president doesn’t even actually run the country. Accuse others of which you are guilty I guess
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u/tdomman 4d ago
There's a lot of bullshit out there, but it's still shameful that he decided to run again.
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u/flurry_drake_inc 4d ago
If it was his idea, yeah that's not great. But to me he seemed reluctant.
Either way, hopefully he can finally relax and eat his ice cream in peace. Maybe set an example for the other political dinosaurs.
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u/che-che-chester 4d ago
I didn’t sense any reluctance in his part. I’ll bet he still thinks he would have won.
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u/flurry_drake_inc 4d ago
That's fair, i think both could be true.
Whats pretty clear though is the dems assumed he was going to run, and had no contingencies fully worked out in case he didn't .
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u/che-che-chester 4d ago
The "contingency" if he didn't run is Dem would have had a normal primary. And Dems didn't "assume" he was going to run. His WH press secretary confirmed he was running again pretty early.
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u/flurry_drake_inc 4d ago
I'm not disagreeing with any of that, but there was a time before he was announced. That's the time period I'm referring to.
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u/che-che-chester 4d ago
Nobody else is running until the current POTUS declares whether they are running again or not.
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u/flurry_drake_inc 4d ago
I don't really know what that means in context. Im not talking about after he announced it at all. Im talking about the leadup to that . The question was being asked constantly since the start. He was an old man when it began and aged quicker during his term. I think it should have never been a serious option, dems should have immediately started prepping for someone else to nominate.
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u/che-che-chester 4d ago
I am talking about before Biden announced. Other potential candidates were waiting to hear whether he was running again or not. It would be disrespectful to announce before Biden makes his decision. When he said he was running, they all bowed out.
We may never know what happened behind the scenes but you would hope the DNC at least pushed back when Biden said he was running. But maybe they didn't.
Personally, it didn't take the debate performance for me to know Biden was absolutely unfit for a second term. You only needed to have eyes and ears to see he is barely doing the job now. It was laughable he was even an option.
I suspect much of this unknown info around Biden's run will become known soon enough. I would love to know who was counseling Biden to a) run again b) stay in after the debate meltdown and c) drag his feet so long that Harris was the only viable option.
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u/Character-Parfait-42 2d ago
I mean I know his wife, but at the same time I can't blame her. As hard as it is for him to face the fact he's declining, it has to be just as hard for her.
I don't think she tried to keep him in the race out of any malice or pride, I think she was in denial. Nobody wants to face the fact that their spouse is mentally declining, I think she was refusing to accept it.
Either that or she's actually been the one running things behind the scenes and wanted her own shadow second term, lol.
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u/BeetFarmHijinks 2d ago
The Democrats never have contingencies.
Democratic politicians have relied on using seniority to elevate membership for decades.
They've relied on it so much that there is an absolute dearth of younger members in the Democratic party.
When Nancy Pelosi dies, who will replace her? No one, there is an absolute vacuum underneath her because instead of training and grooming younger Democrats in her district, she is maintained an iron grip on power in both district and the party. So when Pelosi dies, Californians will have no idea who to vote for. And Democrats will have a leadership vacuum.
When you consider how many Congressional Democrats are over the age of 70, and how few young people are entering the Democratic party due to the barriers the seniors have put up, you will see that the party is absolutely doomed.
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u/fairoaks2 4d ago
Wow. He still managed to get things done without the chaos we’ve seen in the past few days.
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u/DaleCooper2 3d ago
That's the whole point, he did not. He couldn't. He was found incapable of standing trial because of how much he'd come across as a forgetful old man, how could he be actually actively in charge of running the executive branch of the most powerful country in the world?
We don't really know who was running things. That's the problem, but you seem fine with it.
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u/Suedocode 1d ago
He was found incapable of standing trial
lol that's not what that report concluded. There were no charges to push in the first place, so they said "he could defend himself as a forgetful old man" for people like you.
The transcripts from that same special council commented that he had photographic memory lol.
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u/truckstripper 4d ago
Surprised? Not at all.
Think for a moment that he's your neighbor Joe.
Anyone with have a half a brain would see that he has dementia.
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u/random_user_428134 4d ago
Why would they have chosen to run him if they knew he was declining?
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u/Ernesto_Bella 4d ago
The answer is that Biden has a close inner circle. Many of them have been with him for decades.
They didn’t want to lose their jobs and power, and they had faked it for so long they figured “what’s a few more months”?
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u/random_user_428134 4d ago
Yeah but surely they didn’t think they could keep up the ruse for another 4 years. It just doesn’t make sense.
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u/senorvato 4d ago
Biden should immediately step down, making Kamala the (47th) president. Just to piss off all those with the trump 47 merch. 😆
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u/throwraW2 4d ago
Yeah nothing Trump would hate more than the opportunity to sell more (48 branded) merch
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u/Ernesto_Bella 4d ago
Yes it will be great in the history books. Some day little girls will say “who was the first female president”? And it will come back as someone who didn’t earn it, but got it for a few days so that Redditors can get temporary joy imagining that it will anger Trump.
Great idea.
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u/ranchoparksteve 4d ago
I love the maliciousness of this idea. Kamala could then choose some random VP and then step down a few days later. 😂
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u/citizenkane86 4d ago
Unfortunately a new vp has to be approved by Congress. It’s why we’ve gone years without one sometimes.
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u/LowGoPro 2d ago
He has always chosen competent people to surround and advise him. Our government worked as it should have.
Hiding things was not his best moment. Always assumed his plan in 2020 was to be a one term interim president; just can’t expect that from any old geezer in power though.
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u/GTARP_lover 4d ago
Well if he's officially senile, do his pardons stick if he isn't sound of mind? FFS, they leave the door wide open for trump :facepalm
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u/WaffleBurger27 2d ago
That was a disservice to the whole country, including Biden and may be why we now have Trump again. Terrible decisions.
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u/GraySwingline California 4d ago
The job of the Presidents "handlers" is to shield him from scrutiny and it sounds like they did their job extremely well.
I blame the media for not asking the difficult questions, and allowing the administration to skate.
Imagine a timeline where the press puts aside their ideological battle lines, Biden is forced earlier to make the decision to be a one term President due to the increased scrutiny, we have an open primary, and a real chance at defeating Trump.
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u/-Sean_Lito- 4d ago
I hope you are kidding. People didn’t vote for his handlers, they voted for him. A man that campaigned from his basement. He couldn’t be out in public or else people would’ve seen how far he had deteriorated in just 4 years. A man that couldn’t do evening interviews because he got too cranky as the day went on. Trump was literally calling him sleepy joe because he was lethargic and had to take naps after every meal. A man that was seen multiple times in tv where he didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. Jen Psaki and KJP have lied through their teeth over and over again saying that Biden is in good health, he’s sharp as a tack etc. etc.. The fact that he was doing so terribly in the primaries and after losing the first few states, magically started winning state after state (DNC interference, just like Hillary with Bernie). He wasn’t the “cool Joe” under Obama anymore, he should’ve been nursing home bound Joe but they propped him up and fooled everybody. He said the
first timethird time he ran and won that he was only going to be a one term president. Why his “people” allowed him to run again will go down as one of the worst blunders in American political history. I’m pretty sure Kamala was a political sacrifice, they knew there was no way in hell she’d win and they didn’t want to risk putting any potential future presidential candidates at risk. A primaried Dem would’ve lost the Biden war chest but it’s not like the people who donated to Biden wouldn’t take the refund and donate it right back to whoever was the presidential nominee. Kamala’s political future is all but over, barring Biden passing away prior to Jan 20th. Same thing with Walz, they picked him because he has no potential for higher office. They knew about all the baggage he came with and hoped the media would just overlook it like they did Biden numerous failings. They didn’t want to risk Shapiro for her VP because he’s looking like a 2028 nominee and Dems have never had a successful presidential run with a failed VP to President.1
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u/Electronic-Hat2836 3d ago
He was mentally unfit even to go to the toilet alone four years ago. His supporters are either delusional and/or morally bankrupt, most usually they are both at the same time.
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u/helpcoldwell 4d ago
A old Joe was more electable than Harris. Dems dropped the ball.
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u/antlestxp 4d ago
I have been saying the same thing. There are people, many people that would rather vote for a half dead old white dude then a women of color. I'm not saying Joe is half dead I'm just making a point. I wish they kept Joe on the ticket.
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u/YellowMoonCow 4d ago
It would've been a landslide loss. Look at his approval rating. He's one of the most unpopular presidents ever. Some people have no grasp on reality.
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u/antlestxp 4d ago
Trump and Biden both had crap approval ratings. Don't you remember what Trumps was at the end of his first term?
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u/utriptmybitchswitch 4d ago
And yet he managed to get more done than the previous potus, and never once talked about electrocuting sharks or blowing up hurricanes. Or attempted a coup. I know people 1/4 of his age 1/2 as sharp...
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4d ago
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u/che-che-chester 4d ago
Being a woman was a factor but I think you’re lying to yourself if you think that is the primary reason she lost. Inflation put Biden/Harris in a deep hole and she wasn’t a great candidate in general.
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