For years during the Trump presidency, the media, politicians, and others questioned Trump’s mental fitness and, at times, even outright stated that Trump was suffering from a host of mental disorders from narcissistic personality disorder to dementia. In 2017, multiple mental health experts controversially published a book titled “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” which asserted that then President Trump was suffering from several mental health disorders, and that due to this, he posed a clear and present danger to the safety of the United States and the world. Vox even produced a mini-documentary in 2018 which discussed this book and further impugned then President Trump’s mental health. The video goes on to show nearly every mainstream media outlet doing the same. As recently as October, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced a bill to establish a bipartisan commission on the 25th Amendment on account of Trump’s behavior post treatment for his COVID-19 infection last fall. During the press conference announcing the bill the speaker went as far as to say that “there may be some impairment in judgment” and that Trump “was in an altered state.” However, with President Trump gone, this same type of scrutiny on the mental health of the president seems to have also evaporated despite the ever more obvious issues with the new president.
It is becoming clearer that President Biden is suffering mental and physical decline. During the 2020 presidential race, Biden gaffed constantly and had more than a few occasions where he seemed confused such as when he asked a crowd in South Carolina to consider him for the Senate, when he mistook his wife for his sister, or when he responded to an interviewer asking about a cognitive test by asking if the interviewer had “take a test where your taking cocaine or not” and then repeatedly stumbling over the very words “physical and mental fitness.” As president, Biden has continued along this trend. On March 19th, President Biden fell several times ascending the stairs to Air Force One, and in the first press conference of his presidency held nearly a week later on March 25th, Biden had several occasions where he seemed visibly confused and could not finish sentences without verbally stumbling and viewing his binder full of notes. Just recently, while announcing the new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) he had nominated, President Biden repeatedly misstated the acronym for the ATF, twice calling it the AFT instead. Considering the obviousness of his decline, the silence of the mainstream media, excluding Fox News and other conservative media, is deafening. Vox is not running mini documentaries lambasting President Biden for his mental fitness nor are mental health professionals running around publishing books about it and asserting that Biden poses a clear and present danger to the United States. Considering Biden’s recent remarks during an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos during which Biden called Vladimir Putin a killer and said that Putin would pay a price, it seems that if ever there was a clear and present danger, it would be the heightening of tensions between two major nuclear powers with an already long and rough history. Even when given a chance to clarify his response on what price Putin would pay, President Biden simply stated “well, you’ll see shortly.” The gaffs, confusion, and lack of clarity from President Biden may have been amusing to some during the campaign, but now as president, his declining health poses a serious problem. The consequences are no longer a few jokes and critical news articles from Fox News. Now the very safety and security of the United States is on the line; it's undeniable and seriously concerning.
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I'm having a hard time really understanding your point here. You seem to be both criticizing the media for their coverage of Trump's mental capacity, but also calling for them to do the same thing to Biden. It seems to me that this should either be something that is talked about, or something that isn't. If you want Biden covered for stumbling over his words, something he has been doing for decades now, then you should also be advocating for coverage of Trump stumbling through his words. There are plenty of examples of him having very similar moments to Biden.
ReplyDeleteBut more importantly I do think that is very easy to explain the differences in the media's coverage of this. As I said before, this is not a new problem for Joe Biden, there are plenty of videos of him having gaffes, getting his words mixed up, speaking hastily, etc from the past decades. This is not a new problem that has arisen out of no where. It is how he has always been. This would make it less newsworthy, and thus less covered. Secondly, is it really surprising that the media was harder on Trump when he began his political career making an enemy of them? It seems like the most obvious thing ever that this would not be a good way to cultivate favorable coverage.
The point is that the mainstream media does not offer the same scrutiny of President Biden's mental health as they did former President Trump's. I never stated that the media shouldn't have scrutinized Trump's mental health, only offered examples of how thoroughly and overtly they did so. In regard to Biden, Nancy Pelosi is not talking about his obvious mental decline and trying to push for the 25th Amendment to be invoked like she attempted to do during the Trump presidency, nor is the media doing so. Furthermore, it is quite obvious that Biden has undergone serious mental and physical decline, even compared to when he left office as VP just a few years ago. He has certainly not been in the state he is in now for "decades," and it is not "how he has always been." A simple google search of his speeches and appearances back in the 80's and 90's would show you that much.
DeleteTo think that the media and some of the public thought Trump was unfit to serve as president because of some mental decline. Now we see an obviously mental deficit and nothing is mentioned. Shame, shame, shame on the media for being so biased that they refuse to tell even part of the truth to the American public. Let's get rid of the Chinese controlled media and start over!
ReplyDelete