With the presidential election still more than six months away, President Biden's handlers are under increasing pressure to divert Americans' eyes from his obvious and accelerating mental and physical decline.
Where his deteriorating mental abilities are concerned, we've already seen them using tactics like drastically minimizing his spontaneous interactions with reporters and excessively stage-managing his rare press conferences -- down to furnishing him with answers to questions submitted in advance.
Now comes news that Team Biden's latest stage-management innovation is focused on obscuring his frailty: Uncomfortable with the way Biden looks as he unsteadily shuffles across the White House lawn, one or more staffers now walk at his side, helping to prevent close scrutiny of his gait.
Biden advisors have told Axios they're uneasy about how he looks when walking and shuffling by himself, particularly across the White House lawn. The outlet analyzed video of Biden's navigation to Marine One helicopters and pegged when the new hide-the-invalid routine started:
- In March, Biden's five
walksshuffles to Marine One were by himself or family members only - After April 16, nine of his 10 treacherous traverses of the lawn had him obscured by accompanying staffers or legislators
Can't Make It Up: The President of the United States has been assigned “walkers.”
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) April 26, 2024
You heard that right. The man that has access to nuke codes now requires aides to escort him across a lawn.
These handlers now walk between Biden and the pool cameras, "to draw less attention to… pic.twitter.com/RO81Dvufb6
In addition to acting as visual screeners, the aides might also be beneficial in grabbing him if he starts falling to the ground. Biden's advisors and doctors have had him embrace other tools and techniques to minimize physical disasters like his falls on the Air Force One stairs...
...and this wipeout at last spring's Air Force Academy graduation:
The extra measures include wearing black sneakers instead of business shoes, and now walking up a shorter set of stairs to board Air Force One. The mental side of the ledger is constantly being filled with new debit entries. The latest came this week, when -- not for the first time -- Biden read his stage directions off the teleprompter. In a Wednesday speech to North America's Building Trades Unions, he weakly delivered a line meant to draw applause, then read the word "PAUSE" off the prompter:
NOW - Biden: "Four more years. Pause." pic.twitter.com/PW1HBgaCVu
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 24, 2024
As we detailed Friday, Biden's latest approval rating is the worst for any president at this point in a term in 70 years. Just 38.7% of Americans approve of his performance, according to Gallup. A February poll found 76% of Americans have moderate or major concerns about Biden's mental and physical fitness to advance to a second term.
One thing's for sure: Biden's handlers are in for an agonizingly tense time as the remaining 191 days until the Nov. 5 general election slowly grind away.
