Donors are growing concerned about President Joe Biden‘s mental acuity and his ability to remember his own policy decisions.
Biden has been relying on notecards during closed-door fundraisers, in which he will call on a prescreened donor and consult his notes to give a detailed answer, a source familiar with the routine told Axios. However, his reliance on notecards for questions he knows are coming ahead of time is yet another situation raising concerns over his age. At 81, Biden is the oldest president in United States history.
The staged Q&A sessions, along with the necessity for notecards, have some supporters worried that Biden may not be able to hold his own during the presidential campaign and at debates with former President Donald Trump, 77.
Trump, along with former Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, have carried notes with them or used teleprompters at public rallies and events to help guide them. However, donors are noting that Biden is using notecards during private events, where he is briefed ahead of time on what to say and when.
Sources close to Biden’s notecard routine have told the outlet they are a result of detail-oriented staff who want to ensure a successful fundraiser. So far, the strategy has played out: the Democratic National Committee raised $120 million in 2023, spent $129.5 million, had $319,355.42 in debts, and ended the year with $21 million available cash.
Comparatively, the Republican National Committee has just $8 million in cash on hand, marking its worst fundraising haul since 2013. Adjusted for inflation, the RNC’s total is its poorest since 1993.
Most of Biden’s conversations with donors are conducted away from the eyes of the public. Biden typically speaks to reporters but not TV cameras ahead of a donor event. A teleprompter is frequently there to help the president stay on track, but he didn’t have one in California on Wednesday when he called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” and invoked Strom Thurmond in an attack on Republicans.
After reporters are ushered out, donors are allowed to ask Biden two or three questions that have already been pre-approved by the president’s staff.
Some donors have been impressed at impromptu Q&A sessions.
“He’s always been an extemporaneous speaker, and he spoke off-the-cuff. Not scripted at all,” Fred D. Hochberg, a donor who attended a fundraiser in Manhattan earlier this month, said to Axios. “I asked him about immigration and the border, and he talked about what’s going on.”
Biden’s campaign has dismissed the idea that Biden’s reliance on notecards is a cause for concern.
“In news that matters to the American people when it comes to the 2024 election today: Three IVF clinics in Alabama ceased operations out of fear of criminal prosecution by the state — all at the feet of Donald Trump,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said to Axios, referencing the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision that determined frozen embryos are children and led to the closure of several IVF programs in the state.
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Biden has also tried to use humor to deflect questions about his age, poking fun at himself or making jokes about his memory. This strategy has come into play most recently after a special counsel report from Robert Hur depicted Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” when he was investigating the president’s handling of classified documents. Republicans have latched onto this as a major campaign talking point, though Trump has also forgotten names in speeches or mistaken people for someone else.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday found that two in three voters believe Biden is too old to serve another term in the White House, while 41% say Trump is also too old.
