Joe Biden’s age, like inflation during his presidency, just keeps going up.
In just over a month — less than two weeks after the midterm elections that are going to define the rest of his term — Biden will turn 80, making him the oldest American president in history.
And White House aides are already trying to scheme out fittings ways not to mark the occasion.
In an unusually honest report Tuesday, the Beltway news outfit Politico brought word that the Biden circle is “keenly aware of the storylines surrounding his age and are bracing for the inevitable news cycle” and “have called around to Biden world allies to seek advice on how to best handle the date that will surely draw significant attention from reporters and Republicans alike.”
“His age has always been a sensitive topic among his closest allies and planning is underway as to how to best navigate the occasion,” Politico reported.
Trending:
The headline? “Biden’s about to turn 80. Don’t expect a blowout birthday bash.”
The White House is hoping to downplay President Joe Biden’s entrance into the octogenarian club next month as questions continue to swirl about his fitness to lead the nation. https://t.co/njp1M4PJhc
— Newsmax (@newsmax) October 11, 2022
The reasons for the “trepidation” should be obvious to anyone who’s watched Biden less than two years into what is becoming the most disastrous presidency the country has ever seen.
Do you think Biden is too old to be president?
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The supposed leader of the country and the free world spends an unusual amount of time proving he’s utterly unit for the office.
Whether he’s mouthing inanities on a regular basis, falling up staircases, falling off stationary bikes or getting caught using instruction sheets that sound like reminders for how to behave in public for a particularly slow 5-year-old, the man occupying the Oval Office rarely misses a chance to remind his fellow citizens that his best playing days belonged to seasons long past.
And now, a looming birthday is reminding Americans again of just how big a mistake the 2020 election outcome actually was.
REPORT: White House Feeling ‘Trepidation’ Over 80th Birthday of Oldest President Ever
Biden has appeared disoriented on many occasions and has shown signs of cognitive decline, including an attempt to speak to a dead congresswoman.
Via @KarlSalzmann https://t.co/HN5X1438Q3
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) October 11, 2022
Politico is a member-in-good-standing of the Pravda-on-the-Potomac propaganda complex that passes for an independent press in the nation’s capital — remember the October 2020 Politico report that branded the Hunter Biden laptop saga as “Russian disinfo”? — so it approaches even a story about White House “trepidation” with a generous amount of cover.
It notes that Biden traditionally makes a big deal about other family holidays — being the big-hearted, “big guy” that he is — but rarely is there much ado about his own birthday.
It mentions that most of the family is going to be in D.C. for Biden’s granddaughter’s wedding the day before, so really there’s not much to see here.
But the hard reality of the president’s advanced, and advancing, years can’t be avoided:
“Chatter about Biden’s age has been pervasive throughout the Beltway ever since he signaled he was launching his third presidential campaign back in 2019,” Politico White House Bureau Chief Jonathan Lemire wrote. “He had visibly aged since his time as vice president, growing thinner, with less hair. His stride had also shortened and slowed, not helped by the broken foot he suffered while playing with one of his dogs during the transition.”
Lemire then noted what may well be the defining Biden gaffe in a long history of gaffes — appearing at a public event and calling for a congresswoman who had died a month earlier. (Lemire calls such lapses “eyebrow-raising,” which is about as gentle a pat as possible for such a genuinely bizarre moment.)
All of that is going to be rehashed very publicly with a news peg like Biden’s birthday, and the White House knows it.
“For now, the plan is likely to downplay the birthday and simply focus on the work, according to those familiar with the discussions,” Lemire wrote.
Well, good luck with that. Just the report about the White House plans is drawing attention to the big day — and it’s not the kind Democrats in the White House, Congress or the Washington press corps can want.
The odds are exceedingly high that Joe Biden gets lost at his own birthday party. https://t.co/bkcFet7Gg2
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 11, 2022
And here he was expecting a big fancy shindig at Chuck E. Cheese with Cornpop
Biden’s about to turn 80. Don’t expect a blowout birthday bash. – POLITICO https://t.co/aAe8BMmd8F
— Shane Wilhoite (@ShaneWilhoite) October 11, 2022
I’m actually suprised he’s 80. He’s got the dementia of a 93 year old.https://t.co/YAysIILnil
— Robbie Bernstein (@RobbieTheFire) October 11, 2022
You mean, his 180th birthday?
Right? If Joe was a dog, and he may be, he’d be 890 years old.You act your age, and Joe does!
Coming to Wax Museum near you soon!Report: White House Wants Low-Key 80th Birthday for Biden | Newsmaxhttps://t.co/vUQcZ0iXoD
— Daniel F. Baranowski (@DFBHarvard) October 11, 2022
There’s no doubt that some of that is mean-spirited, but there’s also no doubt that many Americans have reason to be. Biden could be enjoying a nice, quiet retirement now, surrounded by loved ones and making no decisions more complicated than whether to pull his pants up. (Assuming he can decide to pull his pants up.)
He’s where he is because he chose it. Or because he chose to have men and women around him who chose it — to the country’s everlasting regret.
Lest we forget the truth of the matter, Biden was elected in a freak year, fueled by propaganda effort on the part of a hideously biased mainstream media, the lords of Big Tech, the relentless attacks of major figures in entertainment and academia, and a Democratic Congress bent on attacking a president who stood up to the Washington establishment like no one since Andrew Jackson.
Even with all that thrown against him, he still won the votes of more than 74 million Americans, according to NBC News. That’s 12 million more than his total was in 2016, as reported by The New York Times.
Biden, meanwhile, with the might of the media, culture, academia and Big Tech, recorded just over 81 million votes, according to NBC, and enough razor-thin wins in key states — under unusual, or outright suspect circumstances — to win the presidency.
From that, the country has gone from a roaring economy to a recession in all but an officially recognized status; gone from energy independence to being forced to go hat-in-hand abroad to beg for oil, and getting the back of the hand in the process; gone from seeing peace break out even among implacable enemies in the Middle East to watching Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine with the tacit blessing of a dotard president; gone from a foundational respect for freedom of speech and religion to a country where heavily armed federal agents raid the homes of peaceful pro-life protesters as well as a former president.
That’s the record. That’s the essence of the choice facing voters when they go to the polls in November.
With luck, God’s grace, and the midterm elections coming only 12 days before Joe Biden’s Nov. 20 birthday, it’s a good chance the country will have the makings of a Congress when the president turns 80 that’s considerably different from the Congress that saw Biden turn 79.
And that’s going to be crucial.
The Biden administration, like all administrations, is as “transitory” as his mouthpieces used to say Biden’s inflation would be.
But unless Republicans take Congress in November, and power in January, the damage to the country could well be permanent.
