Biden's Memory Gaffes: An Outburst and Worries in the Democratic Party

"My memory is fine": an enraged Joe Biden calls an evening press conference at the White House to attack Special Prosecutor Robert Hur, who cleared him not without criticizing his handling of classified documents and his severe senile forgetfulness, but slips in a worldwide broadcast into yet another gaffe confusing Egyptian President Al Sisi with the Mexican one. It's the third gaffe in three consecutive days, after having confused Macron with Mitterrand and Merkel with Kohl. Too many, even for what a Washington Post political commentator dubbed in 2019 as a "Lamborghini of gaffes", after the previous year Biden himself had described himself as a "gaffe machine". So much so that now in the Democratic party there is beginning to be serious concern about the condition of the oldest president in American history (81 years) and the risk that his campaign could be compromised by the growing signs of his physical and mental vulnerability. With the hindsight of whether it was not the case to make room for a younger leadership selected in the primaries. The Republicans' Attack Of course, the commander in chief's rivals have seized the opportunity. Criticizing not only the double standards of a justice that spares Biden but prosecutes Trump for the secret documents of Mar-a-Lago (although the same special prosecutor has emphasized the differences) but also the memory deficits of a man who does not remember key dates of his life. Like the duration of his vice presidency or when his beloved son Beau died. "Double standards", attacked the tycoon, who enjoys his best day of 2024 with the near certainty of not being excluded from the vote by the Supreme Court and with the fourth consecutive victory in the Republican presidential primaries, after having won the caucuses in Nevada (where he ran alone) and in the Virgin Islands (74% to 26 against Nikki Haley). In the meantime, several Republican congressmen loyal to him are calling for Biden's removal invoking the 25th amendment, the one introduced after Jfk's assassination to replace the US president in case of death, impeachment, resignation or incapacity. More cautious for now are the top of the Grand Old Party, even though House Speaker Mike Johnson has already called Biden "unfit for the Oval Office" after Hur's report. Haley has asked that he undergo a mental competence test to share with the public but has extended the criticism also to the 77-year-old Trump: "Can you tell the difference between Egypt and Mexico or between Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley? Biden and Trump can't, and I think America can do better", her campaign says, referring to the gaffes of the two leaders. The Report As for the special prosecutor's report on the management of classified documents when he was a senator and vice president, Biden said he was satisfied to have been completely acquitted of any crime and wanted to highlight the difference with Trump. On the case "I collaborated with justice, testifying for five hours in two days, on October 8 and 9, the day after the Hamas attack on Israel, so in the midst of an international crisis. Trump, on the other hand, lied and did not cooperate", Biden attacked, denying that he shared classified documents and that he kept them carelessly (as the report photos document). However, what really angered the commander-in-chief were Hur's comments on his memory problems, particularly the fact that he would not remember the date of his son Beau's death, who was killed by cancer at 45. "How dare he?", he said visibly shaken. "I don't need anyone to remind me when my son died: I remember every minute, every moment of that day", he assured. Then he joked with the hostile Fox correspondent at the White House: "Maybe my memory is bad because I allowed you to ask me a question". Too bad that as he was leaving he fell for a reporter's question about Israel and went back, falling disastrously into the gaffe about Al Sisi.