[By The Economist, Translation/Whalebirth]
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that we accept Joe Biden's claim that his mind remains "as sharp as ever." How then can we explain the details revealed in his recently published White House memoir? For example:
Biden has never held a formal meeting to discuss whether he should run for re-election;
He has never directly received reports from his polling team about low approval ratings (or anything else);
By 2024, most cabinet members could no longer meet with Biden directly;
When in the White House, he often dines at 4:30 PM and returns to his bedroom around 5:15 PM;
During visits abroad, Biden often skips daily briefings but insists on scheduling a makeup artist every morning to hide wrinkles and age spots.
You might think that anyone in Biden's position would simply accept these signs as a natural consequence of aging—cognitive decline due to old age. But this is a more charitable interpretation. There is also a less charitable one: vanity, arrogance, and incompetence.
According to "Original Sin" by CNN journalist Jake Tapper and Axios journalist Alex Thompson, it was actually revealed that by March 2023, Biden had repeatedly shown signs of being "completely out of it," exhausted, and nearly disoriented in private settings. During a meeting in December 2022, he forgot the names of his National Security Advisor and White House Communications Director. At a fundraising event in June 2024, an aide had to remind him, "You know George," trying to get him to recognize actor George Clooney in attendance.
On the eve of the release of the White House memoir "Original Sin" on May 20th, former U.S. President Biden posted a short message on X platform in response to his diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer. Social Media
NBC reporter Jonathan Allen and Hill Reporter Amy Parnis described in their book "Battle" that staff had to put down fluorescent tape on the ground to guide Biden to the podium at fundraising events to prevent him from getting lost. The once eloquent politician now relies on concise scripts on teleprompters even for impromptu political speeches.
These "auxiliary measures" in plain sight have exposed the irony of current public attention: Biden's cognitive decline during his presidency has long been an open secret. Campaign donors, some Democratic colleagues who occasionally meet Biden, and the general American public—including those who saw through his facade well before his embarrassing performance against Trump in the June 2024 debate—had already noticed these signs. A Pew Research Center poll in April 2023 showed that only one-third of surveyed voters agreed that Biden's mind was sharp.
Therefore, the significance of current public focus on Biden's health condition lies less in warning about the president's personal cognitive decline (his recent announcement of cancer added pathos) than in reflecting the decline of the Democratic Party and relevant media. The book "Battle" describes in detail how Democratic leaders frantically tried to prevent an impending electoral disaster after the first major election debate loss. Even Barack Obama, the most influential Democrat mentioned in the book who expressed doubt about both Biden and Harris, was portrayed as indecisive, futilely attempting to conduct a "mini-primary" within the party.
The Democrats have fallen so far that any nominee can dominate the entire party. The vanity of Biden and his family and inner circle has overshadowed rational judgment regarding whether he should seek re-election. During Biden's tenure, few Democrats publicly discussed his health conditions. Except for rare exceptions, left-leaning media in the U.S. avoided reporting on Biden's cognitive decline, despite scrutinizing Trump's mental state with a magnifying glass. Right-wing media in the U.S. continue to attack Biden's psychological or moral flaws but show little interest in Trump's issues.
In rare instances where named criticism appeared in two White House memoirs, Democratic Senator David Plouffe candidly admitted, "As a party, we've been severely hurt by Biden." Mr. Plouffe assisted in running Harris' campaign after Biden dropped out. He said that one of the "most important lessons" for an arrogant and insular party in 2024 was to never deny what people see with their own eyes. (Readers may recall that this magazine's Lexington column called on him to abandon his reelection bid as early as the mid-term elections in 2022 when Biden's support was at its peak.)
Many Democrats constantly criticize Republican congressmen for lacking the courage to challenge Trump and expose his lies, but they never reflect on their own cowardice, calculation, and negligence. Even after that painful presidential debate, many high-ranking Democrats still insisted that Biden was suitable for reelection, including Vice President Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—all potential future Democratic presidential candidates. Have they now grasped Mr. Plouffe's warning?
A Bridge in Ruins
The simplest lesson: in the short term, the Democrats are unlikely to nominate another octogenarian candidate. Neither memoir proves that Biden's advanced age caused policy mistakes (impaired decision-making ability), but it significantly affected his communication skills—crucial for a president.
Even so, nominating a younger candidate cannot resolve the deeper confusion within the Democratic Party. The true dilemma for the Democrats does not lie in Biden's age but in how to address the challenges he failed to solve: immigration policies, fiscal deficits, and infrastructure plan implementation.
Futuristic revisionist historians may emphasize Biden's legislative achievements, but these accomplishments cannot offset the consequences of his arrogance. Biden once boasted of being "the bridge to the next generation," but the authors of "Battle" commented that he ultimately became "the gangway connecting Trump's first and second terms." This may not just be a story about cognitive decline for one president, one party, and a group of media; it could also serve as a footnote to the overall decline of American democracy.
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