The 81-year-old president reportedly needs detailed illustrated instructions to enter and exit rooms
US President Joe Biden’s every movement is planned by his assistants, with photos showing the elderly leader exactly how to get to the podium at events, Axios reported on Monday. Biden has come under pressure to quit his reelection campaign after a debate with Donald Trump exposed his apparently declining cognitive ability.
Before each of his public appearances, Biden’s staffers prepare a document for the president, detailing how he will enter the venue, how he will walk to the podium, and how he will face the audience, the US news site reported. Images of these documents show full-page photographs of the route Biden will walk, with simple, one-line text instructions such as “Walk to the podium.”
“I staffed a simple fundraiser at a private residence, but they treated it like it was a NATO summit with his movements,” one person who arranged staffing for a Biden event this year told Axios.
“It surprised me that a seasoned political pro like the president would need detailed verbal and visual instructions on how to enter and exit a room,” the staffer added.
The White House told Axios that such instructions are common, and are prepared ahead of events for both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. “High levels of detail and precision are critical to presidential advance work – regardless of who is president,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.
Biden’s mental and physical health have come under intense scrutiny since his lackluster debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month. During the CNN-hosted showdown, Biden appeared confused and struggled to finish sentences, his voice weak and his mouth hanging agape.
While the White House blamed Biden’s poor performance on a cold and his busy travel schedule earlier in the month, major Democratic Party donors have since called on the president to suspend his campaign, while senior party lawmakers are reportedly preparing to sign letters demanding that he be replaced with a less infirm candidate.
With Biden floundering during subsequent media appearances – including a radio interview in which he claimed to be “a black woman” – multiple reporters have come forward to claim that the White House fed them pre-approved questions to ask the president. Liberal pundits once considered friendly to Biden – including The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer, the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd, and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough – have all called on him to leave the race, while Axios’ Alex Thompson claimed on Saturday that his fellow reporters feel “duped” by a White House that covered up evidence of Biden’s decline before the debate.
However, Biden exhibited similar gaffes and verbal slip-ups during his 2020 campaign, and countless videos have surfaced in the years since showing the president mixing up countries and their leaders, shaking hands with imaginary people, and appearing to get lost in public. Throughout this year’s campaign, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Biden “can’t string two sentences together,” and mockingly imitated his opponent attempting to find his way off stage after speeches.
