A string of new reports assert that former President Biden's team tried to cover up a profound mental and physical decline as his presidency wound down. If you were expecting New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd to rebut the narrative, think again. The column, headlined "The Tragedy of Joe Biden," begins: "The denouement of Joe Biden is unbearably sad." She faults aides for creating a 'bubble-wrapped" presidency, a "gauzy alternate universe in which they fed him "sugarcoated interpretations of polls" and redefined his duties to "adapt to his ever more fragile state." All of this collapsed in startling fashion in Biden's debate with Donald Trump, which "was not, as his advisers insisted, merely a bad night. It was a stunning display of a steep mental decline."
And Dowd isn't letting Biden himself off the hook:
- "And, saddest of all, the man known for his decency, empathy, humility and patriotic spirit was poisoned by power, losing the ability to see that, in clinging to his office, he was hurting the party and country he had served for over half a century. And hurting himself, ensuring a shellacking in the history books," she writes. "It is the oldest story in tragedy: hubris."
(Read the
full column.)