President Biden has Early Dementia

But Democratic Insiders Believe He is Still Their Best Chance to Beat Trump

                                            

                    

                                                       February 13, 2024

      Decreased cognitive function that comes with age has been described by doctors for millennia. Once referred to as senility, it was considered normal. With the evolution of modern medicine, senility was shown not to be inevitable in the elderly but was associated with specific pathological changes in brain tissue that can be visualized with CAT scans, MRIs, and brain tissue biopsies.

     Thus, the term dementia replaced senility. While there are many causes of dementia, the most common are Alzheimer’s, multi-infarct dementia (from multiple strokes), Lewy Body dementia and Parkinson’s.

      President Biden almost certainly suffers from one of these entities as can been seen by has recent behavior. While symptoms can vary, dementia often has certain characteristics: loss of short-term memory, irritability, lack of a diplomatic filter in conversations and increased irrationality.

     This was highlighted by the decision of Special Counsel Robert Hur not to indict Biden for violating the laws on classified documents. But his reasoning was fascinating. While Hur said that Biden was obviously guilty, he felt that no jury would ever convict Biden because “At trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”  Hur even noted that Biden could not remember the years he was Vice President or when his son passed away. And he has the transcripts and video tape to prove it.

     Biden reacted viciously to this analysis and called an impromptu press conference that proved Hur’s point. While he was ranting incoherently that his memory was fine, he confused the president of Egypt with the president of Mexico. The First Lady, Jill Biden, was livid his advisors allowed this.

    Recently, he referred to the president of France as Francois Mitterrand (who died in 1996) and the president of Germany as Helmut Kohl (who died in 2017). Again, this is typical of dementia. The president retains long-term memory, but short-term memory is fading.

    He is also prone to fits of rage. He has yelled at hecklers and reporters who asked him what he considers to be insulting questions. Skilled politicians don’t do this, and Biden did not behave like this years ago.

    But this does not mean he will be replaced despite the ramblings of the corporate media and some naïve Republicans. The reasons are as follows:

     He does not want to be replaced. Biden has no significant primary challenger and candidates are not actually chosen by the primary voters. They are chosen by delegates assigned by the state parties based on the winner of these primaries at a national convention. The vast majority of these delegates will be pledged to support Biden although party by-laws allow some leeway on this.

      But remember, a hallmark of dementia is the inability to be reasonable. If Biden is down in the polls but refuses to step down, the nationally-televised fight to replace him will be so ugly that Democratic reunification will be problematic increasing the chance of a Trump victory.

     Biden has already beaten Trump twice. You can’t argue with success. Biden’s handlers basically kept him in the basement during the 2020 campaign while Trump campaigned nonstop. In 2022, Trump-backed candidates lost disproportionately in close Senate and House races thanks to Biden labeling them as MAGA extremists. The key to a Biden victory will be to keep Biden in the basement again and not debate Trump under any circumstances.

    Trump haters will crawl over broken glass to vote against him. Democrats and a small number of upper middle class moderate Republicans simply cannot stand the thought of looking at President Trump for four years. It does not matter if Biden is sitting in a nursing home in a diaper. They will not vote for Trump.

      If Biden wins, it is unlikely he will finish his second term. His dementia appears to be progressing too rapidly. As he is a lame duck, Democrats could combine with Republicans to have him removed from office via the 25th Amendment, but I suspect his family will convince him to do so voluntarily. His legacy would be intact, and it would give Kamala Harris incumbency so that she could win more easily in 2028.

Follow Dr. Joe Bentivegna on Twitter (X) @joebentivegnamd