Jon Stewart, 'Pod Save America' question Biden's health in wake of 'Original Sin' book
The hosts of "Pod Save America" and Jon Stewart are questioning former President Joe Biden's mental acuity following the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book, "Original Sin."
"So everybody goes on television and goes, 'You don't understand," Jon Stewart said during a Thursday episode of his podcast, "The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart," discussing how people would try to frame concerns about Biden's health. "I sit with this guy. He's the smartest one in the room. I can't keep up with him. I'm exhausted. I went to a meeting, and he was using words I didn't even know were words! They were fantastic! I had to look them up. He's the smartest man in the world.'"
On Tuesday, "Original Sin," which looks in part at the efforts made by top Biden aides and allies to hide the truth about Biden's mental and physical health, providing a depiction of a president who was routinely confused and disorientated during his term, was released.
During his podcast Thursday, Stewart talked about how he thinks those in Biden's circle tried to control what the public saw.
"You know, Kamala Harris comes out, 'I sit with this man. You don't understand,'" Stewart said. "You don't see it.' And I'm like, 'Oh, has anyone filmed that? Because you should show that.' Because it was a very simple case to puncture. People are saying, 'I'm a little concerned about his stamina and cognitive ability. Here's how we can dispel that.' Just put him out there and let him show us how f---ing smart – and they wouldn't do it. Because they knew they couldn't."
Jon Favreau, former President Barack Obama's head speechwriter from 2005-2013, said that the people closest to Biden were not honest about his decline.
"Throughout Biden's term, you had it with the age issue, you also had it with inflation, right," Favreau said.
"In the Biden administration, a lot of elected Democrats were like, 'Oh, look at all the statistics and the numbers,'" he added. "And then poll after poll and focus group after focus group would have people be like, 'No, prices are high and it's really bothering me.' And we'd just be like, 'That's just the media.' Or 'That's just Republicans.' And I think the same thing happened around Joe Biden's age. The closer you got to Joe Biden, the closer the adviser or the family member, the more I think they were not just lying to the American people, but lying to themselves."
Favreau also said that he thinks Democrats struggle with accepting and telling the truth.
"I think a big problem with the Democratic Party over the last several years, decade maybe, maybe even back to the Iraq war, we have a hard time hearing hard truths and admitting hard truths to ourselves," Favreau said. "And then we have a hard time telling hard truths to the voters."
Favreau is featured in "Original Sin" in an anecdote where he and his "Pod Save America" co-hosts Dan Pfeiffer and Jon Lovett met with Biden at the White House on April 26, 2024. The book described them as "deeply disturbed" after their discussions with Biden that night, with the authors describing the president as rambling and "incoherent."
However, in a Feb. 13, 2024 episode of "Pod Save America," Favreau seemed to downplay concerns about Biden's health.
"The number one concern that people have had about Joe Biden is his age. Those concerns have predated Robert Hur, they have predated anything Trump has said … it is not just about people who see like out of context clips or that the Republicans put out, or crazy TikToks or whatever else," he said.
This discussion with his "Pod Save America" hosts came days after Special Counsel Robert Hur's report was released on Feb 5, 2024, looking at the former president's handling of classified documents.
"If you watch Joe Biden speak, often times he sounds frail, and he sounds more frail than he used to even in 2019 and 2020," Favreau said. "Now that may, and I think it doesn't have anything to do with how sharp he is mentally, but the voice sounds frail and he shuffles more because of the arthritis in his back so for most people in the country who are just watching him be president what do they see when they turn on the television? They see him shuffle and they hear him and he is swallowing a lot more of his words now – obviously he's had a stutter but it doesn't sound like the stutter did even in 2020 – he's just soft-spoken and quiet."
Co-host Tommy Vietor, who worked for Obama for almost a decade, appeared to agree with Favreau's dismissiveness.
"All the commentary about the age and Biden's memory which seemed unfair or ad hominem at worst, and then second there is a debate about Biden's age and fitness for office that was already happening. This just kicked it up and focused the media's attention on it in a very damaging way via this DOJ report," Vietor said during the February 2024 episode.
On Sunday, Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis was announced, with his spokesperson telling Fox News days later that the last time he received a blood test that screens for prostate cancer was in 2014.
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