Latest news with #mentalfitness
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
I'm a journalist. Democrats made my job harder by hiding Biden's health decline.
The newest Biden-focused book to hit the market pulls no punches on its central premise. It's right there in the title: 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.' Two other books examining Biden's awkward, ill-timed handoff to Kamala Harris and Trump's subsequent re-election were also published this spring. Though less forward in their focus, the narratives of 'Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House' and 'Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History' also — inevitably — take a close look at Biden's flagging mental fitness. 'I have fresh reporting on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis of Biden's final days, and obviously his decline is a major part of the story,' Chris Whipple, author of 'Uncharted,' told Politico. Meanwhile, 'Fight' reveals that Harris aides 'strategized around the possibility that Biden might die in office' while, at an event two days after the debate that sealed Biden's campaign fate, fluorescent tape was affixed to the venue's carpet, serving as 'colorful bread crumbs [that] showed the leader of the free world where to walk.' The literary flurry around Biden's health is a testament to the nature of the book industry and the arms race among the Big 5 publishers. No one wants to be scooped or outsold. But the flood of Biden books ('2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America' is set to release in July), also speaks to the gravity of the subject at hand. 'I happen to think that to call it a 'cover-up' is simplistic,' said Whipple. 'I think it was stranger and way more troubling than that.' He's right, but for reasons beyond the obvious sabotage of the 2024 election. Because let's be clear: There wasn't a single person who saw Biden or heard him speak during the last year or so of his term who honestly believed he was 100% fit to be president. So instead of an honest conversation about Biden's health and mental facilities, Americans got a constant stream of gaslighting and false assurances. Instead of an opportunity to choose, via primary, the candidate who would represent the party in the November presidential election, Democratic voters were force-fed Harris in the 11th hour. She was a welcome pick for some, to be sure, but a tragic miscalculation for others. And all of it, of course, was fueled by a White House eager to pump the media with statements and stories to counter the legitimate speculation about the president's faculties. Republican voters — near- and far-right alike — have been complaining about 'fake news' since Trump's first term, and here Democrats were, piling it on thick. As a journalist, it's infuriating. Not because I was somehow duped into believing Biden was healthy, but because I am on the front lines, writing about what's going in our world — explaining, educating, providing necessary historical context — and constantly battling readers who think I'm making it all up. Opinion: Jackie Robinson is a Civil Rights hero. DEI helped him make history Anything that makes them uncomfortable? Fake news. Anything related to ongoing racial injustice? Definitely fake news. Anything that runs counter to the narrative they've already crafted in their minds? More. Fake. News. I've written plenty of columns that anger folks on the left as well, like when I questioned the focus on appealing to a wider audience during last summer's Democratic National Convention, instead of shoring up votes among the core base. Or when I then pointed to their too-late, surface-level overtures to Black men that ultimately resulted in 21% sliding to the right in November. But the difference between Democrat and Republican pushback to my columns is that, while the former group will disagree with my take on the facts, the latter disputes the facts altogether. Indeed, disbelief in journalism on the whole is a typically Republican phenomenon. And it's one that has been undoubtedly fueled by Democrats' unwillingness to tell the truth about their former leader. Opinion: Trump voluntarily left office. Biden had to be shoved aside. That's the real sin. There are plenty who would argue that the media was equally complicit in the Biden 'cover-up,' that journalists were all too willing to abdicate their reporting responsibilities, take whatever the Biden administration served them, and run it. Maybe they don't remember that journalists were saying something. Maybe they don't remember that those protestations were drowned out by the barrage of voices who wanted — needed — to keep the White House blue. I also hear Democrats speak often about this critical moment in American history, with our very democracy on the line. They're right. But they must not remember how important journalism is in upholding any democracy. Perhaps if they did, they'd understand that the same danger that arises when a billionaire newspaper owner dictates the paper's opinion coverage is present when a group of political insiders lie to the public, and the media, about the president's health. And they'd understand that now, all of us — journalists included — have to pay for their decisions. Andrea Williams is an opinion columnist for The Tennessean and curator of the Black Tennessee Voices initiative. She has an extensive background covering country music, sports, race and society. Email her at adwilliams@ or follow her on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @AndreaWillWrite and BlueSky at @ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Biden's health coverup by Democrats made more 'fake news' | Opinion
CBC
3 days ago
- General
- CBC
Lapu Lapu murder suspect to face trial on mental fitness
Lapu Lapu murder suspect to face trial on mental fitness 8 minutes ago Duration 1:19
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
After years of Biden attacks, Democrats want Republicans to question Trump's mental fitness
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett has encouraged opposition Republicans to begin calling into question President Donald Trump 's mental fitness for office in the wake of his eccentric public address at West Point's graduation ceremony, noting their willingness to make the same criticism of Joe Biden last year. Trump, 78, and his supporters in Congress and beyond repeatedly alleged that Biden, 82, was in a state of advanced cognitive decline throughout the 2024 presidential election. Those allegations eventually forced the then-president out of the election. Now, Trump's own mental wellbeing was questioned on Saturday after he delivered a rambling address to graduates of America's top military academy in New York in which he held court on 'trophy' wives, yachts, Gary Player 's short stature, the 'great late' Al Capone and Army drag shows before leaving without shaking the hands of the honorees. The GOP needs to 'start calling [Trump] out and start questioning his mental acuity, and whether or not he is equipped to serve mentally,' the Texas congresswoman told MSNBC on Sunday when asked about the president's conduct. 'I don't think that those who have gone through West Point expected to have their commander-in-chief address them and start talking about trophy wives or start talking [about] how he has so many investigations,' Crockett said. 'What a great reminder that you are not qualified to be the person that potentially will command troops to go into war. That is not instilling confidence whatsoever. 'It is time for Republicans to start calling him out and start questioning his mental acuity, and whether or not he is equipped to serve mentally. We know when it comes down to his criminality, he is not qualified to serve, but this is just absolutely deplorable.' Trump has championed his own freewheeling approach to off-the-cuff speechmaking as 'The Weave,' claiming that he is able to draw together all manner of disparate threads into a compelling narrative. His marathon speeches at presidential rallies across the country last year often yielded bizarre tangents on everything from the fictional cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter to the size of the late golfer Arnold Palmer's manhood. Democrats tried to accuse Trump of projection in his attacks on Biden, particularly after he confused his rival for the GOP nomination, Nikki Haley, with ex-House speaker Nancy Pelosi, in wrongly claiming that the former had been responsible for security at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 2021. Trump also mixed up his former White House physician, Ronny Jackson, with Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson on another occasion, which inspired further counter-claims that it was the Republican who was really suffering from cognitive decline. The situation led some medical experts to question Trump's health and suggest to The Independent that he had 'lost touch with reality.' Crockett's call to arms comes as Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's heavily-trailed book Original Sin hit shelves. Although the duo has been criticised by Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, for one, for failing to present their findings earlier, while the book's publicity push has been hugely complicated by Biden's recent announcement that he is battling prostate cancer, to which even Trump responded with sympathy.
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Viewers outraged as Jake Tapper absolves Joe Scarborough of Biden health cover-up: 'Like they didn't know!'
CNN 's Jake Tapper gave a pass to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough for talking up Joe Biden 's mental fitness last year - telling the Morning Joe host that Biden focused specifically on convincing Scarborough he was fine. Tapper, who has been making the talk-show rounds to promote his new book Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, joined Morning Joe on Wednesday and announced that Biden targeted Scarborough to persuade the host he was mentally sound. Tapper said that Biden was 'a frequent viewer of [Scarborough's] show' and that the president wanted to wipe any notion of his fading faculties from Scarborough's mind in 2023. 'Joe Biden said to staffers that he wanted to convince you that you were wrong, and he focused on you like you were a constituency,' Tapper said. 'Like you were farmers in Iowa, like you were the Kiwanis Clubs in New Hampshire. And he made sure that you thought differently.' During March 2024 episode of Morning Joe, Scarborough said Biden was 'better than he has ever been, intellectually, analytically.' 'F*** you if you can't handle the truth,' he continued. 'This version of Biden… is the best Biden ever.' Scroll down for full video: CNN's Jake Tapper gave a pass to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough for talking up Joe Biden's mental fitness last year - telling the Morning Joe host that Biden focused on convincing Scarborough he was fine Viewers of Wednesday's exchange were incensed, with many saying both Tapper and Scarborough have known the truth all along. 'Club chatting like they didn't know… they all knew!' wrote one X user. '"Journalism" right now is a bunch of ppl consoling each other that nothing is their fault,' another added. 'Jake Tapper's job isn't to relay information to the public, it's to help Joe Scarborough feel better about himself.' 'The left KNEW the lights were flickering in Joe's ballroom,' a third chimed in. 'They didn't care. They weren't about to let Donald Trump win. So the lying was cranked high.' During a separate interview with former ABC exec Mark Halperin Tuesday, Scarborough engaged in a fierce, three-minute defense of his March 2024 statement that Biden was 'far beyond cogent.' He insisted Biden had both 'good and bad days' and that Scarborough was only made privy to the former. The 'Morning Joe' host stuck with that story Wednesday. 'I said that this was Biden that is at his best - that's what I saw,' Scaborough said. Viewers were quick to accuse the hosts of being complicit in the alleged cover-up The exchange occurred after Biden's office on Sunday issued a statement revealing he has an 'advanced' form of prostate cancer that has already spread to his bones. Tapper's book came out on Tuesday, spurred a torrent of criticism. During a conversation with Megyn Kelly that same day, Tapper admitted legacy media failed on covering Biden - while conservative outlets, for more than a year, had it right. 'Knowing what I know now, obviously I feel tremendous humility about my coverage,' Tapper told Kelly, while also admitting that 'conservative media was correct' in how it handled the story. Biden's mental state was 'not covered sufficiently' by stations like CNN, he admitted, adding, 'conservative media was right.' 'There should be a lot of soul-searching not just among me but among the legacy media to begin with - all of us - for how this was covered or not covered sufficiently,' he said. 'I wish I could do differently.'
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House Republicans to zero in on autopen use as part of investigation into Biden's health
As House Republicans prepare to investigate former President Joe Biden's health and mental fitness while in office, they are increasingly zeroing in on his use of a so-called autopen to sign certain pieces of legislation and executive orders. Autopens have been used in the White House to generate signatures for decades, with Barack Obama being the first president to use it to sign legislation. But congressional Republicans — who are largely taking their cues from President Donald Trump — see the use of autopens as a key line of attack as they reopen a probe into Biden's mental acuity and his ability to do his job as president. 'We're focused on the autopen,' House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told NBC News. 'Who was making the decisions? Who was authorizing his signature? Was it him?' There is no official record of how often Biden used an autopen for official government business. The conservative Heritage Foundation released a study accusing the administration of using an autopen extensively, largely based on the timing of when Biden signed documents compared to when he was traveling. The Department of Justice's office of legal counsel issued a memo on the topic in 2005 that concluded that the practice was legal. A federal appeals court ruled as recently as 2024 that the 'the absence of a writing does not equate to proof that a commutation did not occur,' when it relates to the use of a presidential autopen. A former Biden White House official pushed back against Comer's assertions and defended the former president's autopen use. 'Any accusation that President Biden was not making decisions is false. President Biden made the decisions about the pardons and the executive orders he issued, and the legislation he signed into law,' the former official, who was not authorized to speak on Biden's behalf, told NBC News. 'It is a well-established and legal practice to use an autopen for a signature after he has made the decision. This clerical mechanism was sometimes used during his Administration as it was in other Administrations going back several decades.' A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment. House Republicans' decision to move forward with a congressional investigation, which is still taking shape, comes in the wake of revelations in a new book about Biden's cognitive decline and the release of an audio of the former president's transcribed interview with former special counsel Robert Hur as part of the investigation into his handling of classified documents. The increased scrutiny also comes at a delicate moment, with Biden revealing over the weekend that he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. Yet Republicans are undeterred, and in some cases, only more convinced that the Biden White House was not truthful about the former president's mental and physical health. The House Oversight Committee, which will lead the investigative effort, is preparing to hand down a new round of subpoenas to a number of former Biden White House officials. Comer, who helped lead the House GOP's unsuccessful effort to impeach Biden last Congress over his family's business deals, has accused the officials of purposely shielding the then-president from the public eye. Comer said that the committee would be reaching out to people in and around Biden's orbit as part of its investigation as soon as this week. But it remains to be seen whether there will be any public hearings. 'I've always said you get more information in Oversight from depositions and interviews than you do public hearings. … It's a hard group to manage in public hearings,' he told NBC News. 'No hearings ever produce much.' During the last Congress, Comer's committee subpoenaed three key White House aides to testify about Biden's mental fitness: Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal and Ashley Williams. They also requested a transcribed interview with then-White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Conner. The Biden administration blocked all four from cooperating with the committee. But the panel is expected to approach that same group again. Trump has attacked Biden's use of an autopen, most recently on Tuesday during a trip to the Capitol. 'Who was operating the autopen? This is a very serious thing,' Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting with House Republicans. 'We had a president that didn't sign anything. He autopenned almost anything.' Trump then later escalated his attacks on social media, calling Biden's advisers 'treasonous thugs' and accusing them, without evidence, of using the autopen to control the presidency. Trump has claimed that if Biden used an autopen to sign pre-emptive pardons of the members of Congress, staffers and Department of Justice staff that investigated the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, they may be invalid. While House Republicans and Trump appear to be aligned in their desire to investigate Biden's fitness to serve, there is some frustration brewing among congressional committees about how quickly the Trump administration is responding to some of their requests, according to multiple GOP congressional sources familiar with the matter. The House Oversight and Judiciary committees have long been pushing for the release of the Hur audio. But the audio was first made available through the media, first reported on by Axios last Friday, and is now publicly available. 'We pushed the Hur tape issue all last Congress, all the way to contempt,' said House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. But when asked by NBC News on Tuesday if his committee had received the audio, Jordan said: 'Not the actual physical tapes. But they're out there.' This article was originally published on
