White House aides and close allies of President Joe Biden told Axios that they believe the 81-year-old has been “aging more rapidly” over the last few months due to the stress caused by his job and his son’s legal battles.
Since Biden dropped out of the presidential race July 21, the president has held few public events, having none scheduled in 43 of the 75 days since he ended his 2024 campaign, according to an Axios analysis. Of those events, only two were scheduled before 11 a.m., zero before 10 a.m. and five after 5 p.m., the Axios analysis shows. As concerns of Biden’s fitness heighten, Axios noted that the White House denied observations from aides and allies, adding that a lot of the president’s work was done behind closed doors. (RELATED: White House Officially Claims Biden Has Made 148 Mistakes During 2024 Public Remarks)
“Being commander-in-chief is about far more than public events, which are scheduled at strategic times to reach the most Americans possible, like before 20 million Americans watch the national evening news,” Andrew Bates, White House spokesperson, told Axios.
“[The president] works around the clock long before and after these times as the historic results he continues to achieve weekly for the American people demonstrate,” Bates continued.
The president has also taken all calls and meetings with world leaders, except for one instance, between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m since leaving the race, Axios reported. In the aftermath of Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the president’s aides noted to Axios that outside the hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Biden was more susceptible to “verbal miscues” and fatigue.
In the recent weeks, the United States has faced several crisis, including Hurricane Helene which as left at least 215 dead across Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, according to NBC News. As the country reels from the damage done to the southeast, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does not have enough funds to make it through hurricane season, The Associated Press reported. (RELATED: FEMA Lists ‘Equity’ Among Top Goals Even As Americans Face The Aftermath Of Hurricane Helene)
While juggling response to the hurricane, Iran launched a missile barrage against Israel in response to Israel’s assassination of key Iran-backed officials, The AP reported. Biden, who has repeatedly warned Iran not to escalate tensions though his one-word slogan “don’t,” said he does not support Israel destroying Iran’s nuclear program.
US President Joe Biden speaks alongside First Lady Jill Biden as they host a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2024. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Amid the 81-year-old’s lack of public appearances, he has only campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris once, whom he endorsed for the White House upon leaving the race. The First Lady has also largely stayed out of the public eye regarding campaigns as Harris’s team is not pushing Jill Biden to make appearances, people familiar with the matter told Axios. At the Olympics, the first lady was supposed to attend a campaign fundraiser but pulled out so Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff could host, Axios reported.
Instead of hitting the campaign trail, the first lady has appeared at official events and even led the U.S. delegation to Mexico for the inauguration of the country’s new president.
After dropping out of the presidential race via Twitter while quarantining in Delaware due to a COVID-19 diagnosis, Biden took to the Oval Office to face the nation. Though in what was meant to be an attempt to explain his decision, the president was rather vague, citing “unity” as his reason for stepping down.
Biden has continued to have miscues since the debate.
Referred to Vance as “Secretary Vance”
Told ppl in NYC “welcome to Washington”
A WH official said that David Muir “said ‘Trump’ when he meant ‘Biden’ [at the presidential debate]. That can happen to just about any of us.”— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 4, 2024
The president has given a little insight into his decision in a sit-down interview with ABC News and The View.
“There was a perception that perhaps your hand was forced, and some pointed fingers to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom you have a long relationship with and accomplished many things with. Did you feel that your hand was forced, and what is your relationship with Speaker Pelosi now?” Alyssa Farah asked Biden.
“Our relationship is fine. Look — I never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance of my running again. I didn’t sense that. And although the polling, they said Biden’s polling was different, the fact of the matter is, my polling was about, always within range of beating this guy,” the president said.
“What I did was … I think there were — it didn’t make sense. There were some folks who would like to see me step aside, so they had a chance to move on. I get that, that’s just human nature. But that wasn’t the reason I stepped down. I stepped down because I started thinking about it … you know, it’s hard to think, I know you’re only thirty,” the president continued, leaning over to Farah. “But it’s hard to think of, it’s hard for me to even say how old I am.”
Biden also said without hesitation that if he had remained in the race that he would have been able to win the 2024 election.
“I was confident I would beat Trump,” the president added.