And the hits just keep on coming.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration hosted the White House Congressional Picnic at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It was the first time the shindig has been held for two years — meaning, of course, it’s Joe Biden’s first time as picnicker-in-chief.
He started off the event as only Joe Biden could: Joking (kind of) that he keeps forgetting he’s the president.
(The reason this is only kind of a joke is that it’s obvious to anyone with eyes or ears that the president is undergoing cognitive decline. Here at The Western Journal, we documented this long before he was the Democratic nominee — and warned America he was unfit for the job. We’ll keep sounding the siren. You can help us by subscribing.)
Biden’s opening act at the picnic was his wife, Jill Biden. (Sorry — Dr. Jill Biden. Keep on forgetting she got that Ed.D degree.) Jill’s remarks were pro forma hogwash, talk about how “there is something magical about” the White House and that it “reminds us that we are part of something that is so much bigger than one party or political movement or presidency.” On that last count, she apparently hasn’t heard her husband’s speeches lately.
Then she introduced the headliner, our current president. Usually, he goes for some variation on the “I’m Jill Biden’s husband” joke to break the ice at these sorts of events. Not this time, though. Instead, he went with this ill-advised bit of self-deprecation:
Biden: “Every time I hear ‘Hail to the Chief’ I wonder ‘Where the hell is he?’” pic.twitter.com/LwORvq1HiC
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 12, 2022
“Every time I hear ‘Hail to the Chief,’ I wonder, where the hell is he?” Biden said.
Is Joe Biden going senile?
“You think I’m joking, I’m not,” he continued, laughing at his own quip. “[I] turn around and say, ‘Where is the president?’”
Yeah, a lot of us do, too — and we’re not quite chuckling. It’s worth noting that, at least in the official White House audio of the event, “Hail to the Chief” couldn’t be heard playing as Jill Biden turned the mic over to her husband.
Maybe it was just playing in his head.
I don’t think it’s entirely necessary to explain why Joe Biden opening with a joke about forgetting he’s the president lands a bit like Woody Allen opening with a bit about how celebrating Father’s Day in his household gets confusing.
But, in case you need a refresher of the man’s recent history, let’s look back to Friday, when the president clearly read the instructions off the teleprompter as if they were part of his remarks:
Joe Biden accidentally reads the part on the teleprompter that says “repeat the line” when they wanted him to say the line again lmfao pic.twitter.com/pS3GdXPe5N
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 8, 2022
Or let’s go back to April, where President Biden announced he was getting tough on Russian oligarchs by doing … well, whatever this was:
Is everything okay?
We carried Presdient Biden’s Ukraine remarks live on @FaulknerFocus today. #kleptocracy pic.twitter.com/aINZImChEy
— HARRISFAULKNER (@HARRISFAULKNER) April 29, 2022
Or how about earlier in April, when he was clearly being guided around the White House Easter Egg Roll by Jill Biden and other handlers like an assisted living patient taking their weekly stroll around the lake:
“They’re not going to let me read at all,” Biden complains.
Jill Biden responds by letting him read the first page. pic.twitter.com/pV0doA5WSS
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) April 18, 2022
“Just stay” pic.twitter.com/sxo4gcTsXG
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 18, 2022
JILL BIDEN to Joe: “Wave…. wave.” pic.twitter.com/6EC7Yh7Vay
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 18, 2022
In fact, there’s ample evidence if you want to make the argument that, from time to time, he seriously doesn’t know he’s the president. Instead, he sometimes seems to think his veep is the one in charge:
Joe Biden again says the quiet part out loud: “President-elect Harris” pic.twitter.com/e6kSlwDlnr
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) December 29, 2020
He’d better hope that’s not the case, considering she’s one of the few Democrats polling lower than he is.
If there’s a kernel of truth in this joke, however, there’s an easy solution: We can stop confusing President Biden by simply substituting “Pop Goes the Weasel” for “Hail to the Chief” for the remainder of his term. Not only would we not run the risk of befogging the poor man’s psyche, it even feels a bit more apt.
