Anybody remember the 25th Amendment?
It got invoked numerous times during Donald Trump’s first term, despite no actual evidence that he wasn’t in compos mentis. We have actual evidence that Joe Biden’s faculties left him long before the June 27 debate disaster and his departure from the campaign less than a month later.
Yet, nobody demands that we have a commander in chief who’s mentally with us. And, as the calendar flipped over to 2025, it became clear why we need an active and present president — even if it’s, yes, Kamala Harris.
In the first hours of Jan. 1, a suspected Islamic State group-affiliated terrorist ran a rented pickup truck into the crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 and putting over 30 in the hospital, according to Reuters.
The suspect, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was 42 years old. He was a U.S.-born American citizen who lived in Texas and had served in the military. He was killed after he allegedly exchanged gunfire with police.
The FBI had initially said he wasn’t a terrorist, he just had terrorist-like devices in his truck.
The FBI in New Orleans’ initial statement:
“This is not a terrorist event. What it is right now is improvised explosive devices that was found.”
Why on earth is the FBI using Orwellian language on what is an obvious terrorist attack.
pic.twitter.com/rRM7Orm2PU— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 1, 2025
By 2 p.m. Eastern, the FBI had a different tune.
Do you believe Biden is a competent president?
FBI Statement on the Attack in New Orleans https://t.co/Wt2I0kj9fV
The FBI has set up a digital tip line, and we ask anyone with information or video of the incident to submit them to https://t.co/LLKUGwHYhY or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
— FBI (@FBI) January 1, 2025
“An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations,” read a release from the FBI’s National Press Office.
“Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter. The FBI’s special agent bomb technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.”
In addition, Alethea Duncan, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, said they “do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” according to USA Today, adding that the bureau is focusing on “a range of suspects.”
So, what did Joe Biden do Wednesday night? What presidents usually do in moments like these: Go on TV and make a statement. Biden spoke from Camp David and might as well have shuffled in with a bathrobe and slippers, so slurring and borderline coherent were his remarks.
Nothing was said that America did not know when the remarks were given, especially since the details he provided from the FBI were included in the press office media release hours earlier.
There were the pro forma statements that “our hearts are with the people of New Orleans after the despicable attack that occurred in the early morning hours” and that “our nation grieves with you.”
“We’re going to stand with you as you mourn and as you heal in the weeks to come,” Biden said, before thanking “our brave first responders and law enforcement personnel who stopped the attacker in his tracks before he could kill or injured [sic] even more people.”
He went on to thank the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice before reciting what we knew and what expected — that he had “directed my team to make sure every resource is made available to federal, state, and local law enforcement to compete the investigation in New Orleans quickly and to make sure there’s no remaining threat to the American people.”
“May God protect our troops and we’ll keep you fully, contemporaneously informed,” Biden concluded, before saying thank you and walking off.
These remarks, obviously scripted, lasted a little over four minutes and sound even worse as delivered. But notice the echoing sounds in the background as he walked away toward the door:
That’s right: refusal to answer a question as simple as if he’d talked to Trump about the attack, much less any of the reporters’ questions.
What purpose did this serve? Did we really need a proof of life video for the president at this very moment? And, if so, was this really what they hoped we would see — four minutes of a man struggling to get through telling us all we knew about the attack and that his heart was with the people there?
If there was to be a point to this all, it would be for some kind of question-and-answer from the media. Instead, he shuffles away stiffly as the questions are yelled to him.
Look, nobody functions under the assumption that this guy is “sharp as a tack” anymore, or that he’s so well-prepared that his staff is intimidated by his adamantine intellect during meetings. Heck, we know he barely even has meetings, and that it’s been that way for some time.
The only downside to that 25th Amendment thing is that Vice President Kamala Harris is next in line, a depressing thought indeed. However, Inauguration Day isn’t until Jan. 20. We have one massive terror attack in New Orleans and the FBI seems confident he didn’t act alone.
Isn’t that time for someone who doesn’t give the impression that, if he’s not about to shuffle off this mortal coil at any second, his mind has clearly left for orbit long ago?
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