President Joe Biden’s speech exposes a ‘terrifying reality’

Joe Biden’s performance at last week’s debate was so bad that it revealed the horrifying reality of how the US has been run for the past four years.

OPINION

President Joe Biden’s performance at last week’s debate was so bad that even his most ardent supporters have been forced to publicly acknowledge his mental decline.

God knows where they were for the past four years.

The fact his brains had turned to mashed potato had been obvious to me for years.

Perhaps they just kept their blinkers on.

Or they relegated it to the back of the mind, like when you don’t want to admit that your significant other is a terrible cook for fear of embarrassing them, even though you know and everyone else knows.

One wonders whether, perhaps, sending Biden into the lion’s den of his first unaided public outing in a long time – no teleprompter, no notes – at one of the earliest presidential debates in history was a deliberate ploy by some in his party to find the bullet with which they could execute his presidency and install a replacement.

And it exposes the terrifying reality of how the United States has been run for the past four years.

The bloke can barely string a sentence together. You cannot tell me that he has been running America unaided.

So it raises two possibilities.

A senile old man has been calling the shots and implementing policy on the basis of his failing brain, which is scary.

Or unelected hangers-on have fed policy and agenda to a senile old man, using him as a sock-puppet to execute their desires – which is even scarier.

This is how one of the world’s greatest superpowers has been governed.

President Joe Biden’s performance at last week’s debate was so bad. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

Every single decision under Biden’s presidency is in question.

On what basis were decisions made and who really made them?

I, and many others, have been asking this question for some time. But it was after that debate that it was made clear to the rest of the world.

There is now nowhere to hide.

Biden himself said, following the debate, that “I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to”.

Let’s face it, he can’t continue to challenge Donald Trump. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

You could call him the master of the bleeding obvious. And he thinks he’s still worthy of being president?

Biden aides told American outlet Axios that he is mentally aware between 10am and 4pm but, outside of those hours, his ability wanes and his frailties become obvious.

Last I checked, being boss of the US was something of a 24-hour job. Anyone who needs to be shielded from view for the majority of the day cannot be trusted as leader of the free world.

Which means someone has to call the shots – and I think we all know that it’s not Joe Biden himself.

Is he on the way out soon? Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Much of the past week’s discussion has been about how Biden could possibly continue to challenge Donald Trump – and he can’t.

He lost the presidency at that debate. Whether that’s confirmed in November or before remains to be seen.

But the real question should be how he was allowed to run the country for the past four years.

And who has really been calling the shots?

Caleb Bond is a Sydney-based commentator and host of The Late Debate on Sky News Australia.