A former White House physician is raising concerns about President Joe Biden’s mental fitness after The Wall Street Journal published a damaging story suggesting he is showing “signs of slipping.”
Speaking to Fox News Digital after the story, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) said, “The article’s just documenting what I’ve been saying all along: he’s not fit to be the commander-in-chief.”
“He’s got significant issues, he shouldn’t have the job. You know, it’s a national security issue for us,” Jackson, who previously served as the White House physician under former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, insisted.
The Wall Street Journal published an article with the headline, “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping.” It was based on interviews with 45 people who interacted with the president suggesting he is showing “his age” in several meetings behind closed doors.
“Some who have worked with him… including Democrats and some who have known him back to his time as vice president, described a president who appears slower now, someone who has both good moments and bad ones,” the Journal reported. “For much of his career, Biden enjoyed a reputation on Capitol Hill for being a master negotiator of legislative deals, known for his detailed knowledge of issues and insights into the other side’s motivations and needs—and for hitting his stride when the pressure was on. Over the past year, though, with Republicans in control of the House, that reputation has diminished.”
A White House spokesperson told the paper, “Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and nonpartisan national-security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishment.”
“Now, in 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradict previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues,” they added.
The article conceded most of those who said Biden is showing signs of slowing down were Republicans, but added some Democrats also said the same.
Jackson told Fox News Digital, “I think that the fact that it came out like this, and is so well sourced, tells me that this might be the left’s first attempt to start laying the groundwork to get rid of him.”
Additionally, he explained he has sent five letters to the White House since Biden assumed the office in 2021 requesting he take a cognitive test. However, the congressman said the requests have not been answered.
In response to Jackson’s comments, White House spokesman Andrew Bates took a jab at him with a comparison to a character from “The Simpsons” saying, “I’d refer Dr. Nick Riviera to what Kevin McCarthy said about negotiating with President Biden in the moment, when it was still fresh in his mind: ‘very professional, very smart. Very tough at the same time,”
While the White House has pushed back on the reporter after its publication — and apparently while reporters from the Journal were speaking to sources — polls have repeatedly found a majority of Americans believe Biden is too old for the job.
A Quinnipiac poll released in February found 67% of Americans believe Biden, 81, is too old for the job. By contrast, 41% said the believe former President Donald Trump, 77, is too old.
The poll also found just 34% believe Biden has the mental fitness to finish a second term, and 41% said the same of Trump.
