It goes without saying, being the President of the United States is the most important job in the world. When the Justice Department’s special prosecutor, Robert Hur, released his report on February 9th concluding criminal charges were not merited in Biden’s handling of classified documents, the bigger story was the observation that Biden was ““a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” To be criminal, willful intent must be proven. But what shocked me was how quick the left attacked Robert Hur as a “Trump-appointed, politically motivated” hack whose observations didn’t belong in the report. While arguable, it’s as though the left had suddenly stolen and drunk the mad-dog Kool-Aid from the Trump-etts as they ferociously attacked the messenger but ignored the message. Did I mention the Presidency is the most important job in the world? If Biden, or Trump, is slipping mentally? Shouldn’t we know this?
“Healthy skepticism” is a phrase I heard frequently growing up, but I haven’t heard in years. Come to think of it, wasn’t it a required class we all had to take in high school during the Viet Nam era? Obviously, as a society we are not “healthy,” but these days people jump to a conclusion simply by which tribe they belong to rather than arrive at a conclusion by process — thinking. We’ve been here before. President Reagan’s 2nd term was marked by his progressing dementia though that fact was a carefully guarded secret while he was still in office. In the 1986 nuclear disarmament talks with Gorbachev, they were close to eliminating all nuclear weapons, but Reagan unexpectedly refused, settled for a lesser agreement, and then reportedly signed his name backwards — Reagan Ronald — on the treaty.
Mental fitness and agility matter. Biden’s dad died at age 87, the age Joe would be at the end of a second term. Trump’s dad lived until 93 but suffered dementia in his mid-80s which would be Donald’s age during his term. Biden has recently confused German leader Angela Merkel with Helmut Kohl who left office twenty-six years ago and current French President Macron with predecessor Mitterrand who has been dead for twenty-eight years. He confused President Sisi of Egypt as the Presidente of Mexico. Trump is no better, he has recently confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi, claimed Haley was responsible for security on Jan 6th, and has confused President Orban of Hungary with Erdogan of Turkey. He bragged last year that he defeated Obama in 2016 (it was Hillary) and that he won all 50 states (he won 30). I suppose readers might be sympathetic with how anyone can keep all the names and places straight, but — gimme a break — that’s the job, along with a bazillion other critical facts.
Most of us believe presidential candidates should submit to cognitive and medical tests. Will they? I doubt it, but there is one test that all of us would believe — debates. So, let’s demand Trump and Biden give one another real-time cognitive and memory tests via several debates? There must be rules. I am tired of the verbal mudslinging, insults, and interruptions. Microphones get muted while the other is talking with time limited responses before mandatory re-muting. Second, I want tough pointed questions. Biden — how did Putin outbluff you regarding Ukraine? Why did you appease Netanyahu for way too long? Trump — why do you delight Putin and Xi with promises to pull us out of NATO? Why do you suddenly no longer care about illegal immigration? Neither of you will cut Social Security, so exactly how would you fix it? I would love to give each of them 5 minutes with a blackboard map of the Mid-East and have them explain the mess along with what country and faction is Sunni or Shia. If either candidate answers with content-free slogans, the moderator must interrupt and demand specifics. We need bi-partisan fact-checking on each channel afterwards. If either candidate won’t debate, then they must be hiding something. I personally think Biden would do better than Trump regarding substance, but I’m not completely sure. And that’s the point, we shouldn’t have to guess. They need to prove their mental agility, and, in the meantime, we need to be skeptical.