This elderly gentleman commands the most powerful nuclear arsenal on Earth
Joe Biden’s evidently declining health should be an issue of huge concern on both sides of the Atlantic. The US President’s schedule on international trips is increasingly being curtailed by his advisers who fear that he is simply not up to the task. Biden skipped a major opening dinner with allied leaders at the recent Nato summit in Vilnius, citing a heavy workload, and spent less than 24 hours in London on his visit to the UK. What would normally have been a three-day state visit to America’s closest friend and ally was shoehorned into a brief stopover, with just a 42-minute conversation with the British Prime Minister in Downing Street.
Biden’s own team carefully limit his engagements, appearances and speeches, for fear that he will embarrass himself and the United States on the international stage. Biden’s relatively brief visit to Windsor Castle earlier this month was a case in point, with King Charles III having to closely watch Biden’s movements, clearly irritated by his meandering inspection of the Welsh Guards.
Biden’s recent speeches at home and abroad have been littered with gaffes and gasp-inducing moments, including an address in Connecticut in June which he bizarrely ended with the words “God save the Queen, man!” When Biden speaks to audiences these days it’s impossible to predict what exactly he will end up saying or how it will end. He is increasingly reduced to reading out carefully scripted answers in press conferences and has at times appeared to be muttering incomprehensibly in meetings, as he did in this week’s White House sit-down with the President of Israel.
Biden’s White House aides also have major concerns over his physical frailty, demonstrated by a series of potentially dangerous stumbles while boarding Air Force One in recent months. As Politico reported this week, the President is now using the “short stairs” to board the presidential plane, with just 14 steps as opposed to the traditional 26. This was the case on all his flights to European capitals in early June, involving stops in Britain, Lithuania and Finland. Biden has declared he is running for another four years in office, which would take him to the age of 86 at the end of a hypothetical second term, but he is already struggling to stay on his feet simply boarding an aircraft.