(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) President Joe Biden’s appearance Sunday on CBS’s 60 Minutes may have seen the media-insulated president deliver some of his most candid remarks yet on several taboo topics, but did little to assuage voters who may be poised to reject his radical agenda in droves come November.
Despite fielding questions that most would consider to be softballs for the leader of the free world, he struggled to deliver coherent answers and continued his shockingly divisive campaign rhetoric by characterizing his critics as psychologically unstable.
Biden: People disapprove of me because they are psychologically unable to be happy pic.twitter.com/syg1nNPtJw
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 19, 2022
Sadly, Biden’s own mental health concerns were on display, with Biden even fumbling to answer a question about whether his own cognitive ability was impaired.
“Watch me. And I mean honest to God, that’s all I think, watch me,” Biden said, as if doing so would confirm his competence.
“If you think I don’t have the energy level or the, the mental acuity, then, you know, that’s one thing,” he continued. “It’s another thing if you just watch and, and, you know, keep my schedule. Do what I’m doing.”
When asked about his age and mental acuity, President Biden tells 60 Minutes, “Watch me. If you think I don’t have the energy level or the mental acuity, then that’s one thing. It’s another thing, you just watch and keep my schedule.” https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/bQFTHFYzbH
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022
RUNNING IN 2024
While insisting that he was fit as a fiddle, Biden appeared to backpedal on his own political ambitions somewhat, casting doubt as to whether he might run again.
In the wide-ranging interview, the president wouldn’t commit to running for reelection in 2024, though he’s said in the past that he planned to.
“My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,” he said. “But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.”
It remains unclear whether the main hindrance to his doing so would be his own personal limitations—taking office again at 82, he would be by far the oldest person ever to do so—or if his deep unpopularity with voters would lead his fellow Democrats to make the decision for him.
60 Min: "Are you committed to running again?"
Biden: "My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen,” pic.twitter.com/3R3W3I8e9Z
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 19, 2022
HUNTER BIDEN SCANDALS
Another thing that might impact his political future is if Republicans, empowered by congressional majorities, opt to move forward on several egregious ethical scandals surrounding Biden’s family—some of which touch on issues of national security.
Biden is said to have lawyered up in anticipation for a rocky second half of his term in the event of probes surrounding the material on his son Hunter’s so-called laptop from hell.
Among the material on the abandonned machine’s hard drive was evidence that Biden himself routinely took a cut of the profits from deals with malign geopolitical rivals like China and Russia, as well as Ukraine—a country that Biden has since funneled billions of untraceable tax dollars into using war as the pretence.
However, the president—whose claims about the laptop being Russian disinformation have been debunked, proving he lied to the American people during the 2020 debates—remained dismissive of the bombshell revelations.
“There’s not a single thing that I’ve observed at all that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter,” President Biden tells 60 Minutes about his son Hunter Biden. https://t.co/7SixTElqbt pic.twitter.com/6E6FlxhzYp
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022
WAR W/ CHINA
Despite the fact that Hunter Biden may have courted close ties with members of China’s state-run espionage arm, Joe Biden offered bellicose words for its president, Xi Jingping in the wake of recent news that the country has formed a strategic alliance with other U.S. adversaries.
In fact, Biden may have issued his strongest threat yet that Chinese aggression over disputed territories like Taiwan would trigger a potential two-front war among super-powers unlike any ever witnessed.
President Biden tells 60 Minutes that U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. However, after our interview, a White House official told us that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed. https://t.co/ANg54LifSH pic.twitter.com/V5qjoqF36T
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022
Biden again said the U.S. forces would respond “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”
White House officials later said the official U.S. policy had not changed, and would not say whether American forces would be called to defend Taiwan.
The president also said the U.S. commitment to Ukraine was “ironclad” and would remain so “as long as it takes.”
Since January 2021, the U.S. has given more than $13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.
“The price Ukrainian people are paying for this war is extremely high. But we’re going to stay with them as long as they need help,” President Biden says. The US has announced more than $15 billion to Ukraine, and Mr. Biden says US commitment is ironclad. https://t.co/7SixTElqbt pic.twitter.com/l3evApd4ey
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022
PANDEMIC AND INFLATION
On two of the leading domestic issues that have defined the political landscape and inflicted immeasurable pain on U.S. citizens, Biden once again appeared to be dismissive of the public’s concerns.
Following two years of hyping the pandemic—which many considered to be over within months of his election—Biden finally issued a formal declaration ending it, just in time for the midterms.
Joe Biden: "The pandemic is over"pic.twitter.com/ME1dUY1TmU
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 19, 2022
But while many would agree with Biden on the pandemic and celebrate his finally having reached an obvious conclusion, few would share his decision to shrug off the crippling inflation crisis.
Biden: "inflation rate month-to-month was just up an inch."
Reporter: "You're not arguing 8.3% is good news?"
Biden: “…You're acting like all of a sudden 'my God it went to 8.2%’”
Reporter: "It's the highest rate in 40 years."pic.twitter.com/KdvyH6J7L4
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) September 19, 2022
MAGA AND THE MAR-A-LAGO RAID
There was only one issue on which Biden appeared ready to invest serious attention: the raid that his own Justice Department waged against Biden’s political rivals—namely anyone who supports former President Donald Trump.
Biden, who faced intense backlash for his Sept. 1 “red rally” for scapegoating “MAGA Republicans” attempted weakly to do damage control over his demagoguery, denying that he had conflated them with anyone who opposed abortion.
He refused to acknowledge that the speech had done more to exacerbate partisan divisions, claiming that any mainstream Republicans would agree with him.
Biden also made what may be his first direct public statements about the Mar-a-Lago raid other than denying any advance knowledge of it—which was later disproven after reports showed Biden had directed the FBI to do so by refusing to accept Trump’s assertions of executive privilege.
Ignoring the clear evidence that both the Clinton and Obama administrations had liberally removed documents with impunity, Biden wondered how “anyone could be that irresponsible.”
President Biden spoke about the classified documents the FBI found in former President Trump’s home. When Mr. Biden saw the FBI image of the documents he says he thought to himself, “How anyone could be that irresponsible?” https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/sgQraMMOl5
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022
Biden added: “And I thought, what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods?”
The president continued to insist that he did not get a heads-up before the Trump estate was searched, and he has not asked for any specifics “because I don’t want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take.”
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at truthsocial.com/@bensellers. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
