European leaders were reportedly “shocked” by President Biden’s visibly diminished physical and mental fitness during his recent visit to Italy for the G7 summit, according to multiple sources cited in a New York Times report published on Tuesday. This marks another instance of delayed disclosure about the 81-year-old president’s declining condition as concerns grow over his ability to lead effectively and whether he will seek re-election.
In the wake of Biden’s widely criticized performance during last week’s first presidential debate against Donald Trump in Atlanta, a number of reporters and media outlets have come forward with details regarding the president’s deteriorating state over recent weeks, months, and years. These accounts have fueled growing calls for Biden to abandon his re-election bid.
Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein revealed on CNN that he knew of “15, 20 occasions in the last year-and-a-half when the president has appeared somewhat as he did” during the debate with Trump. This revelation coincided with a Politico report stating that Biden’s schedule had been “carefully managed” to limit early morning and evening events. Jill Biden, the first lady, was reportedly dissatisfied with her husband’s first solo news conference as president in March 2021, claiming it had run too long.
Axios also revealed that President Biden is most “dependably engaged” between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. However, the New York Times report quoted a senior European official who described the president as appearing “out of it” at points during the G7 summit in southern Italy. The same official remarked that Biden seemed less robust physically than the last time they had seen him in the previous fall.
European leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, privately discussed the president’s condition and made adjustments to their pace while walking together in order to avoid embarrassing the oldest president in American history. The same European official found that it was difficult to initiate a conversation with the commander in chief as he moved about the conference.
On one occasion during the G7 summit, President Biden wandered away from his fellow leaders during a skydiving demonstration to talk to a parachutist. This prompted Meloni to fetch him by the arm and bring him back to where the heads of government were waiting to greet the paratroopers. After The Post reported on this moment, as well as a subsequent occasion when Biden was led off the stage at a Hollywood fundraiser by former President Barack Obama, the White House dismissed these incidents as “cheap fakes.
Despite claims from the White House that President Biden remains “sharp and articulate” in his meetings, multiple former officials expressed doubts about whether he could effectively engage with foreign adversaries such as Russian President Vladimir Putin. German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have both publicly praised Biden’s clarity and focus during their interactions. However, these accounts cannot completely silence the concerns over the president’s declining condition and ability to lead effectively.
President Biden has resisted calls from Democratic strategists, donors, and elected officials urging him to end his re-election bid in light of his debate performance. If he were to win a second term, he would be 86 years old at the end of his four-year term.
