I’ve been seeing this every week since November of 2020, and I should have said something publicly (instead of just in personal conversations, though that is important, too).
President Biden does not have dementia.
I am a hospitalist. I am a physician who sees patients admitted to the hospital and cares for them. A lot of them have dementia.
They can cover their dementia when asking superficial questions, but if you take the time to ask anything deeper about their health or situation, it gets harder and harder for them, and more obvious to me and those who know them.
Biden is literally the most scrutinized man in the country. He is an old man with a speech impediment that comes out sometimes, causing him to stumble over words, but he can answer follow-up questions when he wants to and is cognizant of his situation (and he can speak in complete sentences when he goes off his teleprompter).
Dementia doesn’t turn on and off.
You can be frustrated by many aspects of Joe Biden, like his failure to deliver on some promises (while keeping in mind the Republican majority and obstructionists like Sinema and Manchin), and his current embrace of Netanyahu even though Bibi is bad for both Israel AND Palestine. I’d love to be able to push him to be more progressive instead of just meeting the bar of “doesn’t want to lead the country backwards like the other guy.”
Biden has many problems. Dementia is not one of them.
Thank you. My mom is living with Alzheimer's and it's heartbreaking when the "dementia" label gets thrown around like an insult so flippantly.
President Biden is not perfect but that's a far cry from cognitive impairment