Rex Features
After his latest fall, everyone is wondering whether the United States will hold out if he becomes president a second time in next year's elections.
Even before Biden was first elected, there were debates about his competence and capacity. But now they have flared up with renewed vigor. Biden himself keeps giving reasons for such doubts.
The other day, during a graduation ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, he came under the spotlight again. Standing on the academy stage, Biden gave a speech and then, after shaking hands with one of the cadets, he suddenly stumbled and fell. Three officers rushed to help the 80 years old national leader to his feet but it was impossible to hide the embarrassment in front of such a group of cameras. The whole world saw the American president trying to get up and then pointed to the sandbag which was lying on the stage saying that it was black and that's why it was invisible.
Well, it happens to everybody. But in the history of the U.S. presidency, Biden has already become a champion of falling.
In 2021, he tripped and almost fell three times while climbing the ramp to his number one flight. And in 2022, Biden fell off his bike when he decided to wave to reporters. And that's except when he lost his bearings during his speeches, talked to nothing behind his back, and amazed the world with other old-guy weirdnesses.
After falling on stage in Colorado, a couple of hours later, the president banged his head getting out of a helicopter. It has become a good tradition that every time after another embarrassment, his press service declares: the president is in great shape and his health is not a cause for concern.
The official report of the president's personal physician for this year says that Biden is physically healthy and regularly exercises. But no one knows anything about the results of the mental capacity tests: they were either not conducted or not disclosed.
And now the venerable American elder is going to the election of '24, declaring, "This is no time to be indifferent, so I'm a candidate for re-election."
Indeed, how can one remain indifferent when the president of a state that interferes in the affairs of practically every other country in the world and aggressively influences international politics may be a man whose competence is increasingly worrying and questionable.
People in the United States are already wondering: As the presidential campaign begins, why is Biden rarely traveling around the country or holding official campaign rallies? And in general, can he survive a grueling campaign marathon? And what happens if he wins the election?
Already the oldest president in U.S. history, Joe Biden will be 86 years old at the end of a potential second term. Will he be able to lead the country?
The fact that he was born into a long-living family: his mother lived to be 92 and his father to be 86, was in his favor. But Biden himself had skin cancer, arthritis, aneurysms in the brain, and a removed gallbladder. And he started doing crazy things a long time ago. For example, he offered a disabled politician to get up from his chair, he shook hands with ghosts, he called Barack Obama "a famous African-American who can speak his mind clearly, is smart, clean and good-looking."
There is no law that the president of the United States must undergo regular medical examinations and publish data on his health. But American leaders usually do so of their own free will. And the current president of America has published such reports three times, most recently in February 2023. All three times, the results have not been disastrous.
Citizens of the former Soviet Union are well aware of what is happening to a country led by a deeply elderly leader. Many still remember the last years of the reign of Leonid Brezhnev, who passed away at the age of 76. A war hero, a bright statesman, still beloved in Russia, in the last years of his life, he presented a sad picture. In my opinion, it was then that the prerequisites for the collapse of the great country of the USSR were laid.
Does this threaten the United States? We have to admit that America's system of government has strong standards and a system of checks and balances. The order of succession in the presidency is laid down in the country's Constitution and in a special law of 1947. If the president loses the ability to run the country, he is replaced by the vice-president, followed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, and so on.
In addition, if Biden's entourage decides that he is incapable of performing his functions, they can initiate procedures to remove him under the Fourth Article of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. But so far there has been no such precedent in U.S. history. The party from which the White House master was elected will hide his infirmity to the bitter end, so as not to get the label: "This is the party that elected a senile president."
Back in 2022, in the newspaper American Thinker, physician C. J. Baker diagnosed President Biden with stage four dementia. As an example, he cited the cards drawn for Biden by his aides, which show in great detail where to go, where to turn, and where to stand. A sort of mental reins for the elderly politician.
Dr. Baker makes a simple calculation: according to Social Security, the average American male who reaches Biden's age can live another 8.82 years, since the total life expectancy in the United States is 87.82 years. That is, hypothetically, Biden could live until the end of 2029, which is a little less than a year after the end of his second term. There is one "but," though. Dementia shortens life significantly. The important question is by how much?
A study conducted by scientists, as reported in the prestigious British Medical Journal, showed that the average life expectancy after a diagnosis of dementia is 4.1 years for men. That is, if we take July 1, 2022, as the starting point, it is August 2026. The middle of the next presidential term.
Dr. Baker believes that Biden is already in the fifth stage of dementia, and by the end of 2025 he will reach the sixth stage of cognitive decline. A vivid illustration of this condition is "Die Hard" Bruce Willis, who does not recognize his children or his wife.
On the one hand, why should we care: every state chooses the president it deserves. But on the other hand, a country with nuclear weapons, headed by a deeply unhealthy man, unable to make sober and important decisions, is simply a threat to humanity. But a puppet president will be beneficial to both the political structures and the transnational corporations of the United States, which will use him as a cover to solve their problems.
And to understand and predict U.S. policy, we will have to consult not political scientists, but rather gerontologists.
But while President Joe Biden is still in his memory, he managed to give a toxic speech in Colorado Springs. And that is no less important than his current medical history.
It implies that cadets will have to participate in radical events that will determine the fate of humanity for decades to come. It will be akin to turning the steering wheel at 100 km/h, and the task of such a drastic maneuver is to win in "tough competition with China."
But the tactical goal will be the victory of Ukraine, to which the U.S. Air Force will make a big contribution, because they will have to provide a lot – from the supply of goods to the training of pilots. Biden also said that super technologies, including AI, will be used.
The goal is to preserve the status and position of the United States, "the most unique nation on earth."
And future pilots loved it, they shouted, "Thor!" In memory of the pilot Leo Thorsness. During the Vietnam War he had been shot down in the Hanoi sky by a Soviet Mig-21 fighter. So it was kind of ambiguous.
As ambiguous as it is with Biden's policies, it is hard to understand who to ask for explanations and predictions: political scientists or gerontologists.