Biden, Dreading Tell-Alls on His Faculties, Reaches for an Outdated Playbook

In two weeks, the most anticipated book alleging a cover-up of President Biden’s mental decline hits shelves. To counterprogram, the former president is deploying a spinner, Chris Meagher, Politico reports. The strategy harkens back to generations ago, but its chances of success today are slim.Clips of Mr. Biden, offered as proof of his infirmities, are fixtures on social media. Mr. Meagher’s record as a spinner includes a stint last year as a Pentagon spokesman during which he helped hide Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization from even the president.The forthcoming book on the coverup of Mr. Biden’s infirmities is called “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.” It’s authored not by foes but by journalists Jacob Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios.“Original Sin” promises to illuminate “how big the problem was” and states that it “raises fundamental issues of accountability and responsibility that will continue for decades.” For Mr. Biden and his supporters, the issue is more immediate and personal. Last month on X, Mr. Meagher accused Mr. Thompson of “hawking a book based on a false premise.” While “Biden was old,” he wrote, “that’s a lot different than an allegation of mental decline … which there is no evidence of.” This ignores the debate against President Trump.Mr. Meagher seeks to cast doubt on “Original Sin” before it hits shelves. All the quotes it contains, however, will prove difficult to refute or to keep off cable news, as will Mr. Biden’s long history of “gaffes,” which now stand as exhibits against him.The Biden team appears to have served as the “bodyguard of lies” that Winston Churchill said “should always” protect “the truth.” Churchill was speaking of “wartime,” deception in combat, which is how Democrats could frame their fight against Mr. Trump. Good luck. That would require humiliating admissions of ends justifying means. In Mr. Meagher’s favor is the public’s low opinion of those in office. “Artists use lies to tell the truth,” Alan Moore writes in “V for Vendetta,” his graphic novel, “while politicians use them to cover the truth up.” It would further wound Mr. Biden’s pride to say that all politicians deceive and so did he.Politico writes that Mr. Meagher “played an instrumental role in booking” Mr. Biden’s appearance on Thursday’s “The View,” his “first live interview” since leaving office. He may have been live, but first Lady Jill Biden was at his side. The choice played into confirmation bias. Why didn’t he appear alone if he’s up to snuff? One of “The View” cohosts, Alyssa Griffin, cited books “deeply sourced” from such Democratic sources as Mr. Biden’s chief of staff, Ronald Klain, that “claim … a dramatic decline in your cognitive abilities.” Mr. Biden said the sources “are wrong.” He would’ve been wise here to have followed the old salesman’s advice to not “sell beyond your close.” Instead, he kept talking, stumbled, and needed Mrs. Biden’s assistance. These moments were clipped and shared in ways they couldn’t have been 30 years ago.Defenders, including Mr. Tapper, have blamed Mr. Biden’s tied tongue on a resurfaced childhood stutter. In this context, though, each mistake is like coughing during the pandemic: Everyone assumed you had Covid-19. It doesn’t help that Democrats tore into anyone who mentioned his frailty for years.The Biden White House became indignant when the special counsel, Robert Hur, described the president as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Mr. Biden blocked releasing audio of the interview, but the Trump Administration now plans to make it public.Anything damaging in the recording will make Mr. Meagher’s task more difficult. Even absent new grist for the mill, it’s hard to see him changing public perception of Mr. Biden. With Mr. Trump now in the bully pulpit, his opportunities to reframe the story will be limited.In the first presidential memoir, President Buchanan sought to deflect blame for the Civil War. Mr. Biden, too, seeks redemption, not wanting to be remembered for hoodwinking America. As Buchanan learned, the first draft of history, as written by journalists, is a difficult thing to spin.

Biden, Dreading Tell-Alls on His Faculties, Reaches for an Outdated Playbook

Biden, Dreading Tell-Alls on His Faculties, Reaches for an Outdated Playbook

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