It has become apparent to many Americans that the cognitively declining President Joe Biden is no longer in full control of his own administration and White House, if he ever truly was, and that has prompted plenty of speculation about who, if anybody, is actually in charge.

That question may have been answered on Friday when Biden, in his first Cabinet meeting in nearly a year, quickly handed control of the gathering to his wife, first lady Jill Biden, who was seated at the head of the table, according to Fox News.

The development that seemed to confirm the rumors about the first lady being the one who is actually running things in the White House sparked a modest eruption of criticism on social media.

Is Jill Biden now in charge?

During Friday's Cabinet meeting, the first convening of the heads of the various executive branch departments since October last year, President Biden spoke for just a couple of moments before handing things over to the first lady as he said, "It’s all yours, kid."

Jill Biden then spoke for more than twice as long as her husband did as she gave a sort of progress report on various White House initiatives to boost funding for women's health research. She even seemed to direct the assorted agency department heads seated around her to do more to support the efforts.

Adding to the perception that the first lady had taken on a leading role in governing the nation, according to the New York Post, was the fact that special notebooks were handed out to all attendees that featured Jill's signature embossed on the cover beneath Joe's and the official presidential seal.

That controversial perception was compounded afterward when the president immediately slipped off to Delaware for the weekend, ostensibly to meet privately with various allied leaders, while the first lady stayed behind and played host at the White House for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of "The West Wing" TV series, during which she again appeared to appropriate unearned authority by standing behind the podium with the presidential seal that is typically reserved for events in which the actual president is speaking.

The whole affair prompted the Post to wonder, "Who’s in charge here, again?"

Nobody elected her to lead the government

Fox News noted that the New York Post wasn't alone in calling attention to the unique Cabinet meeting situation and what it might portend about who is actually in control of the White House and the administration, as many others chimed in with their thoughts on social media about the apparent authority exhibited by the unelected spouse of the president.

Political commentator Kate Hyde posted a video clip of the meeting and wrote, "Jill Biden is kicking off the first cabinet meeting the White House has had in almost a year and we’re expected to act like this is normal."

That post would be shared by many others, including conservative columnist T. Becket Adams, who posted, "It's insane that the world's #1 nuclear superpower just sort of stumbled its way into a power vacuum. It's even more insane that the vacuum has been filled by the former ruler's wife, who holds no legal governing authority."

A similar sentiment was expressed by The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis, who quipped, "I wasn’t aware that our constitutional system of government bestowed any power whatsoever to the unelected wife of the figurehead president."

Eerily reminiscent of former first lady Edith Wilson

The Post noted that the apparent ascendency of first lady Jill Biden means she is now "considered by insiders to be the most influential first lady since Edith Wilson, who tightly controlled access to her husband, President Woodrow Wilson, after he suffered a debilitating stroke in October 1919."

That was echoed by political commentator Greg Price, who posited, "She's literally Edith Wilson except right out in the open in a 24/7 news cycle and nobody in the media cares."