It has been speculated by some of President Joe Biden’s critics and opponents that, given his increasingly apparent cognitive decline, he isn’t actually in control of his own administration but is instead essentially an empty suit that says and does what he is told to do by unidentified handlers behind the scenes.
Biden appeared to confirm that theory on Thursday, at least as far as his campaign travel is concerned, as he confessed to having no real knowledge of his travel plans and that he simply goes where he is “told” to go, Breitbart reported.
Biden travels to Pennsylvania to support Fetterman
It was on Thursday that President Biden traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to speak at an event in support of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for an open Senate seat who, following a stroke in May, is under some scrutiny of his own for not being in full command of all of his faculties or his senatorial campaign.
Following that event, Biden, Fetterman, Gov. Tom Wolf (D), and others made a stop at an area sandwich shop to pick up some lunch, and, while there, the president briefly answered a few questions from reporters.
“Don’t know where I’m going,” only goes where “I get told”
Asked why so few Democratic candidates wanted to hold public appearances with him, undoubtedly due to his toxic low approval ratings, Biden initially appeared confused and then insisted that he’d already appeared with at least 16 candidates and believed he’d been asked to appear in support of around 20 more.
A few moments later, when asked where he would be headed to make campaign stops in the coming week, Biden admitted, “I don’t know where I’m going.
“I’ve got about 16, 18 requests around the country, so I don’t know who’s going where,” he added. “I get told.”
Biden’s limited campaign travel
Before that rather revealing quip from President Biden, NPR had reported on the equally revealing fact that the president’s campaign travel just weeks ahead of the important midterm elections was somewhat constrained given that “he’s not welcome everywhere,” and therefore could only appear in certain places.
Those places, with the obvious exception of supporting the struggling Fetterman in Pennsylvania, tended to be solidly-held Democratic states and districts. Conversely, Biden is largely “not welcome” in tough battleground states and districts where his appearance, and all of the political baggage that comes with him, could backfire and actually hurt instead of help the candidates he intends to support.
That is likely due to his dismal approval ratings, not to mention the fact that many Americans view the supposed executive and legislative “accomplishments” he touts as being the primary drivers of painful inflation and a recessionary economy.
Thus, where Biden goes and for whom he campaigns in support is, in fact, not entirely up to him, but rather is contingent upon several different factors and, as he has now admitted, decisions made by his people behind the scenes.