Jill Biden appears to assume command of Cabinet meeting in White House
As President Joe Biden's cognitive decline has grown increasingly apparent, there have been rumors that first lady Jill Biden has simultaneously assumed the unelected role of acting president on behalf of her husband and taken control of the goings-on in the White House.
There was a strong indication of exactly that on Friday when the president held his first Cabinet meeting in eleven months and almost immediately turned the proceedings over to the first lady, according to Fox News.
It is difficult to determine which is more scandalous -- that the unelected first lady has seemingly taken over for the technically still-serving president or that, with every worsening crisis that is occurring both domestically and internationally, this is the first time in nearly a year that the president has actually convened his Cabinet for a meeting.
Jill takes leading role in Cabinet meeting
During Friday's Cabinet meeting, the first held since early October last year, President Biden began by calling upon Congress to pass a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded into next year before he shifted focus to his limited remaining time in office.
"And -- and so, this Cabinet meeting comes at a time when we have four months left in the administration," the president said. "And we’re going to keep running through the tape because the vice president and I are determined to keep making sure that the democracy delivers what the American people are asking for and what we provided."
Biden then turned his attention to his wife and stated, "And here, across previous administrations, first ladies have attended these meetings and on -- for specific reasons. It’s the first time Jill has joined us. And it goes to show how important the issue is, what she’s about to speak to, to both of us," then added a moment later, "And it’s all yours, kid."
The first lady then took command of the meeting and spoke at length in a sort of progress report about various White House initiatives to bolster funding for women's health research, which included calling upon the various members of the Cabinet to do more to support the issue.
Finally, as the media-covered portion of the Cabinet meeting drew to a close, Biden was asked about the prospects of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza but instead spoke about the rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, though he did eventually address the situation in Gaza when asked again if a ceasefire deal was "realistic" and replied, "If I ever said it’s not realistic, we might as well leave. A lot of things don’t look realistic until we get them done. We have to keep at it."
"Who’s in charge here, again?"
The New York Post reported that, by all appearances, first lady Jill Biden took the lead for her "lame-duck president" husband in Friday's Cabinet meeting -- which featured notebooks handed out to attendees emblazoned with her signature included beneath the presidential seal -- in which she spoke more than twice as long as the president and put forward a more commanding presence than him.
After the meeting concluded, the president left the White House for Delaware -- reportedly to play host for a summit with several key allied leaders -- while the first lady hosted the cast and creators of "The West Wing" TV show for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the once-popular political series.
While delivering remarks for the celebration, per the Post, the first lady spoke in the Rose Garden from behind the presidential podium that is typically reserved for events in which the actual elected president is in attendance.
It all prompted that media outlet to justifiably inquire, "Who’s in charge here, again?"
Where was Kamala Harris?
Meanwhile, noticeably absent from the first Cabinet meeting in nearly a year was the individual who purportedly aims to lead those critical gatherings of the executive branch's leaders, Vice President Kamala Harris, who took over as the Democratic nominee in July after President Biden was forced to step aside by his own fellow Democrats.
Harris was instead delivering a pro-abortion speech at a campaign rally in Georgia that was unsurprisingly full of deeply misleading half-truths and blatant lies about her electoral opponent, former President Donald Trump, and where he ostensibly stands on the issue.