In 2020, when Joe Biden ran for president, the president was accused of barely exiting his basement, prompting questions about what his upcoming election will look like.

In the final months of the campaign, as then-President Donald Trump traversed the country, Vice President Joe Biden held small events in backyards with a few dozen socially distant supporters before calling it a day, according to a report by The Daily Wire.

The strategy, which seemed to have worked at the time earned the former president the nickname of "Hidin' Biden" among some, and his mission of concealing his deteriorating mental acuity was at least partially successful.

Biden's Actions Since the Election

Once in the White House, Biden has continued to conceal himself; despite his promise to "bring transparency and truth back to the government," he has held fewer press conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan, and only half as many as his predecessor.

Now, Biden, 80, announced on Tuesday that he will run for re-election in 2024; if he wins, he will be 86 years old at the conclusion of his second term.

According to one Republican presidential candidate, this is tantamount to elder abuse, and Biden isn't really in charge anyway.

Outsider's Take

“It’s a myth that Joe Biden is actually running for president. He’s not,” entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said Monday on Fox News.

“It’s just the managerial class using Joe Biden as a front to advance its own agenda. To them Biden’s cognitive impairment isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. This is how the managerial class crushes everyday citizens – not with a bang, but with a whimper,” he said.

Ramaswamy harshly and publically called Biden, the current president, a “hollowed-out husk.”

“The administrative state more effectively controls its puppets when they are hollowed-out husks of themselves. The fact that it’s elder abuse is just a cost of doing business for Biden’s handlers," Ramaswamy said.

"It’s revealing that the DNC [Democratic National Committee] refuses to host primary debates this year; they’re spitting in the face of their grassroots base.”

Support for the Claim

The Washington Post reported Thursday that “the national Democratic Party has said it will support Biden’s reelection, and it has no plans to sponsor primary debates,” even though there are two challengers who have announced, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson.

About 70% of Americans, including 51% of Democrats, believe Biden should not compete for re-election, according to an NBC News poll, while only 26% support the president.

Nearly half of respondents (48%) cited Biden's age as their "major" concern regarding his re-election bid. A further 21% indicated that Biden's age was a "minor" concern.