Most individuals who believe Biden has cognitive decline or dementia likely have never watched him speak for more than two minutes straight, let alone an entire 45-minute interview
Almost daily, right-wing outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, and more directly assert or heavily imply that President Joe Biden is suffering from some form of cognitive decline that is clinically significant.
Sixty-two percent of Americans say they are concerned about Biden’s mental fitness to be president, according to a May 2023 NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
Dr. Bandy X. Lee, one of the countless psychiatrists who sounded the alarm bells regarding former President Donald Trump’s clear signs of pathological narcissism and sociopathy, addressed why she was not commenting on Joe Biden’s mental health in a 2020 Medium article.
In an X post, formally known as Twitter, she shared her article and wrote, “Clinically insignificant signs can appear dramatic to the layperson. But unless a public figure poses a danger to the public, I feel no public health duty.”
The key phrase is “clinically insignificant,” Joe Biden is 80 and has had a stutter his entire life. Experts widely acknowledge the neurological foundation of stuttering. Stuttering refers to a disturbance in the natural flow of speech. It does not stem from psychological issues, brain damage, or reduced intellectual capacity.
One explanation for why some individuals think Biden has cognitive decline is because they are simply unaware of his lifelong stutter.
But the reason many believe Biden is not fit mentally is likely due to the widespread right-wing propaganda and the out-of-context, deceptively edited videos of Biden speaking.
Examples
This video was widely shared on social media with the caption that Biden was confused and shaking hands with thin air.
Anyone who does not already have a bias against Biden would likely not fall for this type of propaganda and would be suspicious of a short, out-of-context video.
PolitiFact evaluated the allegation that Biden was shaking hands with the air and rated it “false,” writing: “Biden turned around and gestured toward the onlookers to his right, who rose to applaud him. He wasn’t trying to shake hands with an imaginary person.”
This article explains another video that was deceptively edited to make it appear that “Biden wandered off, looking vacant,” as former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said.
This New York Times article explains a video that was deceptively edited to make it appear that Biden admitted to committing fraud in the 2020 election.
PolitiFact also explains this issue; there are countless more examples one could examine.
Biden has been well known for earning the reputation of being a gaffe machine throughout his decades-long career as Senator, Vice President, and now President.
At this point, individuals who seriously say Biden has any form of clinically significant cognitive decline are extremely uninformed, misinformed, or intentionally spreading disinformation.
