Exactly one year after President Joe Biden announced that he would not be running for re-election, former first son Hunter Biden delivered an impassioned defense of his father’s presidency. What might have been seen as an effort to resuscitate a flawed reputation and questionable legacy, however, cast even more doubts over the then-commander-in-chief’s mental acuity and crystallized what Winston Churchill once described as the “sum of all fears.”
Hunter Blames the Drugs
In an interview aired Monday, July 21, Hunter Biden spoke of his father’s time in the White House and how he came to eventually pull his 2024 candidacy. “I know exactly what happened in that debate,” Hunter said, referencing the disastrous performance that presaged the elder Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
“He flew around the world, basically the mileage he could have flown around the world three times. He’s 81 years old. He’s tired as ****,” Hunter said. “They give him Ambien to be able to sleep. He gets up on the stage, and he looks like a deer in the headlights.”
This corroboration ties directly to what Joe Biden said regarding his performance: that he was tired from traveling. However, while the then-president had recently been to Europe, he spent two weeks back in the states, and at least several days at Camp David in preparation. And there are more troubling questions.
Hunter says, “[T]hey give him Ambien,” a powerful sedative. Why would the president be taking a sleeping pill right before the most important debate of his political career? And perhaps more importantly, why would the former president – if he were, indeed, in full control – accept such a medication when he knew he needed to be “as sharp as a tack”?
This gambit, however, seemingly ignores the numerous occasions besides the Atlanta debate when the president demonstrated an inability to stay coherent. In fact, his debate execution was not the “surprise” or “shock” that the Biden-friendly Fourth Estate declared. For those of a more nonpartisan bent, it was just further proof of his already evident cognitive decline.
It Gets Worse
Addressing the pervasive narrative that Joe Biden’s mental decline was an open secret, Hunter said:
"If this was a conspiracy… somehow the entirety of a White House in which you're literally living on top of each other has kept their mouth shut about you now, like what?”
Rather than dousing the embers, this comment fanned yet more flames. In fact, the notion that President Biden was being used by Deep Staters in the White House and government has plenty of supporting evidence. Whether it’s the widespread use of the Autopen on official documents or three (so far) Biden administration officials who pleaded the Fifth Amendment when questioned by the House oversight Committee, what people knew of the president’s mental state remains very much in the public interest.
Committee Chair Representative James Comer (R-KY) released a statement after the latest closed-door interview with former Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, saying:
"It's unbelievable that Ms. Tomasini and others refuse to answer basic questions about President Biden's fitness to serve. It's apparent they would rather hide key information to protect themselves and Joe Biden than be truthful with the American people about this historic scandal.”
And while invoking one’s Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate oneself is often a wise move when the potential for criminal charges is on the table, the lack of transparency does little to dissuade from the idea that the president was not in control.
Fears Realized
In November of 1943, British wartime leader Winston Churchill said:
“You may take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman, or the most audacious soldier, put them at a table together—what do you get? The sum of their fears.”
While multiple interpretations of his words have been made, the clearest understanding is that even the bravest of souls can ultimately be overwhelmed by a collective anxiety. Hunter Biden’s full-throated defense of his father has raised more questions than answers, and his revelations that the president was being given drugs that negatively impacted his ability to function does little to dispel the very real terror that the president of the United States was not the person leading the country.
