More and more Americans question Joe Biden's mental capacity

For many in the United States and around the world, Joe Biden seem the “least bad” option for the US presidential election. However, that doesn't mean people aren't having doubts about Uncle Joe.

A March poll released by The Associated Press-NOR Center for Public Affairs Research revealed that over 60% don't trust Joe Biden's mental capacity to serve as President of the United States.

Former US President Donald Trump, who is Biden's main contender in the 2024 US Presidential election, fared slightly better with only 57% of those asked questioning the New York mogul's mental state.

Regardless if Biden or Trump win the election, the advanced years of both candidates have been a matter of concern and debate that has pretty much defined the election.

The question of whether Biden is mentally fit to run for a second term has been going on for a while; known for his flubs and ramblings,  the US President regularly generates a lot of concerned comments.

The official stance of the White House naturally is that Biden is mentally fit to be Commander-in-Chief, despite his ageing and the occasional mistake. However, an official report seems to raise troubling questions about Biden’s capabilities.

On February 9, General Attorney-appointed Special Counsel Robert Hur released the results of an investigation on whether to present charges against Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents from back when he was Barack Obama's Vice President.

AP News explains that the Special Counsel’s report ruled that criminal charges shouldn’t be pressed against the US President, but only because “Biden’s memory was significantly limited”, a conclusion reached after a series of interviews with him.

According to the report, Biden couldn’t recall exactly when his son Beau passed away, the years of his term as Vice President, and details of important political debates during the Obama Administration.

Not helping his case, that very same week, Joe Biden claimed to have recently spoken with French president François Mitterrand, who passed away in 1996, mistaking him for current French president Emmanuel Macron.

Biden also claimed that Egypt’s leader Abdel Fattah El-Sissi was the President of Mexico while talking about the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The BBC remarked that the White House has defended Joe Biden’s mental state. “We do not believe that the report's treatment of President Biden's memory is accurate or appropriate,” wrote White House lawyer Richard Sauber.

According to the White House lawyer, “The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events.”

Joe Biden himself has spoken against the report, arguing that his memory is fine. Meanwhile, his allies have rallied to defend the US President, describing Biden as “sharp” and “detail-oriented”.

Though, not everyone in the Democratic Party is dancing to the same tune. Former State Secretary Hillary Clinton, who served in the Obama Administration along with Biden, told MSNBC that Biden’s aging is a “legitimate” concern.

“It’s a legitimate issue for Trump who’s only three years younger, right? So, it’s an issue”, commented Clinton, who ran for President against Donald Trump in 2016.

Trump, meanwhile, claims to be sound of mind and has mocked Biden’s age despite his own share of blunders, confusing ruminations, and hazy recollections.

Forbes highlighted how, in the past few months, Trump appears to confuse Obama and Biden, unsure who he's running against, while talking in rallies.

Back in October 2023, Trump addressed to the fine people of Sioux Falls, North Dakota… while actually being in Sioux City, Iowa.

NBC News interviewed a few neurologists on Biden’s state of mind. They claim that having difficulty remembering names or recalling specific dates is normal in the elderly, particularly under stressful circumstances.

These missteps, experts say, don’t predicate serious conditions such as senile dementia or Alzheimer’s; only a neurologist can make such a diagnosis.

However, the question of whether a man who is not on top of his game should hold one of the most difficult and stressful jobs on Earth remains, regardless of who or how old the candidate is.