President Joe Biden made sleep a priority during his administration dating back to 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, a common theme that emerged in the establishment media’s post-debate coverage.
Biden took naps during each of the six days of debate prep, which never began before 11:00 a.m., a person familiar with the process told the New York Times. Biden reportedly told governors that he has to stop scheduling events after 8:00 p.m. so he can sleep.
Biden, 81, who is said to not work later than 8:00 p.m., did not show up for an informal event in June 2022 with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the early evening, the Journal reported. Instead, Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended in Biden’s place, telling the event’s participants that Biden “had to go to bed,” two people who were there told the Journal.
The White House disputed the allegations.
Biden appeared “physically worn out as the days passed” at the summit due to a lack of air conditioning, though the State Department disputes the claim, the Journal reported.
White House staff are protective over Biden and his time with the media, according to multiple reports. Biden aides place barriers in front of reporters to prevent media members from asking him questions, the Journal reported, while other times the media is placed far away from Biden at events. Music is often played so Biden cannot hear questions from the media.
When the media does get a chance to speak with Biden, his aides speak with the media members to obtain the questions, the Journal reported:
Senior White House advisers for more than a year have aggressively stage-managed President Biden’s schedule, movements and personal interactions, as they sought to minimize signs of how age has taken a toll on the oldest president in U.S. history.
The White House has limited Biden’s daily itinerary and shielded him from impromptu exchanges. Advisers have restricted news conferences and media appearances, twice declining Super Bowl halftime interviews—an easy way to reach millions of voters—and sought to make sure meetings with donors stuck to scripted pleasantries.
Senior aides dismissed travel suggestions over worries the president didn’t have the stamina for them, including an idea for Biden to make weekly cross-country trips in 2022 to tout the benefits of his infrastructure law.
Seventy-two percent of registered voters believe Biden does not have the “mental” and “cognitive health” to serve as president, a July CBS News/YouGov poll found, up seven points after the debate.
Biden, whom Special Counsel Robert Hur described as “an elderly man with a poor memory,” suffers from atrial fibrillation, peripheral neuropathy in his feet, and hyperlipidemia, according to his annual physical by physician Kevin O’Connor.
The health challenges might explain why he struggles to remain upright. Biden tripped, tumbled, and stumbled at least five times during his presidency.
Biden implemented a strategy of walking to and from Marine One with multiple aides to “draw less attention” to his physical ailments, Axios’s Hans Nichols and Alex Thompson reported in April. Biden also began boarding Air Force One from the shorter steps at the rear of the aircraft instead of the taller staircase at the front.
Biden does not wear typical dress shoes with his suits. He wears a specially crafted sports shoe to help him walk, a typical wardrobe change for the elderly.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
