Wall Street Journal Report on Biden ‘Showing Signs of Slipping’ — Largely Based on House Republican Criticism

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden is 81 years old and starting to show signs of mental decline, according to a damning Wall Street Journal report that relies heavily on criticism from House Republicans.

Published late Tuesday evening, the article’s thesis is stated clearly in the headline, “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping.” The subhead clarifies the angle: “Participants in meetings said the 81-year-old president performed poorly at times. The White House said Biden is sharp, and his critics are playing partisan politics.”

The context, of course, is the looming 2024 presidential race between Biden and 78-year-old former President Donald Trump, who also has received partisan criticism about his declining mental sharpness. And anyone who has paid close attention to both Biden and Trump can easily see that neither is getting spryer as they age.

Written by Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes, the WSJ piece strongly suggests that Biden is faltering behind closed doors. In meetings with legislators, he relies on note cards, moves very slowly, and is sometimes confused or forgetful about policy.

Again, anyone who has seen Biden walk slowly away from a press event will not be surprised. He is showing the ravages of age, just like everyone else as they get older. The WSJ reporters and editors made a curious decision, however, in reporting for this piece in that they heavily relied—almost exclusively, in fact—on anonymous House Republican criticism.

Take, for example, an early mention of what Speaker Mike Johnson has said privately that’s featured at the top of the piece:

In a February one-on-one chat in the Oval Office with House Speaker Mike Johnson, the president said a recent policy change by his administration that jeopardizes some big energy projects was just a study, according to six people told at the time about what Johnson said had happened. Johnson worried the president’s memory had slipped about the details of his own policy.

Six people heard Johnson — a huge Biden critic — privately criticize Biden’s memory and ability to perform. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy also criticizes Biden. “I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I’d go to his house,” McCarthy said in an interview reported in the piece. “He’s not the same person.”

However, Politico reported that McCarthy said something different in private.

On a particularly sensitive matter, McCarthy mocked Biden’s age and mental acuity in public, while privately telling allies that he found the president sharp and substantive in their conversations — a contradiction that left a deep impression on the White House.

There are cursory voices of Biden allies: White House aide Andrew Bates is quoted pushing back extensively on the piece, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calls Biden  “incredibly strong, forceful and decisive.”

Anyone reading the WSJ report who is familiar with the tempo and style of the current sitting president will not be surprised by the details. What’s relatively shocking is how the reporters and editors at the Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet relied almost exclusively on Republican critics, which raises unnecessary and undermining questions about a rather obvious thesis that likely didn’t need such slanted sourcing.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.