Jill Bidens attempt to rehabilitate her husbands image and her own through a new memoir is instead exposing deep fractures within the Democratic ranks and reigniting doubts about President Joe Bidens fitness for office.
According to RedState, the first ladys book tour, ostensibly designed to humanize the Biden family and deflect criticism over the presidents obvious cognitive decline, has backfired badly among Democrats who would rather be attacking President Donald Trump than reliving the chaos of the Biden years. Dropping the memoir now, as the party tries to regroup after electoral losses and prepare for the midterms, has only sharpened questions about why Democratic leaders insisted on running Biden again despite mounting concerns about his health and capacity to serve.
Some of Bidens own former aides are openly seething at Jill Bidens version of events, and their commentsmany of them blisteringsuggest a deep sense of betrayal. As reported by the New York Post and amplified in conservative media, these ex-staffers are not merely quibbling over details; they are accusing the first lady of rewriting history to protect herself at their expense.
I think Jill Biden must have had a stroke herself to think that her husband was up to the job, said a Democrat who worked as a senior aide in the Biden era. If she can sit back and listen to his constant drivel for over 4 years, shes the one with real cognitive decline. The fake doctor may want to consider self medication if it took this long to gain some self realization, the aide said in a jab at the first ladys insistence on being called Dr. Jill Biden for her doctorate in education.
That kind of language from a former senior aide is not just harsh; it underscores how deeply many Democrats resented being forced to publicly defend what they privately saw every day. For years, conservatives warned that Biden was not mentally up to the job, and they were dismissed as cruel or conspiratorial; now, former insiders are echoing the same concerns, only with more venom.
Another former Biden White House official flatly rejected Jill Bidens suggestion that staff believed the president had suffered a stroke during one of his more troubling episodes. No one thought he had a stroke, the official told the Post. That is in her head and her head only. This has been litigated and relitigated among staff. We didnt think he had a health issue because they kept on with the schedule. Immediately to the afterparty and then to Waffle House. Who goes to Waffle House after a stroke?
The implication is clear: staff were told to carry on, to maintain the faade, and to treat any questions about Bidens health as off-limitseven as his public performances deteriorated. That narrative aligns far more with what conservative observers have been saying for years than with the carefully curated image the White House tried to project.
One aide, Andrew Bates, was even willing to speak on the record, a rare move that signals how much frustration has built up behind the scenes. We had a duty to win and we didnt, Andrew Bates, a spokesman in the Biden administration, told The Post. I think about that all the time. But I dont see why that painful conversation for the party needed to be publicly reopened right now.
Jill Biden, 75, did not take kindly to Bates criticism when asked about it during a Washington, D.C., event promoting her book, and her response only deepened the rift. Biden brushed off the complaints, insisting her memoir only had one chapter on politics and that the rest focused on her four years as first lady, before adding a pointed challenge: I want to say to Andrew: Call me up, and say it to my face, buddy.
That buddy line, delivered with evident irritation, struck many as condescending and tone-deaf, especially toward someone who had spent years defending the Bidens in public. It also ignored a basic political reality: former aides know where the bodies are buried, and if pushed hard enough, some may decide to talk.
Her remarks quickly inflamed tensions further, according to reporter Alex Thompson, who has long been a thorn in the side of the Biden operation for his reporting on Joe Bidens cognitive struggles. Former Biden people are furious at the First Ladys comments given how hard Bates worked for the Bidens, and they are now willing to say so publicly.
Former Biden spokesperson @Rodericka goes on the record: Why are we rehashing years-old scores and clinging to relevancy to sell books about palace intrigue within a wing that doesnt even exist anymore? Focusing on this instead of the bleak reality Americans have been experiencing in the same time frame is exactly why we lost in 24. That reference to a wing that doesnt exist anymore is a particularly sharp cut, suggesting that the Biden political machine is not only out of power but out of touch.
Another former Biden WH staffer tells me: The former First Lady would still be known as the former Second Lady without Andrew Bates. Another former Biden WH staffer tells me: The former First Lady would still be known as the former Second Lady without Andrew Bates.
The fact that these aides are now talking to Thompson is itself revealing, given how outraged the Bidens reportedly were over the Thompson/Jake Tapper book that detailed Joe Bidens cognitive decline. For conservatives who spent years being told to ignore what they could plainly see on their screens, the spectacle of Democrats now turning on Jill Biden and airing internal grievances only confirms how much the public was misled about the presidents condition and how much of the Biden era was built on denial and spin.
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