OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
New concerns about President Joe Biden’s physical and mental fitness arose anew on Friday after a video of him on this week’s trip to Hiroshima, Japan, surfaced.
“A confused-looking President Biden had to be gently guided by Japanese leader Fumio Kishida on Friday — before tripping and almost falling down some stairs,” the New York Post reported.
The report added:
The oldest-ever US president looked confused as first lady Jill Biden led him by the hand to meet his Japanese counterpart and his wife for a photo op in Hiroshima ahead of the Group of Seven summit there.
After shaking Kishida’s hand, Biden, 80, turned his attention to the prime minister’s 58-year-old wife, Fumio Kishida — bizarrely bending over with clenched fists, as if in a boxer’s pose, before also shaking her hand.
Kishida, 65, proceeded to direct the dignitaries to their designated positions for a photo session. Sensing Biden’s apparent confusion about where to stand, Kishida appeared to politely intervene and guide him to his designated spot. Biden shuffled slowly, appearing uncertain, while looking down at the ground, seeking clarity on his positioning, according to the video.
Biden lost another battle with stairs in Japan today.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 19, 2023
“We’ll figure it out,” first lady Jill Biden quipped as her husband fumbled about while trying to figure out where he was supposed to be standing.
As for the incident with the stairs, “Footage showed him arriving late for a tour of the Itsukushima Shrine, with the other world leaders already starting their tour as Biden slowly emerged from his limo,” The Post reported. “After walking slowly toward the others, he stared intently at a set of just eight steps — but still tripped, luckily catching his footing before falling.”
Biden’s physical and mental status has been a point of contention and concern — for voters as well as his Republican critics — as he heads into 2024.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a former White House physician during the terms of Presidents Obama and Trump, has been Biden’s biggest critic when it comes to his perceived mental status decline.
During an appearance on Fox News in March, Jackson spoke about a cancerous lesion that was removed from Biden, saying he believes it is not only the lesion that has to be removed.
“He’s what needs to be removed, not the lesion they found. But this is just another effort from his physician and from his medical team to distract. They’re going to talk about this. They gave us a bunch of useless information about his cholesterol and stuff that no one cares about,” the former White House doctor said.
“All we care about in this country with regards to President Biden — 80 years old, who’s got some obvious cognitive issues — is a cognitive assessment of some sort. We want something on the record to prove to us he’s cognitively capable of doing this job, and it’s almost a moot point at this stage because we all know he’s not,” he said.
“It’s TERRIFYING for our country that Biden is our commander-in-chief. He doesn’t know where he’s at half the time, and every day he brings us closer to an all-out war with Russia & China,” he tweeted in February.
“His cognitive decline is going to get people KILLED!!” he added.
Jackson also criticized Biden after the president appeared at the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) training center earlier this year.
“You know, uh…” the president said at a podium before looking confused and pausing.
He then laid the microphone down, picked it up again, and mumbled, “You guys over here.”
“WOW! What is going on with Biden here??? He’s TOTALLY lost. This man needs a cognitive exam NOW. There’s NO WAY he’s ok!!” the Texas lawmaker said in a tweet.