OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A former Republican senator has revealed he once threatened to “kick the shit” out of then-Vice President Joe Biden when he was being sworn in.
Scott Brown of New Hampshire told a local media outlet this week that Biden got handsy with Gail Huff Brown as he was being sworn into office, and he had to let the then-VP know his actions weren’t welcome.
“Yeah, I told him I would kick the sh… uh… I told him to stop,” Brown said. “So, yes.”
The New Hampshire Journal noted: “Brown made the comments on Tom Shattuck’s Burn Barrel podcast, a Massachusetts-based show hosted by the former Boston Herald Radio personality and his wife, Alice.”
Shattuck brought up the matter of Biden’s peculiar conduct around women throughout the years, citing well-known instances of hair sniffing involving both women and children, as well as overly familiar touching, suggesting that women voters were not happy with seeing that.
“Biden has taken a hit in the polls, especially in the last few months. This thing with his granddaughter really stuck,” Shattuck said, a reference to the president’s unwillingness to acknowledge the granddaughter his son Hunter fathered out of wedlock with a then-D.C.-area stripper, Lunden Roberts.
“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward,” Biden said in a statement provided exclusively to PEOPLE last month.
“This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter,” the statement continued. “Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy.”
Shattuck added: “Also, I think people are irked out about all the hair sniffing and things when he went overseas. I think women are skeeved out by that stuff. He’s not a good guy. You know him…”
Brown interjected: “I did know him. I spent quite a bit of time with him. I enjoyed his company. But that’s not Joe Biden.”
“We all know people who have dementia and have the beginning of Alzheimer’s, and he’s got it. I mean, it’s the walk. It’s the way he’s mumbling, his angry outbursts. And it’s a shame that we can’t do better in this great country,” Brown added.
At that point, Shattuck prodded Brown to recount the story he told Boston Herald Radio years ago.
“It’s old news. Yes, he didn’t act the way I thought he should. And we called him on it, and that’s it,” Brown added.
The Journal noted that Brown is considering another U.S. Senate bid, perhaps when Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen comes up for reelection in 2026.
As for Biden’s mental state, the results of a new survey have the White House scrambling to engage in some damage control and at a time when his chief rival, former President Donald Trump, is rising fast in the polls.
Ahead of what so far appears to be a looming rematch of their 2020 contest, a new Harvard Harris Poll found that Trump continues to dominate the field of Republican candidates while Biden suffers from a growing perception that he is no longer mentally fit to serve as commander-in-chief.
The late July poll found that less than one-third — 32 percent — of respondents believe that Biden is mentally fit to serve as President, while 68 percent expressed doubts about his mental acuity.
Meanwhile, the survey found that in a Democratic race, most voters prefer Biden. Yet, should he choose to drop out, the survey found Vice President Kamala Harris takes the forefront as the preferred candidate.
When Biden remains in the race, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. trails with 16 percent. Conversely, if Biden is out of the picture Harris takes a commanding position with 44 percent, effectively doubling RFK’s backing of 22 percent.
The results of the poll indicate that the findings could potentially have an impact on the 2024 Presidential Election. Despite Biden’s overall approval rating standing around 40 percent, the question of his mental fitness might play a decisive role for undecided voters.
