The former White House physician says the US president won’t finish his term as his mind is ‘too far gone’
© Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla
US President Joe Biden won’t make it through the rest of his first term as “his mind is too far gone,” White House physician turned Texas congressman Ronny Jackson predicted on Twitter on Thursday.
Jackson elaborated that “Biden’s cognitive decline has been on full display for YEARS,” arguing “He SHOULD NOT be our President!” in another tweet calling for the president to resign.
Jackson served as the personal physician to former presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and George W. Bush. In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, he revealed that Obama had sent him an email scolding him for casting doubt on Biden’s cognitive abilities.
After acknowledging that Jackson had “always served [Obama] and [his] family well,” and calling him a “fine doctor and service member but also a friend,” the former president tore into the congressman for the “cheap shot” he had supposedly taken at Biden on Twitter.
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“It was unprofessional and beneath the office that you once held,” Obama allegedly wrote, calling the tweets “disrespectful to me and the many friends you had in our administration.” The former president “expect[ed] better,” he said in the email, urging Jackson to “reflect” and “expect more of yourself in the future.”
Jackson stood by his opinion of the current president’s mental status, however, telling Representative Jim Banks in another interview that “all I know is that he’s got age-related cognitive decline, right. He is not mentally fit right now.” The doctor cited “the way he shuffles away, stares off into space” as an indication Biden was no longer all there.
Reminding his critics that he had been the White House physician for three presidents, Jackson warned he was “100% sure that Joe Biden is incapable of doing that job,” pointing out how “physically and mentally … demanding” the presidency is. “He will not make it four years in office,” the doctor predicted.
Biden’s alleged cognitive decline is a popular talking point among the president’s detractors, who note his growing confusion even in the face of simple tasks like reading off a teleprompter and exiting a stage after speaking. Prone to gaffes even while serving as vice president under Obama, his ability to remain on-script has suffered noticeably, to the point where his cabinet has repeatedly been forced to walk back inflammatory statements regarding regime change and potential military action in Russia and China.
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Even Biden’s own party appears to be concerned with his declining mental state, with 41% of Democrat respondents to a recent poll arguing he should not run for re-election compared to just 35% cheering him on. Citing his failure to enact much of his signature legislation, from the sweeping if vague “Build Back Better” program to party favorites like gun control and abortion rights, some Democratic National Committee members have gone on the record acknowledging the “enthusiasm gap” and arguing against running the 79-year-old for another term.
Jackson was elected to Congress as a Republican representing Texas’ 13th district in 2020 after 25 years in the US Navy, where he rose to become head of the White House Medical Unit.
