Democratic leaders and lawmakers are coming under growing scrutiny for not blowing the whistle sooner on what is widely perceived to be President Biden’s decline during the final two years of his presidency.
Some Democrats fear there is going to be a lot more talk as members of their party wrestle over what went wrong in the 2024 election and how to chart a course going forward.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), who in February dismissed talk about a decline in Biden’s mental and physical fitness as “right-wing propaganda,” was challenged over the weekend by NBC’s Kristen Welker.
Welker put the question bluntly to Schumer by asking whether he “and other top Democrats misled” Americans about Biden’s “mental acuity.”
“Look, we didn’t,” Schumer answered tersely, before defending Biden’s record and character.
“The legislation we passed, one of the most significant groups of legislation since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society,” Schumer said, referring to Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which included a host of energy and climate provisions.
“Putting in 235 judges [on the federal bench], a record. And he’s a patriot, he’s a great guy,” Schumer added.
A handful of Democratic senators are now warning there will be more calls for answers and accountability given that Biden’s condition became a glaring problem after he muddled through the first presidential debate against Donald Trump in June.
“I think it’s coming, big time,” said one Democratic senator who predicted a wave of recriminations against Democratic lawmakers for not asking tough questions earlier about Biden.
