So Jill is to blame for the Joe Biden shambles

[Eastie77Returns]

Chatting to my American cousin this weekend and he repeated something I’ve read online on a couple of left-leaning news sites, namely that Jill is the only one who can convince to Joe to stand down, the fact he is still going is because she’s been pushing him into it, she’s ’extremely controlling’, Joe only does what Jill tells him…

A woman is blamed for a shit show created by a man. What a surprise!

Yeah, The Rest is Politics came up with this idea too. What a load of bollocks.

In what way was it created by a man?

I dunno. It could be her pushing him but it could also be pride or the fear of Trump winning.

The situation was created by Joe Biden who is the man I’m referring to. He is too old to run for President of the USA. He is too old to be the President of the US

When he took office he told aides it would be for 1 term but changed his mind. He is now putting his ego before the good of the country (claiming only he can beat Trump…) and is now clinging on whilst clearly unable to carry out his job. There are other Democrat candidates who could have taken on Trump had they been given sufficient time.

They said this on The Rest is Politics - asking what she was doing hugging and congratulating him after debate, saying it was irresponsible, like that was the only thing keeping him going. Really sexist.

Well they're not wrong. Many people believe this

Fucking hell. Madness to blame her. She may have tried for all we know and is keeping up appearances for the public eye. Biden is surrounded by people propping him up/bullshitting him. She may be one of them, but to turn on her is ridiculous.

The Rest Is Politics men, RS and AC, sadly don’t understand give a shit about women’s rights being eroded. Which is a shame because otherwise they are entertaining.

So incredibly sexist. The fault that so many in power have ignored the fact he clearly lacks capacity and have nominated him for president is his wife’s fault! Not the Democratic Party who have done this but his wife. It’s crazy

Responsibility lies with him, but I for one suspect the rumours her and his son are pushing him to stay are likely true.

It's the donors who are responsible for Biden being the 2024 candidate. Their donations to Biden are non-transferable and they won't budge because he is soft on the industries they represent (tech, defense etc). In fact one donor even told the Wall Street Journal "It's a dead horse, but it's our dead horse and we're gonna flog it all the way to the glue factory."

I find this total lack of concern for the good of America, compared with their own corporate interests, to be chillingly inhuman.

Having said that, things have changed again in the last 36 hours since the Trump immunity was announced. We now see very senior Dems, including the lawmakers (a powerful group) and even Pelosi questioning whether Biden should run. Also the New York Times reported yesterday a donor who told them Biden should go. So the tide may be starting to turn. Today's meeting with senior Dems and the Bidens will be pivotal. I note that Newsom and Whitmer will be there.

Jill and the whole Biden family bear some responsibility for their deliberate scheming to hide how bad Biden was even from White House staff. A number of White House staff have been saying this off the record for years and a few came forward on the record this week. It is unprecedented in White House history: it's not like Downing Street, the Pres always has and has always had staff around him to record discussions, take briefings, make briefings at all times. Even under Trump. But with Biden, his family separated him physically from his staff. His Chief of Staff was concerned by this. It is profoundly anti-democratic. More monarchical.

Jill Biden is also guilty of some missteps which smack of arrogance. The Vogue cover this month was incredibly bad timing with the debate. It was just a puff piece. She should have done it much earlier this year or later (if Joe had done well). But posing in a $5,000 dress on Vogue when your husband clearly cannot run the country at a time of high inflation, homeless crisis and unprecedented fentanyl deaths....well, It just smacks of Marie Antoinette. She should have been better advised.

So, I would say that all the people around Biden bear some responsibility. They should have actively started grooming his replacement in 2020. They did not.

The only person I give no agency to is Biden as he is too sick to have any agency any more.

Vogue interviews and cover shots are often done months in advance so it’s very likely she had no control over her the cover coming out just after his disastrous debate. This 'scheming, power-hungry' wife narrative is just an age old sexist trope. They said the same about Hilary.

The family may have tried to hide how bad he was but they didn’t do a very effective job. They couldn’t prevent his decline becoming obvious to political observers, journalists and White House officials. Not to mention the public. Are all those people culpable too since they clearly saw something was wrong and didn’t raise the alarm? No, he is a grown man who should have accepted he is no longer capable and started laying the ground for his successor years ago. Instead he has steadfastly refused to do so. So what if Jill and Hunter slapped him on the back and said he should continue? If he had half a brain he would obviously tell them he can’t. Anyway are we really supposed to believe she wields so much power she could have made him stay for 4 more years if he didn’t want to? He strikes me as a very stubborn man. It’s all his choice.

Whenever there is a problem with anything, anywhere...cherchez la femme!

Some people will always find a woman to blame for everything. If a man is in the wrong, it must be his wife or his mother's fault. It doesn't even surprise me any more.

Of course. Blame a woman if there’s one handy.
Even more bonkers is the idea that it’s “elder abuse” by her. That’s all over the internet.

She's the First Lady. She defo had control over the timing of a Vogue cover.

She also had control over what she said in the interview. "We will decide the future" ie she and Joe - stupid, tone deaf thing to say.

I long for the days of Michelle Obama - a smart, politically clued in, humble woman as well as an unbelievably skilled operator.

I think it's both of them.

It's not entirely unwarranted though is it?

A person who is losing mental capacity is highly reliant on their next of kin and those who love them.

If she said, he's lost capacity over my dead body is he standing again, he wouldn't be there.

It's obviously not entirely her fault. He's at a stage where he has some lucidity and awareness. Plus there is a whole democratic machine around them but she has a chunky piece of culpability for him continuing in the race now.

A person who really loved him wouldn't let this happen now.

So what if Jill and Hunter slapped him on the back and said he should continue? If he had half a brain he would obviously tell them he can’t.

Surely the whole point is that people suspect he doesn't have capacity to make those decisions anymore?

I don't really think this is woman blaming. Joe had signs of dementia before the 2020 election. He is now severely cognitively impaired, and has been for some time. I'm American and it's been widely reported that Jill absolutely LOVES being first lady. She's not giving that up without a fight.

If she loved her impaired husband more than power she would let him live out the rest of his life in peace, but won't because there is more coming out about Hunter Biden, including more legal charges, and she needs Joe in the saddle to pardon Hunter.

At any rate, rumblings are that Joe will be forced out and replaced by Kamala. It pretty much has to be Kamala, even though her ratings are below Joe's, because the money donated to the Biden-Harris campaign can only be used by Biden or Harris. It's a mess, but it's a mess of the Democrats' own making. The grass roots of the party wanted new blood, but the powers that be manipulated the primaries to get Joe in. Now the Dems are truly being hoisted on their own petard.

The Democrats are to blame. It's their nomination. What the Bidens want is irrelevant.

I don’t think he has the mental agility and physical capability to be President but I think he has capacity to decide whether or not he stays in the job.

There is a spectrum that spans being able to hold a position that makes you the most powerful man in the world and being senile/unable to think independently. He isn’t at either ends of those spectrums.

I'm not sure this is sexism. When somoene is losing their faculties, it often falls on the spouse or wider family to help them step down. Sadly, this particular situation affects pretty much the whole world...

But I think the Democratic party establish and its media allies have a bigger responsibility for having lied about his reduced capacity for at least a year or two. Even now, they are turning to deflection/whataboutery ("Trump would be worse!") as if that excuses them. There's a lot to criticise the modern Conservative party for, but they tool action FAST on Truss (I realise it's easier under the UK system).

@MathiasBroucek with liz truss, it helps that the tories are, and always have been, completely ruthless when it comes to the survival of the party.

I have a horrible feeling he's somehow going to be replaced by Newsom. Who just, eeergh, I can't explain why I have such a strong reaction to that man.

The NY Times ran an article about her with the headline "The Philly Girl Shielding Biden From the Bad News"🙄

I agree with you.
If someone has cognitive decline they may not have to capacity to know it. Therefore it is up to those who love them to help them do what's best for them and in this case, the country.
Not make a show of themselves on the world stage

He has capacity. After yesterday's latest gaffes when he called Zelensky 'Putin' and referred to Trump as his black, female Vice-President (could not make this up..)he was then able to conduct a lucid 50 min conversation on foreign policy.

Biden is not senile. He is just too old for this particular job. He knows it but his ego will not allow him to step down. That is not his wife's fault.