Republicans are planning at least two investigations into President Biden’s alleged “cognitive decline” in the White House and what impact, if any, it had on his decisions.
The subject is worthy of inquiry, but care should be taken to avoid abuses, including vindictive prosecutions and new conspiracy theories.
The possibility that President Biden might be experiencing cognitive decline had been quietly discussed during the 2020 presidential campaign and throughout his term in office. It became an all-consuming issue following his poor showing in his debate with once and future President Trump last July. The publication of recent books, including Fight by Jonathan Allen and Anne Parnes, and especially Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thomson, are keeping the story alive and prompting demands, among Republicans at least, for investigations to answer a variety of questions: Was Biden in decline? If so, when did the decline begin? If there was a genuine decline, how did it affect Biden’s decisions? If his alleged decline incapacitated his decision making capabilities, who was making decisions on his behalf? Overall, who knew what? And if there was a decline known to Biden’s aides and associates, why did they cover it up through silence or misleading statements to the public?
Notwithstanding the partisan origins of these questions, they raise valid concerns. Presidents, after all, are only mortal. As with all other mortals, their physical and mental conditions can affect their thoughts, words, and deeds—possibly with catastrophic results. For example:
- In 1919 President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious stroke. How badly was he cognitively impaired? Did his condition contribute to his failure to secure American adherence to the treaty ending World War I and creating the League of Nations? Did American failure to join the League contribute to its inability to cope with the rise of Hitler and Mussolini or prevent World War II?
- It is now known that throughout his administration, President Kennedy took numerous medications to help him cope with Addison’s Disease, pain from old back injuries, and other ailments. Did these medications impair his judgment when he first met with Soviet dictator Khrushchev in 1961? Did the impression he made, along with the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, contribute to Khrushchev’s decisions to erect the Berlin Wall and put missiles in Cuba?
- To what degree, if any, did Ronald Reagan experience cognitive decline in the White House, given his advanced age when he became President? Was his poor performance in his first debate with Walter Mondale merely a bad night or an indication of deeper problems? Did any cognitive decline contribute to his failure to prevent the Iran-Contra scandal?
But while history justifies inquiry into Biden’s alleged cognitive decline and its possible, if unproven, consequences, caution must be exercised to prevent the inquiries from either degenerating into a partisan witch hunt or becoming the basis for a new set of conspiracy theories.
It’s easy to understand President Trump’s eagerness to investigate. After all, he himself was the target of numerous investigations at both the state and federal levels. Both the New York State Attorney General and the Manhattan District Attorney won election to their respective offices after promising to prosecute Donald Trump for something—anything—before developing any charges or theories to justify their decisions. Thus, the Attorney General secured a civil case judgment that Trump had defrauded banks from which he borrowed money by overstating his assets to get more favorable interest rates, even though the banks with which he was doing business claimed they did not regard themselves as defrauded. And the Manhattan District Attorney secured Trump’s criminal conviction of misreporting campaign expenditures, even though neither the Federal Election Commission nor the Biden-Garland Justice Department had wanted to prosecute Trump (for a similar offense, Hillary Clinton had to pay a fine in a civil judgment, but was never criminally prosecuted). And of course, the Justice Department wanted to prosecute Trump for mishandling classified documents, while giving Biden a free pass for similar alleged offenses. So Trump understandably thinks he was the victim of selective partisan prosecution, and now it’s time for payback.
But Trump’s grievances should not be allowed to lead to partisan investigations and biased results produced by his Justice Department or allies in Congress. Nor should anyone allow the investigations to produce new conspiracy theories akin to those held by birthers who questioned President Obama’s citizenship or Truthers who claim 9/11 was an inside job hatched by President George W. Bush and the Israelis. In the absence of evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Biden staffers, apolitical prosecution will only inject more poison into our already toxic political atmosphere. And while it’s tempting to conjure up the possibility of shadowy White House staffers using an autopen to affix Biden’s name to documents and policies about which he allegedly knew nothing, prudence nonetheless requires that no conspiracy theories be presented unless backed up by documented and publicized facts.
So let the investigations begin. And of course, their findings should be released to the public to accompany vigorous debate over their meaning. But responsible men and women of good will, whatever their party affiliations or ideological leanings, should do their best to make sure that the investigations are neither witch hunts nor whitewashes. We’ve had more than enough of both.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018 and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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