PLEASE STOP BLAMING JOE BIDEN'S DIMINISHING CAPACITY ON HIS YEARS

Earlier this month, I saw a 107-year-old D-Day Vet Who Looked and Sounded Better than Biden - and - The Stones, anyone?

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First of all, Biden at “his best,” years ago, was nothing to be proud of. He had no pragmatic experience in the real world… he’s always been a political hack with a dim intellect. Compounding his problem(s), he’s always had an inflated ego, with an annoying, accompanying, boastfulness and a corresponding ability to get things wrong.

In Obama’s purported words, “Never underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to f*ck things up.”

In coming forward to today’s appraisal of Biden, let’s examine some general truths about age and aging. A person really has three ages: 1) Their calendar age - their years lived as measured from their birthdate; 2) Their biological (or physical) age - their condition and general health status; and 3) Their mental acuity - their quickness-of-mind - their lack of dementia and their level of focus and general thinking ability.

Numbers 2) and 3) are not tethered to “age” (years lived) in the same fashion for each individual person. Some folks age faster than others (as a matter of heredity; as a matter of taking care of oneself; or conversely, as a matter of “hard living” or otherwise abuses and/or simple “bad luck” (injuries, illnesses, malevolence at the hands of others, etc.).

In attempting to mitigate Biden’s age and his associated suitability for a second term, most liberal critics yammer about Trump’s similar age. They attempt to minimize critics of Biden’s age and associated problems thus: ‘Trump himself is nearly as old as Biden; he’s 78!’ But the comparison of calendar ages in an attempt to yield some sort of truth is a false one.

It is said that Trump sleeps four hours a night. (I can believe this as I know people who do quite fine in this realm). Meantime, Biden appears to sleep during the day… in meetings! He also “zones out” during daylight hours in embarrassing public view. What happens during his workday is leaking out - the aforementioned zoning out, nodding off, and slurred speech and gibberish.

Trump speaks and stands for hours at rallies and acquits himself quite well. There are no corresponding reports of any problems in private with his attention, focus, and speaking. Trump does not stumble and fall nor is his gait impaired as is Biden’s.

Thus, while the calendar tells us that Trump has lived 96% the length of time as has Biden (78/81), his biological and mental ages are quite far removed from Biden’s - as evidenced. And that is what really counts.

I had a good friend (since deceased) who was in his 90s, still repairing and restoring Victrolas - his hobby. He had an entire full-size barn dedicated to it. He was sharp as a tack, physically able, and conversing with him was like talking to any 40- or 50-year-old; that is, someone seasoned, experienced, and sharp of wit with accompanying wisdom. On DC Metro television, I was interviewed by a man who was 90. Friends viewing the interview, who did not know he was 90, were amazed when I told them his age, later. Those situations ARE NOT Joe Biden.

Consider someone who is virtually the same calendar age as Biden, but who is a diametric opposite: Mick Jagger. He will be 81 next month. Night after night he dances and sings his way through a set that is nearly two hours long - he is in constant motion. He remembers all the lyrics! Further, Keith Richards is 80, and Ronnie Wood is 77. Whatever you think of the modern incarnation of The Rolling Stones, they pack arenas and do quite well… and why not? They enjoy it. Happily, they help us to understand that, up to a point, “age” is just a number for some - and everything else to others.

Biden is a walking-talking embarrassment (for a few hours a day, anyway, his three-day-weekends aside). If he makes it to the debate, they’ll have him doped with something for focus, and something for stamina. The danger is those drugs can have side-effects, and those types of drugs can interact. He could be disinhibited and say something stupid (easy enough any time) or accidentally pass too much truth. His stamina may peak too early, and he crashes, or he comes out sluggish and suddenly zooms to life.

It’s quite easy to imagine Trump at the end of a second term in office: Age 82, very much the same as now. It is unimaginable to see Biden carrying out the end of a second term at age 86 - and, in truth, he is incapable of carrying out this first term. He is being “covered for” in many, many ways. I believe that by end of July/August his accelerating diminishment will make calls for his removal from office a veritable cacophony - from both sides. I make no predictions (now) for his replacement, nor how they’ll machinate this.

Today, I merely make the case that it is not (calendar) age that is key here: It is all the rest. Independent and conservative pundits should stop yammering about Biden’s “age.” Start speaking to “condition” - and the differences in individuals. Democrat, liberal, pundits will keep using “age” as comparisons and rationalizations.

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NP: Jumpin’ Jack Flash, The Rolling Stones

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David Scott Strain is a U.S. Army veteran (HQ, 500th Military Intelligence Brigade [Japan]; 1st Personnel Command [1st PERSCOM, Europe]; Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans [ODCSOPS, Pentagon], more) and a retired Fortune500 I.T. executive (Young & Rubicam, Inc., DC-NY; Burson-Marsteller, LLC, DC-NY; ShuffleLabs, Inc., Virginia, more) as well as employment at major non-profits (Nat’l. Food Processors Assoc., N. VA [now GMA]; Water Environment Federation, N. VA, more); as well as TS contract work for clients. Mr. Strain has passed three FBI background checks in association with his work.  He is also the author of the novel THE GRIM GRIND OF LIFE:  A PI’s strange bounces through a surfeit of eateries, juke joints, and dark doorways (2020) and A Bohemian in a Precarious Belfry - Vol. I: Poetry & Prose (2023). (Available on Amazon - Kindle and paperback). Prior, he authored the MBA-text I.T. WARS: Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium (UofW, UofMD, more than a dozen others). Expanded bio also on Amazon.