President Joe Biden set off more alarm bells over his mental acuity this week when he fumbled around for a microphone and told reporters that he would "get in trouble" for taking their questions.
The incident happened Tuesday at the end of a White House press event to launch a task force, the White House Competition Council, to combat the cost of living.
Biden mumbled something about questions, then picked up the microphone and said, "I better not start the questions, I'll get in trouble."
Reporters then started shouting questions at him while a White House press handler could be heard in the background shooing them out while Biden just stared.
"Oh my Lord. This man is not well," former Democrat campaign adviser Peter Daou posted to X.
It's not the first time Biden has invoked "trouble" for taking questions from reporters.
As the New York Post documented in May 2021, Biden told reporters, "I'm not supposed to be answering all these questions" under then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
A month later, according to The Daily Mail, Biden told a reporter he'd "get in trouble with staff if I don't do this the right way."
At the end of that briefing, Biden began to walk away.
"I'm going to get in trouble with my staff," he said then. "Yeah, go ahead. But I can pretend that I didn't answer you."
"He takes questions nearly every day he's out from the press. That is not something we recommend," Psaki said then. "In fact, a lot of times, we say, 'Don't take questions.' But he's going to do what he wants to do because he's the president of the United States."
A poll last month found that 86% of respondents said Biden, 81, is too old for a second term.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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