Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes

The Illiberal Liberal Illusionists

In a recent speech at Hamilton College in New York, Barrack Obama lambasted the Trump administration for strangling universities, threatening free speech on campuses, and mass deportations, including the deportations of green card holders and students for “antisemitism”.[i] Obama declared “Now we’re at one of those moments where, you know what? It’s not enough just to say you’re for something; you may actually have to do something,”[ii] While this may sound inspirational, they are empty words coming from a man who won an emphatic election victory in 2008 and then proceeded to govern as president for 8 years on behalf of Wall Street, not Main Street, the exact opposite of what he promised to do. What did Obama do, and what is he doing now? He now shuttles him and his family between their three massive homes. He travels the country making grandiose speeches about democracy and its preciousness, and seals mindlessly buy tickets to hear and applaud his pomposity.

That Obama and his ilk can not only show their faces in public without being booed and chastised but can deliver lines that drip with egoism and hypocrisy, is disgusting. One such line is his statement that “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me or a whole bunch of my predecessors,”[iii] It’s not unimaginable at all, it’s easy to find a plethora of instances in the past where Obama and his predecessors committed horrid acts and were either forgiven or lauded, or in many cases, were covered for by a drooling legacy media. Obama jailed multiple whistleblowers, including the former CIA staffer John Kiriakou, who exposed the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other torture methods, and after promising to investigate the CIA’s actions under the Bush regime during his 2008 campaign, Obama granted the CIA blanket immunity and jailed Kiriakou and others who exposed torture or the location of CIA black sites, the abyssal prisons they spent millions of dollars building to detain and torture people.[iv] Obama also led the toppling of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, which culminated in him being sodomized and executed by a death squad on live TV. Obama authorized a CIA program that armed and funded Al Qaeda fighters in Syria, Operation Timber Sycamore. He thus committed treason, arming and aiding a stated enemy of the US, the exact enemy that sparked the whole war on terror. Obama went to Flint, Michigan, amid their water crisis, and after delivering a pathetic and limp speech, he pretended to sip from a glass of water, and then walked away and flew away on his jet. Obama authorized the extrajudicial killings of US citizens abroad, as well as drone strikes in multiple countries the US is not officially at war with, like Pakistan and Somalia. The parties were silent then, and if anything, the GOP were outraged because in their opinion, Obama was not doing enough to fight terror and resist China, Russia, and Iran.[v]

Obama tolerated and covered for the behavior of the Bush regime. He did not hold the CIA torturers accountable, nor did he hold Wall Street pillagers accountable. His first Attorney General, Eric Holder, claimed that the big banks are “too big to prosecute.”[vi] Holder would go on to work for the corporate law firm Covington and Burling, who represent Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank, all banks that should have been shuttered following the financial meltdown of 2007-2008.[vii] They instead got massive bailouts and promise that if such a crash occurs again, they could count on being bailed out again. Thus, Obama failed to act on his promise to revitalize Main Street and reform Wall Street. Rather than reconcile this with the rise and destruction of Trump, a revolution which is a response to the failures of politicians like Obama and Biden, the illiberal liberal class continues to gasp and scoff, insistent that they are nothing like Trump and his acolytes, that they would never do anything like what Trump is doing and getting away with.

The delusion that Thomas Frank refers to when he discusses the nostalgia around Bill Clinton and his handling of the US economy, that it was solely Bush and his incompetence and greed that caused the 2008 crash and that his predecessor is entirely blameless, is recurring.[viii] We see a similar memory holing of historical fact in the narrative being pushed by Obama and his fellow apparatchiks that Trump is the issue, and ridding Washington of Trump will fix America’s problems and bring back the status quo. Obama has been doing this ever since Trump’s election in 2016. In an interview with Ezra Klein in 2021, Obama pretended that he himself was enraged by the very bailouts he endorsed, and he received no pushback from Klein on this.[ix] As David Sirota notes, “inconvenient facts that challenge and humiliate the Democratic Party corporatism that led to the Trump backlash cannot be mentioned.”, and any question or point that proves the Democrats, or any other supposedly liberal party in the Western world, are as vile and autocratic as their opposition, is off limits and interviews and appearances must be staged to avoid the painful reality that they are to blame for Trump, not his voters or those who did not vote, or those who decided to vote for a third party candidate.[x]

US and Western politics are merely theater. All the illiberal liberal class has left in their arsenal are empty platitudes about democracy and liberalism and desperate efforts to ban or jail any political candidate who threatens their supremacy. In the UK we saw an effort to stop Brexit after the referendum succeeded.[xi] In Romania Calis Georgescu has been charged and banned from running in the next Romanian elections, following the court’s decision to nullify the results of the previous elections, which he won.[xii] In Germany, there have been various attempts to ban the AFD from elections.[xiii] In Hungary, millions have been spent by ‘pro-democracy organizations’ to unseat Viktor Obran.[xiv] In Georgia, the current regime is seen as illegitimate by many in the Western ruling class, and there have been calls by the EU and US officials to refuse recognition of the GDP regime and to redo their elections.[xv] Further, part of what was revealed by DOGE on USAID is that about 40 million dollars was spent on the last election in Georgia.[xvi] In France, Marine le Pen has been charged for embezzlement, and she is barred from running for election for 4 years.[xvii] Similarly, in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro was charged for trying to overthrow the government and he has been banned from running for elections, despite his popularity.[xviii] Thus, the illiberal liberal class is not just facing resistance in the US, but across the West, and their decision to act brazenly illiberal to silence and impede resistance movements against them proves their illiberalism and hollowness.

With the arson of the US led world order by the Trump regime, the illiberal liberal class are reaping what they have been sowing for decades. Instead of admitting their complicity, they depict themselves as heroes that are defending democracy against the incoming threat of fascism. This was exemplified by Senator Cory Booker’s ridiculous stunt on the Senate floor, where he stood and spoke for 25 hours straight, jabbering about Trump and some of his worst policies, but failing to acknowledge the role his party and those who donate lump sums to officials like him have played in creating the problem of Trump.[xix] There is this insistence that Trump is the central problem, not a variable, part of a much larger problem. The illiberal liberal class is diverting outrage from them to Trump and his acolytes, who, though they are terribly destructive, are a reaction to a system that has laid waste to whole communities and a class that is invisible to elites in Washington and the halls of the WEF, the displaced class.

It is right and necessary to condemn much of what Trump is doing, but we must not let those who committed equally abhorrent actions and implemented illiberal policy that paved the way for Trump escape blame and critique. This is why it is so disheartening to see self-proclaimed liberals embrace officials and pseudo intellectuals from the Bush regime, like Bill Kristol, Nicole Wallace, Liz and Dick Cheney, and Tim Miller. These cretins are not the moral betters of Trump. They must be seen as what they are, not heroes of the fantastical story that the illiberal liberal class has concocted to dupe people into believing that in 2015, Trump decided to run for president on a whim, and he worked closely with Putin to ensure his victory against Clinton in 2016. Since that moment, the US has undergone a dire slide towards authoritarianism with Biden offering a brief reprieve. It is possible and necessary to oppose Trump and understand that he is a result, not a cause, however, it is likely too late for such a revelation, as it is much easier to blame and demonize the ‘rabble’ than it is to accept that the system and class who it benefits have crafted a landscape that presents them as heroic, not sadistic and psychopathic.

A story that typifies the shamelessness of the illiberal liberal class is the ‘breaking news’ that Biden was in a horrifying state of mental decline throughout his presidency, and that his inner circle protected him and lied to the mainstream press, who are now crying victim, feigning outrage about the White House covering up Biden’s liquefying brain. A new book written by Axios’ Alex Thompson and CNN’s Jake Tapper, coupled with their pompous book tour, where Tapper is claiming to have ‘uncovered the truth’ of an event that anyone with a working set of eyes and ears could see and hear for years before his book was published.[xx]

In an interview with ABC’s Terry Moran, Trump was asked if he thinks that the reputation of the US has sunk under his presidency, and he said that “We were laughed at all over the world. We had — a president that couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs, couldn’t walk down a flight of stairs, couldn’t walk across a stage without falling. We had a president that was grossly incompetent. You knew it, I knew it, and everybody knew it. But you guys didn’t want to write it because you’re fake news.”, and he finished by remarking “And, by the way, ABC is one of the worst. I have to be honest with you – “, to which Moran thanked him for his opinion and tried to rush to ask his final question.[xxi] Whatever one thinks of Trump, his argument here is sound, as the notion that America’s reputation plummeted upon his inauguration after enjoying a steady rise under Biden’s ‘return to normalcy’ reflects the success of the illiberal liberal class’s ability as illusionists, not as government officials. After years of a president who could barely utter a sentence, walk across a stage, and who, according to Thompson and Tapper in their book, likely needed a wheelchair had he run and attained reelection in 2024, we are now told that it is only Trump who has tanked American prestige.[xxii] Anyone with a working brain should be insulted by this circus act of the legacy media. They have once again proved themselves to be the useful idiots of the illiberal liberal class.

Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes and Ears

There are many events in recent history that are embodiments of George Orwell’s line from 1984 that “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”[xxiii] One such event is the alleged ‘cover up’ of Biden’s cognitive decline, which Thompson and Tapper are claiming is a breaking story, exposed in their explosive new book, Original Sin.[xxiv] Contrary to their overarching claim, it was not a cover up, as anyone with eyes and ears could observe Biden’s cognitive decline. From his incoherent speeches to tripping over himself on stages, it was evident that his brain was soup. Yet, the corporate media and the Democratic party tried desperately to argue that Biden was incredibly sharp, and that he was mentally acute and that it was Trump who was mentally gone. Apparently, much of Biden’s struggles with delivering sound speeches were because of a ‘childhood stutter’.[xxv] When Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report on Biden’s handling of classified materials in February 2024, many Democrats, including Biden, were enraged and disgusted. Biden said that his “memory is fine”, and then Vice President Kamala Harris said that what Hur claimed in his report was “gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate”.[xxvi] However, newly released audio from Hur’s interview with Biden prove that he did in fact struggle to recall important events and people in his life, including the year his son died, which, when revealed in Hur’s report, had especially angered Biden.[xxvii] The audio transcript shows Biden taking extremely long pauses between answers, as well as whispers from aides helping him answer questions.[xxviii]

Much of the discourse on Biden’s mental fitness focuses on his age. When voters were polled on this issue, they were asked questions regarding Biden’s age, not his obvious mental decline.[xxix] The concern was never over his old age, it was over his deterioration, both of his mind and body, which can be a consequence of aging. By the end of his presidency, he looked like the Crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt, who would begin every episode of the show by exiting his coffin, laughing hysterically and looking decrepit and rotting. Biden, like the Crypt Keeper, was wheeled out by his aides to mumble a few words, perhaps uttering a complete sentence, and then he was put back into storage. His aides acted like puppeteers, guiding and prodding him all the time. It was obvious to anyone watching that Biden was in a near vegetative state.

The ruling class’s lackeys in the media are now pretending that they were deceived by Biden’s inner circle, and that they thought Biden was in impeccable mental and physical shape because that is what they were told by his aides and his physician, Kevin O’Connor. However, as Mark Leibovich remarks, Biden’s aging was “observable fact”.[xxx] It’s not as if it was a fact that anyone close to Biden could hide, even though they tried to. Out of Thompson and Tapper, it is Thompson who had reported on Biden’s cognitive decline at times during his presidency, while Tapper covered for him and lambasted anyone who said otherwise.

In his review of three books that were published early in Trump’s presidency on Biden and then Harris’s catastrophic presidential campaigns, James Kirchick says that he first noticed Biden’s mental decline in 2014, when, while explaining his shift on same-sex marriage, Biden recounted a story about how he saw two men kissing on a street corner, and when he turned to his father and asked him about it, he was told “They love each other.”[xxxi] This story was told in many different versions. Apparently, this occurred back in 1961, and as Kirchick points out, at that time homosexuality was illegal and was classified as a mental illness, as well as a threat to US national security, in the context of the Cold War.[xxxii] So, the story is obviously a myth. Biden has told many such stories over the course of his entire career. He had to drop out of the 1988 presidential race because he got caught plagiarizing speeches and lying about his accomplishments in university. Though, the difference between then and now is that his stories are told differently each time, and when speaking about his family, he misremembers names and details, like the year his son Beau died.

Instead of applying any scrutiny to Biden’s mental acuity, the corporate media decided to craft a fantasy that he was in tip-top shape, and that it was ageist or Trumpist to criticize his faculties. There was also the looming threat of Trump retaking the White House. Kirchick notes this when he writes that  “most of the media declined to investigate Biden’s disposition because it interfered with a higher priority: saving the country from Donald Trump.”[xxxiii] This is a point that he makes about all three of the books that detail the Democratic 2024 campaigns against Trump, they all failed to cover Biden’s cognitive state as doggedly as they should have. An example of this inclination is from The Guardian’s Margaret Sullivan, who reacted to Biden’s disastrous debate performance and the coverage of it with a frustrated sigh, remarking that the media ought to focus on Trump, not on Biden.[xxxiv] She zeroes in on the coverage of Biden’s age, writing that “For weeks, there was nothing but “hey, Biden is old” coverage, once again failing to put the emphasis where it belonged: on the dangers of a Trump presidency.”, and she argues that neutral coverage of issues is nigh impossible, “So if the media were going to put their thumb on the scale – as they inevitably do – they ought to have done so in defense of democracy, the rule of law and human decency.”[xxxv] Arguments like this are baffling, especially after the entire 2024 presidential campaign, where we were subjected to endless hysteria about the urgent threat Trump posed to all that is good. Since the most important point of the Biden age scandal is that the mainstream media failed to cover it closely and accurately, it is odd that Sullivan feels like it was not only covered, but that is was talked about incessantly, at the expense of highlighting the dangers of Trump. Further, her remark that the media should have been in favor of democracy, the rule of law, and decency, meaning favoring the Democratic party, as if this is not what happened, is bizarre. Trump and the threat he posed was covered daily by outlets like CNN and MSNBC. For example, his rally in New York City was compared to a Nazi gathering by the entire mainstream press, he was depicted as Adolf Hitler on a cover of The Nation, and journalists like Rachel Maddow claimed that Trump would throw her and her colleagues in concentration camps. The notion that there was little to no fearmongering about the dire risks of Trump by the media is laughable, as is the idea that because he poses such a risk, any reporting that undermines his opponents is dangerous.

One of the two journalists with the most intimate access to Biden, The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer, wrote a sycophantic book titled The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future.[xxxvi] Though he mentions Biden’s many gaffes and stumbles, Foer expresses a disturbing clinginess for Biden’s ‘traditional’ style of politics, the barren and vapid ‘civility politics’ that favors bipartisanship above all else. That is why he titled his book ‘The Last Politician’, as he evidently fears an end to civility politics and norms, an end brought about by the Trump regime. After Biden’s infamous debate with Trump in June, 2024, which led to him dropping out of the presidential race, Foer penned an article in which he described Biden as akin to an elderly relative who, though he wants to and insists he can, should not be driving anymore, and he calls for the ‘keys’ to be taken from Biden before it is too late, meaning before Trump is elected.[xxxvii]

Foer is a relic, desperate for a ‘return to normalcy’. He also argues that when the American gerontocracy is gone, it will be missed.[xxxviii] There was never any chance that he would have at any time questioned Biden’s aides about his mental state or his health. That is likely the reason he was given insider access over others. It is not just Biden’s inner circle, including his wife Jill Biden and his senior advisers, like Mike Donilon and Steve Richetti, who were rabid and indignant in their defense of Biden, it is the corporate press who laud themselves as defenders of democracy against the likes of Trump, who deserve absolute condemnation and shame. That they are not ostracized is proof that their function is not to defend democracy, it is to defend their bottom lines and the interests of the permanent regime. The illiberal liberal illusionists are their stenographers.

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[i] Helmore, Edward. “Barack Obama Calls on Americans to Defend Democratic Values in Face of Trump Agenda.” the Guardian. The Guardian, April 5, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/05/barack-obama-trump-agenda.

[ii] Helmore. “Barack Obama Calls on Americans to Defend Democratic Values in Face of Trump Agenda.”

[iii] Helmore. “Barack Obama Calls on Americans to Defend Democratic Values in Face of Trump Agenda.”

[iv] Ackerman, Spencer, and Ed Pilkington. “Obama’s War on Whistleblowers Leaves Administration Insiders Unscathed.” the Guardian, March 16, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/16/whistleblowers-double-standard-obama-david-petraeus-chelsea-manning. and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Obama Administration Plugs up Leaks.” The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 2024. https://www.rcfp.org/journals/obama-administration-plugs/.

[v] McGreal, Chris. “Liz Cheney Accused of McCarthyism over Campaign against Lawyers.” the Guardian. The Guardian, March 11, 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/11/liz-cheney-keep-america-safe.

[vi] Sherter, Alain. “AG Holder: ‘No Such Thing as Too Big to Jail.’” Cbsnews.com. CBS News, May 5, 2014. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/holder-no-such-thing-as-too-big-to-jail/.

[vii] Open Secrets. “Eric H Holder.” OpenSecrets, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving-door/holder-eric-h/summary?id=82352.

[viii] Frank, Thomas. Listen, Liberal. Metropolitan Books, 2016.

[ix] Klein, Ezra. “Opinion | Opinion: Takeaways from My Obama Interview.” The New York Times, June 1, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/01/opinion/obama-ezra-klein-takeaways.html.

[x] Sirota, David. “Obama Was Always in Wall Street’s Corner.” jacobin.com, February 6, 2021. https://jacobin.com/2021/06/barack-obama-ezra-klein-nyt-wall-street-bailouts.

[xi] One way to overturn Brexit that the illiberal liberal class proposed was a second referendum. Kirby, Jen. “The Case for Holding a Second Brexit Referendum.” Vox, December 17, 2018. https://www.vox.com/world/2018/12/17/18141030/brexit-second-referendum-peoples-vote-uk-q-a. and Klau, Thomas. “Why the EU Should Fear a Second UK Referendum.” POLITICO, December 14, 2018. https://www.politico.eu/article/why-the-eu-should-fear-a-second-uk-referendum/.

[xii] Henley, Jon. “‘We Don’t Know What to Hope For’: Romanians Torn after barring of Far-Right Hopeful.” the Guardian. The Guardian, March 20, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/20/romania-far-right-calin-georgescu-barred-presidential-election.

[xiii] Conesa, Elsa. “Germany’s Bundestag Debates Banning Far-Right AfD Party.” Le Monde.fr. Le Monde, January 31, 2025. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/01/31/germany-s-bundestag-debates-banning-far-right-afd-party_6737637_4.html. and Tanno, Sophie. “Calls Are Mounting to Ban Germany’s Far-Right AfD Party – despite It Being More Popular than Ever.” CNN, July 6, 2025. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/06/europe/germany-afd-ban-politics-analysis-intl.

[xiv] Mostly all the Western media sees Orban’s regime as far-right, and his charges that there are forces within Hungary that seek to undermine him are dismissed as conspiracy theories, with his efforts to combat them touted as proof of his authoritarianism. Esik, Sandor. “Viktor Orbán’s Newest Tool for Crushing Dissent.” Journal of Democracy, February 2024. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclusive/viktor-orbans-newest-tool-for-crushing-dissent/., and see Furedi, Frank. “The Hungarian Revolt.” Spiked-online.com. spiked, April 4, 2022. https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/04/04/the-hungarian-revolt/.

[xv] US Congressman Joe Wilson. “Wilson and Cohen Introduce the ‘Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act.’” Representative Joe Wilson, January 9, 2025. https://joewilson.house.gov/media/press-releases/wilson-and-cohen-introduce-georgian-nightmare-non-recognition-act.

[xvi] Coi, Giovanna, and Dato Parulava. “USAID Freeze Opens Door to Russian Influence in Eastern Europe.” POLITICO, February 25, 2025. https://www.politico.eu/article/usaid-freeze-russia-influence-eastern-europe-georgia-ukraine-moldova-belarus-ngo-media/.

[xvii] Masquelier-Page, Alice. “French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Barred from Seeking Office for 5 Years, a Political Earthquake | the Associated Press.” The Associated Press, April 2025. https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/french-far-right-leader-marine-le-pen-barred-from-seeking-office-for-5-years-a-political-earthquake/.

[xviii] Phillips, Tom. “Judges Ban Bolsonaro from Running for Office for Eight Years over ‘Appalling Lies.’” The Guardian, June 30, 2023, sec. World news. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/30/jair-bolsonaro-judges-vote-ban-running-for-office.

[xix] Carney, Jordain. “So Long, Strom: Cory Booker Breaks Thurmond’s Senate Record with 25-Hour Speech – POLITICO.” POLITICO. Politico, April 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/01/cory-booker-record-breaking-senate-speech-00265142.

[xx] Smith, David. “Original Sin: Book on Biden’s Health Decline Reopens Democratic Party’s Wounds.” the Guardian. The Guardian, May 18, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/may/18/biden-book-health-original-sin.

[xxi] Moran, Terry, and Donald Trump. “FULL TRANSCRIPT: Trump’s Exclusive 100 Days Broadcast Interview with ABC News.” ABC News, April 30, 2025. https://abcnews.go.com/US/full-transcript-trumps-exclusive-100-days-broadcast-interview/story?id=121291672.

[xxii] Tapper, Jake, and Alex Thompson. Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. United States: Penguin Press, 2025.

[xxiii] Orwell, George. 1984. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949.

[xxiv] Tapper and Thompson. Original Sin.

[xxv] Stokols, Eli, and Lauren Egan. “Normalizing Stutters, Biden’s and His Own.” POLITICO, January 10, 2023. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2023/01/10/normalizing-stutters-bidens-and-his-own-00077269. Though many claimed Biden’s stutter was behind his rhetorical stumbles, a few dared to question this narrative. Hendrickson, John. “What Biden’s Stutter Doesn’t Explain.” The Atlantic. theatlantic, July 3, 2024. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/biden-debate-stutter/678888/.

[xxvi] Gangitano, Alex, and Brett Samuels. “Biden Angrily Defends Memory, Age in Contentious Press Conference.” The Hill, February 8, 2024. https://thehill.com/homenews/4457489-biden-memory-age-contentious-press-conference/. and Samuels, Brett. “Harris Slams ‘Politically Motivated’ Special Counsel Report That Questioned Biden’s Memory.” The Hill, February 9, 2024. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4458734-harris-slams-politically-motivated-special-counsel-report-that-questioned-bidens-memory/.

[xxvii] Caputo, Marc, and Alex Thompson. “Exclusive: Prosecutor’s Audio Shows Biden’s Memory Lapses.” Axios, May 16, 2025. https://www.axios.com/2025/05/16/biden-hur-tape-special-counsel-audio.

[xxviii] Caputo and Thompson. “Exclusive: Prosecutor’s Audio Shows Biden’s Memory Lapses.”

[xxix] Alafriz, Olivia. “Poll: Nearly 70 Percent of Voters Say Biden Is Too Old to Serve Again.” POLITICO, February 21, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/21/biden-age-concerns-poll-00142481., Knutson, Jacob. “Poll: 67% of Americans Say Biden Should Bow out of Presidential Race.” Axios, July 11, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2024/07/11/biden-drop-out-poll-democrats-trump-harris. and Rogers, Kaleigh. “Americans Were Worried about Biden’s Age Long before the Debate.” ABC News, July 12, 2024. https://abcnews.go.com/538/americans-worried-bidens-age-long-debate/story?id=111858302.

[xxx] Leibovich, Mark. “Biden’s Age Wasn’t a Cover-Up. It Was Observable Fact.” The Atlantic. theatlantic, May 20, 2025. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/05/biden-aging-cancer-election/682849/.

[xxxi] Kirchick, James. “All the President’s Enablers.” POLITICO. Politico, May 20, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/20/biden-book-reviews-mental-acuity-00357152.

[xxxii] Kirchick. “All the President’s Enablers.”

[xxxiii] Kirchick. “All the President’s Enablers.” As well as Kirchick’s examination, there have been a few intrepid breakdowns of the ‘cover-up’ of Biden’s decay. Tofel, Richard J. “Cover-up in Plain Sight.” Columbia Journalism Review, 2021.

[xxxiv] Sullivan, Margaret. “The Media Has Been Breathlessly Attacking Biden. What about Trump?” The Guardian, July 9, 2024, sec. Opinion. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/09/biden-media-attacks-trump-felon.

[xxxv] Sullivan. “The Media Has Been Breathlessly Attacking Biden. What about Trump?”

[xxxvi] Foer, Franklin. The Last Politician. Penguin, 2023.

[xxxvii] Foer. “Someone Needs to Take Biden’s Keys.” The Atlantic. theatlantic, June 28, 2024. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/06/democrat-biden-trump-debate/678823/.

[xxxviii]Foer. “You’ll Miss Gerontocracy When It’s Gone.” The Atlantic. theatlantic, January 3, 2023. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/nancy-pelosi-speaker-stepping-down-hakeem-jeffries/672624/.

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References

Ackerman, Spencer, and Ed Pilkington. “Obama’s War on Whistleblowers Leaves Administration Insiders Unscathed.” the Guardian, March 16, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/16/whistleblowers-double-standard-obama-david-petraeus-chelsea-manning.

Alafriz, Olivia. “Poll: Nearly 70 Percent of Voters Say Biden Is Too Old to Serve Again.” POLITICO, February 21, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/21/biden-age-concerns-poll-00142481.

Caputo, Marc, and Alex Thompson. “Exclusive: Prosecutor’s Audio Shows Biden’s Memory Lapses.” Axios, May 16, 2025. https://www.axios.com/2025/05/16/biden-hur-tape-special-counsel-audio.

Carney, Jordain. “So Long, Strom: Cory Booker Breaks Thurmond’s Senate Record with 25-Hour Speech – POLITICO.” POLITICO. Politico, April 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/01/cory-booker-record-breaking-senate-speech-00265142.

Coi, Giovanna, and Dato Parulava. “USAID Freeze Opens Door to Russian Influence in Eastern Europe.” POLITICO, February 25, 2025. https://www.politico.eu/article/usaid-freeze-russia-influence-eastern-europe-georgia-ukraine-moldova-belarus-ngo-media/.

Conesa, Elsa. “Germany’s Bundestag Debates Banning Far-Right AfD Party.” Le Monde.fr. Le Monde, January 31, 2025. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/01/31/germany-s-bundestag-debates-banning-far-right-afd-party_6737637_4.html.

Esik, Sandor. “Viktor Orbán’s Newest Tool for Crushing Dissent.” Journal of Democracy, February 2024. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclusive/viktor-orbans-newest-tool-for-crushing-dissent/.

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