A report has once more put on spotlight the controversy of whether President Joe Biden really calls the shots at The White House or someone else.
WND said that Fox News' analysis on Biden from the time he held his first press conference to the most recent one on Hurricane Ida reveals he really is not the one running the presidency. Biden has been caught several times admitting a "significant portion of that idea" every time he takes in questions during press conferences.
"Biden repeatedly implies he's not in charge of when, where he can take questions from the press," Fox News headlined its analysis on the 78-year-old president.
Reports indicate that In July, the question, "Do you believe President Biden is fully executing the duties of his office?", has been answered by 1,086 general American voters during a "Nationwide Issues Survey" conducted by the Trafalgar Group from June 23 to 25. A majority of the respondents, 56.5%, believe someone else is directing the policies and agendas of Biden while 36.4% believe he actually does and the rest, 7.1%, are unsure who's the "boss."
The main reason behind such doubts come from Biden's declining mental capacity which has become obvious in the early months of his presidency whenever he stutters or shows lapses in his speech. This has made many Americans worried and believe he has a "cognitive ailment," especially when each public appearance he makes has made his declining condition become more evident.
The question on his capacity to run the presidency was further heightened in March when The White House released a memorandum ordering all communications referring to the government as the "Biden-Harris Administration." Biden's official Twitter account for the presidency actually uses a cover photo of himself with Vice President Kamala Harris.
As an offshoot, Biden is now unable to take impromptu questions from the press and entertains only those who have been indicated in a list given him each conference. Biden would often remark he is not allowed to take in questions aside from those he is "instructed" to accommodate or from those indicted in the "list" given him because he might "get in trouble."
Fox News cited several of these in its analysis on Biden, classifying the instances according to the remarks the president made. In particular, Biden said, "I'm not supposed to take any questions," at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters for the National Response Coordination Center briefing on Hurricane Ida.
Forbes tweeted about the incident on Monday showing the clip of the portion where Biden accepted a reporter who wanted to ask a question. But when the reporter started off by asking on Afghanistan, Biden outrightly cut off the question and sternly refused to answer it before he turned around and left.
Biden was said to have "raised eyebrows" when he revealed during the press conference after the two explosions in the Kabul airport last week that he was "instructed" to choose a certain journalist to answer questions from. Townhall tweeted the said video clip about Biden and raised, "Who is calling the shots here?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, they gave me a list here. The first person I was instructed to call on was Kelly O'Donnell from NBC," Biden remarked last Friday.
A similar incident happened in June during a Geneva press conference after his meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia where he disclosed an unidentified group controls who he can receive questions from.
"I'll take your questions, and as usual, folks, they gave me a list of the people I'm going to call on," Biden announced.
In addition, there are two incidents Biden stressed he'll be in trouble if he took questions aside from those allowed him. One was in April in The White House after briefing the press on the new masking guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Biden was able to answer several impromptu questions including those on his meeting with Putin and on his mask-wearing before he remarked, "I'm sorry. This is the last question I'll take, and I'm really gonna be in trouble."
The other was in June during the G-7 Summit's question and answer portion before he called in Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg for her questions where he stated, "I'm sorry, I'm going to get in trouble with staff if I don't do this the right way."
This does not include the time Biden remarked, "I'd be happy to take questions if that's what I'm supposed to do," when he was addressing COVID-19 relief and vaccination concerns before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic Party.