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A new report from The New York Times revealed how President Biden tried and failed to demonstrate his physical stamina to critics who constantly questioned his age and fitness for the job.
For the story detailing what Biden and his team did to try to minimize the public’s impression that he was a “hesitant” president, reporters spoke with people close to Biden, who noted that the president wanted to show off his physical combat prowess. the scrutiny of his age. .
“But sometimes, people familiar with his thinking recalled, Mr. Biden’s pride, along with an old-school view that showing physical vitality was the antidote to the worries of age, could get in the way,” the Friday report.
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A new report from the New York Times exposed how President Joe Biden attempted to show off his physical prowess to the public to counter scrutiny over his age, but it often backfired. ((AP Photo/Andrew Harnik))
As the outlet noted, Biden’s veteran strategist Mike Donlon had told the president in 2022: “Your biggest problem is the perception of age.” Biden “acknowledged the concerns” but the “warnings only inflamed his defiant and competitive streak,” The Times reported, suggesting this attitude fueled his decision to run for re-election in 2023, after initially suggesting he would not do so.
“Finally elected on his third try, Mr. Biden suggested he would be a transitional president,” the article said. “But his pride, along with a series of legislative accomplishments and a strong performance in the 2022 midterm elections, led him to seek re-election and undertake a quixotic mission to demonstrate his vitality.”
Biden’s pride also reportedly prompted him to try to show off his physical competence to the public. The report continued: “Mr. Biden, who exercised on a stationary bike most days, made decisions that he thought would demonstrate vigor. But they sometimes had the unintended effect of showing his advanced age.”
President Joe Biden falls during the graduation ceremony at the United States Air Force Academy, just north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, June 1, 2023. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/ AFP via Getty Images) (Brendan Smialowski)
The report provides several examples, the first being that Biden “refused to wear an orthopedic boot” after breaking the foot while playing with his dog just before the inauguration.
“I didn’t want to be seen as weak: a 78-year-old president with his hand on the Bible and a big revealing gadget on his foot. Instead, he wore leather shoes.”
Sources told The Times that the fracture “did not heal” as a result, and has contributed to a “shuffling gait that has continued throughout his presidency.”
He also mentioned his cycling mishap due to his desire to look fit.
“Mr. Biden still wanted to demonstrate that he was physically agile,” the report said. “He enjoyed riding his bicycle at his home near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, but during the summer of 2022, when he stopped to talk to a group of spectators and journalists, his feet became trapped in the toe caps of the pedals.”
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Biden fell off his bike and the journalists caught it on camera. The clip went viral and became fodder for Biden’s critics, who even turned “Mr. Biden’s downfall into a political attack on the T-shirts,” The Times added.
Then came the “worst mishap,” he continued, noting when “Mr. Biden tripped over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony.”
“It took Secret Service agents five seconds to help the president to his feet, an eternity when watching it on television.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
