I keep waiting for the news surrounding Joe Biden's mental collapse to peak, but there doesn't appear to be an end on the horizon. You can't go more than an hour without a new detail being added to the ever-growing scandal, and perhaps the biggest story so far dropped while Americans were celebrating the Fourth of July. 

In an absolute bombshell report, which began taking shape over half a year ago, Biden's condition is laid bare, as is the ongoing cover-up that led to so many denying it for so long. According to New York Magazine, friends of the president recalled encounters with him where he couldn't even remember their names. The quotes and descriptions of events within the article are absolutely wild. 

In January, I began hearing similar stories from Democratic officials, activists, and donors who came away from interactions with Joe Biden disturbed by what they had seen. For @NYMag, I wrote about the conspiracy of silence to protect the president: https://t.co/clKmksK9D8

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) July 4, 2024

Those who encountered the president in social settings sometimes left their interactions disturbed. Longtime friends of the Biden family, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, were shocked to find that the president did not remember their names. At a White House event last year, a guest recalled, with horror, realizing that the president would not be able to stay for the reception because, it was clear, he would not be able to make it through the reception. The guest wasn’t sure they could vote for Biden, since the guest was now open to an idea that they had previously dismissed as right-wing propaganda: The president may not really be the acting president after all.

Becoming oblivious to friends and other long-running aspects of one's life is a telltale sign of dementia. Anyone who has dealt with someone suffering from the condition knows exactly what is being described in that excerpt. Throughout the report, Biden is described as completely aloof at times, unable to finish events and forgetting things that no normal, functioning human would forget. 

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Olivia Nuzzi, the author of the piece, also described one of her encounters with the president. 

My heart stopped as I extended my hand to greet the president. I tried to make eye contact, but it was like his eyes, though open, were not on. His face had a waxy quality. He smiled. It was a sweet smile. It made me sad in a way I can’t fully convey. I always thought — and I wrote — that he was a decent man. If ambition was his only sin, and it seemed to be, he had committed no sin at all by the standards of most politicians I had covered. He took my hand in his, and I was startled by how it felt. Not cold but cool. The basement was so warm that people were sweating and complaining that they were sweating. This was a silly black-tie affair. I said “hello.” His sweet smile stayed frozen. He spoke very slowly and in a very soft voice. “And what’s your name?” he asked.

The news isn't just that Biden's senile, though. RedState has been reporting on that reality for years, providing ample evidence along the way. Not believing one's eyes and ears was always a requirement for believing the president was in good health. We all knew, and that's the thing. They all knew as well. 

When they discussed what they knew, what they had seen, what they had heard, they literally whispered. They were scared and horrified. But they were also burdened. They needed to talk about it (though not on the record). They needed to know that they were not alone and not crazy. Things were bad, and they knew things were bad, and they knew others must also know things were bad, and yet they would need to pretend, outwardly, that things were fine. The president was fine. The election would be fine. They would be fine. To admit otherwise would mean jeopardizing the future of the country and, well, nobody wanted to be responsible personally or socially for that. 

As the article's headline indicates, there was quite literally a "conspiracy of silence" protecting Joe Biden. Democrats justified to themselves that the threat of Donald Trump overshadowed any care for whether the President of the United States was mentally competent to fulfill the duties of his office. That takes this well past just arguments about the 2024 election. This is a genuine scandal in its own right, and the list of accessories is a mile long. 

This piece describes a political conspiracy. The people who orchestrated it extend well beyond Joe Biden. They include his most likely replacement—Kamala Harris. It cannot be fixed just by swapping her in and moving on. There must be a political price to pay for all involved. (1) https://t.co/RC2PpwTLnq

— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) July 4, 2024

This isn’t just about Joe Biden. It’s about everyone around him. This administration. This campaign. This party. If the press is telling the truth about being assiduously duped, this is a national scandal—a fraud, even. It will taint all connected to it for years. (3)

— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) July 4, 2024

Forget Donald Trump for a moment. The country does not have a president right now. This can't just be swept under the rug because Jill Biden says her husband is fine. There need to be repercussions. There need to be resignations. More immediately, though, the 25th Amendment needs to be invoked. This can't be ignored anymore.