Jill Biden Says She Feared Her Husband Had a Stroke During 2024 Debate

Dr. Jill Biden, wife of former President Joe Biden, shared in an interview promoting her upcoming memoir that she was frightened by her husband's performance in his sole presidential debate against President Donald Trump in 2024, worrying at the time that he was having a stroke or had ingested drugs.

Media Spin: Some commentators on the right accused the former First Lady of lying and playing a role in Biden's ill-fated presidential campaign. Opinion writers on the left covered the story less; one said her admission resurfaced an embarrassing period for Democrats.

The Details: Jill Biden told a CBS News (Lean Left bias) interviewer, "As I watched it, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's having a stroke.' And it scared me to death." She said, "I was frightened because I had never, ever seen Joe like that. Before or since. Never." Her memoir is set to release on June 2.

An 'Embarrassing Chapter' for Democrats: Unlike other outlets, particularly those on the right, The Atlantic (Left) published an opinion piece with its headline emphasizing how Jill Biden also questioned whether her husband had been drugged. The Atlantic noted that her memoir "resurfaces many moments the party would like to forget" and reveals the "difficulty Democrats face in closing an embarrassing chapter." This opinion argues that Jill Biden wrote the memoir largely to dispel rumors that she helped cover up her husband's alleged cognitive decline before running for reelection and that the book will not provide the "kind of closure the party has been desperately, and repeatedly, seeking."

Trying to Fool Americans? Jim Geraghty (Lean Right), writing for National Review (Right), argued that Mrs. Biden was dishonest in sharing her question about the former president experiencing a stroke. "We know that Jill Biden did not genuinely think that her husband was having a stroke, because surely even a non-medical doctor like herself knows that if someone is having a stroke, they need medical attention immediately," Geraghty wrote. Thus, even though Geraghty believes "almost everyone in America is ready to leave the Biden presidency—a failure on many levels—in the rearview mirror," he argued that Mrs. Biden's memoir tried to "re-litigate this argument" about her husband's health.

A Scandal of 'Historic Proportions': The New York Post's Editorial Board (Right) argued that Jill Biden's confession revealed not only her own selfishness, but also that she, other members of the Biden administration, and Democrats as a whole "were only thinking about themselves" when it came to the former president's reelection campaign. The Post compared Mrs. Biden's confession to "Edith Wilson running the government while Woodrow Wilson was bedridden," claiming that it is "detestable" that she and other Democrats "covered up" Joe Biden's mental decline.

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