The physical decline of Joe Biden prior to his reelection bid last year led to his aides considering rolling him out in a wheelchair.
That’s according to the explosive new book Original Sin, co-written by CNN journalist Jake Tapper. As per TMZ, the books pages include behind-the-scenes chats that reveal the extent to which Biden’s team were prepared to hide the former president’s frailty.
Biden infamously dropped out of the presidential race following months of speculation regarding his cognitive and physical capabilities. He was replaced by Kamala Harris, who would go on to lose the election to Donald Trump.
Biden in a wheelchair
Yet there was a time when it looked as though Biden, now 82, was set to ignore the criticism and go head-to-head with Trump a second time, this in spite of footage suggesting his health was in rapid decline.
According to Original Sin, that meant that his team were left scrambling as to how they would hide the issues he was facing from the world. The answer some aides put forward was to place Biden in a wheelchair, though Tapper and coauthor Alex Thompson claim they later changed their minds as it was considered a political no-go in the midst of campaigning for reelection.
The idea, they say, was to be shelved until after the results.
TMZ claim that Biden’s doctor Kevin O’Connor, however, warned that if the then-president had another nasty fall, a wheelchair might be the only option for him moving forward.
Cognitive decline
Only a week ago did Biden himself deny that he had suffered from a cognitive decline while in office. Speaking on an episode of ABC’s The View last Thursday, he refuted the allegations.
“They are wrong,” he said. “There’s nothing to sustain that.”
When The View host Whoopi Goldberg brought up Biden’s unfavorable TV debate against Donald Trump last June (which served as the catalyst for his eventual stepping down as the Democratic candidate) Biden insisted some members of the party made too much of it.
“We still were winning the primary. We were still doing everything. The Democratic Party at large didn’t buy into it, but the Democratic leadership and some of the very significant contributors did,” Biden said.
He then said that he had left a well-organized campaign to his Vice President Kamala Harris.
“But you know what happens, is that it took on a life of its own. I had a very bad — I’m going to say something outrageous, I haven’t lost many debates in my life. I’ve been pretty good at doing that.
Biden’s cancer
Yesterday it was revealed that the former POTUS has been diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer. Biden received his diagnosis after visiting a doctor last week for urinary symptoms.
In a statement on Sunday, Biden’s office said: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,”
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”
Join us in wishing former president Joe Biden all the very best moving forward.
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