Joe Biden’s mental ability is a campaign issue that can’t be ignored

He might be riding high in the polls, but Joe Biden’s mental acuity increasingly is an issue in the election campaign, and growling at reporters who ask about it is no way to alleviate voter concerns.

Asked during an event with the National Associations of Black and Hispanic Journalists if he had “taken a cognitive test,” Biden snapped.

“No, I haven’t taken a test! Why the hell would I take a test? C’mon, man!”

Frowning and irritated, he paused before ripping into the reporter, Errol Barnett of CBS News.

“That’s like saying you, before you got on this program, if you take a test where you’re taking cocaine or not, what do you think? Huh? Are you a junkie?” said Biden in an interview to be streamed Thursday.

Ouch. Barnett had hit a nerve, and Biden’s flash of anger was a reminder of his interview with black man in May, radio host Charlamagne tha God, when Biden blurted out the ruinous line that if you vote for Trump, “you ain’t black.”

This time, Biden’s startling go-to defense was to accuse a black man of being a junkie.

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After the blunder, Biden appeared to look at something slightly to the left of the camera, suddenly laughed heartily, apropos of nothing, and nodded his head twice.

Maybe a staffer frantically was waving cue cards behind the camera or flashing a warning through the teleprompter.

Whatever was going on, Biden recovered his composure and delivered a sharp line about President Trump and the cognitive test the commander in chief recently boasted about acing. “If he [Trump] can’t figure out the difference between an elephant and a lion, I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about,” says Biden.

Phew, crisis averted. Or it would have been if Biden hadn’t kept talking.

“Look, c’mon man. I know you’re trying to goad me, but I’m so forward-looking to have an opportunity to sit with the president — or stand with the president — in debates.”

It is an extraordinary exchange, and, in the absence of the candidate’s physical presence on the campaign trail, worth studying to try to understand what is going on in Biden’s brain.

It seemed obvious to anyone on the ground at the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary that Biden’s energy and cognitive function were fading.

It is the great mystery of the 2020 campaign why, with such a field of vibrant young talent to choose from, the Democratic establishment fell in behind a frail 77-year-old to pit against Trump, who despite the pandemic and crippled economy remains a formidable campaigner.

Make no mistake, Biden wasn’t chosen by popular acclaim. He was anointed by the Democratic Party’s new kingmaker, Barack Obama.

With the Clintons consigned to history, Biden is Obama’s candidate, not because Biden was the best candidate, but because he can deliver Obama’s third term by proxy and pave the way for Michelle Obama to run in 2024.

It’s a win-win for the Obamas, says Florida political consultant Albert Marko, a former pollster who advises hedge funds and predicted Trump’s 2016 victory.

If Biden wins, he can reinstall Obama’s dream team in the White House, bury Attorney General Bill Barr’s Obamagate investigations, repudiate the Trump presidency and retire at 81, after one term. If he loses, Michelle Obama still runs in four years.

“Decisions on candidates, potential running mates and financial support are detailed and calculated at least a year in advance . . . This is for the leadership of the world. These decisions are not left up to voters on a whim,” Marko says.

His polling tells him Trump has Florida and Ohio in the bag, with Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and even Wisconsin in play.

The fact that Michelle Obama didn’t run this time Marko says is an indication that Democrats know beating Trump is not going to be easy, despite the polls, the pandemic and his media unpopularity.

Among signs Marko cites that Trump will prevail in November, in Electoral College terms, if not the popular vote, is the fact his campaign has registered 100,000 new Republican voters in the 2020 cycle, more than doubling the numbers from 2016.

Marko also points to the enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Democrats this year, and a Biden deficit with the Latino vote.

In Florida, in the Democratic stronghold of Broward County, Marko sees bad news for Biden.

In the March primary, the GOP turned out a slightly higher percentage of voters despite Trump having no competition.

Only 24,000 of 220,000 eligible Democrats voted in March, compared to 11,000 of 92,000 eligible Republicans.

Marko questions the validity of public polls that give Biden a seven- to 10-point lead nationally and have him ahead in the top five battleground states because, in a pandemic, there is heavy reliance on phone and Internet polling, which has the largest margin of error.

In addition, as protests have become more violent and intimidating, a growing number of “shy Trump” voters don’t show up in standard polls.

You wouldn’t think it from the rosy media narrative, but Biden is a fatally flawed candidate who will struggle to make it through one debate against Trump, let alone three.

Voters will not put up with Biden hiding in the basement until Election Day.

His party is riven by a civil war between socialist agitators and its establishment rump, and is buried in debt left by Hillary Clinton.

The violent Black Lives Matter protests might have done wonders for Democratic fundraising but have been lethal for the middle-class vote.

Trump has his problems, but nothing like Biden’s.

Dems willfully blind to riots

Americans are fed up with the weeks of violent anti-police demonstrations in Democratic cities — which Joe Biden and pals insist are “mostly peaceful protests.”

A Rasmussen poll Monday found most voters view the violent protests as “primarily criminal in nature and think they will only make the criminal-justice system worse.

A recent Gallup poll also found that 81 percent of black Americans want the police presence in their neighborhoods to remain the same or be increased. That’s more than the 67 percent of all adults in the poll who prefer the “status quo” on policing.

No surprise. As crime rises in Democratic cities, Minneapolis, among the first to decide to dismantle its police force, has offered a glimpse into a post-cop future. It’s advising citizens to stay safe by handing over their belongings to criminals.

Despite efforts to characterize him as Captain Chaos, the issue plays well for Trump who has been endorsed by the National Association of Police Organizations, which backed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

Last week, 100 police agencies pulled out of agreements to provide security at this month’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, citing local anti-police laws.

That should be a warning sign for Biden. But Democratic leaders who have empowered the defund-the-police movement seem incapable of understanding it is damaging their election prospects.

It was telling that at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to address the violence surrounding Black Lives Matter protests, not one of the seven Democrats who spoke would condemn Antifa when challenged to do so by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Democrats refuse to acknowledge, let alone condemn the violence. It is their voters attacking police and throwing bombs at federal buildings.

They made the same mistake in 2016 when they egged on violent riots in Charlotte — thus delivering North Carolina to Trump. Will they ever learn?

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