Well, folks, the cat’s out of the bag—Jon Lovett, a former Obama aide, has confessed to keeping mum about President Joe Biden’s apparent decline, all in the name of political loyalty.
The Daily Caller reported that during a revealing podcast appearance, Lovett admitted he saw red flags about Biden’s condition but held back criticism, fearing it could hurt the former president’s chances, while others in the media and political circles are now being called out for similar silence.
This story starts with a report from Special Counsel Robert Hur in February 2024, which found Biden had willfully kept classified documents but declined to press charges, partly due to the perception of Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The report also highlighted memory lapses in Biden’s interview, including forgetting key personal and professional dates, painting a troubling picture of the former president’s mental sharpness.
Fast forward to April 2024, when Lovett and fellow Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer attended a White House reception during the White House Correspondents Dinner weekend, where Pfeiffer noted Biden seemed “quite bad” and “mostly old.”
Pfeiffer didn’t hold back, observing Biden repeating stories and admitting concerns about whether Biden could handle the demands of leadership for much longer, though he stopped short of saying Biden couldn’t do the job at all.
Then came a fundraising event on June 15, 2024, where Biden’s struggles were again evident, later referenced by actor George Clooney in a July 2024 op-ed in The New York Times.
Lovett, speaking on “The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart” on a Thursday podcast, owned up to seeing these warning signs but chose silence, worried that speaking out would fuel attacks from political opponents.
“I want him to [win]!” Lovett exclaimed, justifying his restraint as a desire to protect the country, even as he acknowledged Biden’s age as a clear liability.
He further explained his dilemma, noting he didn’t want his words twisted by critics on the right to weaponize against Biden, a balancing act between honesty and political strategy.
Meanwhile, Pfeiffer, on a May 4, 2024, episode of their podcast “Pod Save America,” admitted both he and Lovett let others convince them that Biden’s behavior at the April event wasn’t a sign of deeper decline.
Turns out, ignoring the obvious doesn’t make it disappear—shocking, right? The reluctance to speak up, as Lovett and Pfeiffer now confess, raises questions about how many others saw the same issues but chose loyalty over candor.
Adding fuel to the fire, a new book titled “Original Sin” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, released on a Tuesday, alleges Biden’s inner circle actively hid his decline, making it harder for the media to report the truth.
NewsNation host Chris Cuomo, on his show “CUOMO” that same Tuesday, called the book a smokescreen for media bias, arguing Biden’s condition was plain to see and that the press avoided the story to bolster Biden against political rivals. While Cuomo’s take might sting, it’s hard to deny that selective reporting smells like agenda-driven journalism, not objective truth-seeking.
Finally, Biden’s office announced on a Sunday that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer the previous Friday, a health update that adds another layer of concern to an already troubling narrative.
It’s a reminder that leadership demands transparency, not just from politicians but from those around them who shape the public’s view. Perhaps it’s time for all sides to stop playing hide-and-seek with the facts and let the American people decide based on reality, not curated silence.