N.C. Republican Reps. Dan Bishop, Madison Cawthorn, and Greg Murphy are among the members of Congress that have signed on to Republican Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson’s third letter calling on President Joe Biden to take a cognitive test.
Jackson sent the letter Wednesday to Biden, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, physician to Biden, and Dr. Tony Fauci, chief medical advisor.
He states that Biden has not responded to the previous letters sent in June 2021 and last February by multiple members of Congress that urged him to take a cognitive test like the Montreal Cognitive Assessment that former President Donald Trump took in 2018 after political opponents and members of the media “clamored” for him to take it, at which he “excelled.”
Jackson stressed that it isn’t a partisan issue, noting that Maryland Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin introduced legislation to establish an independent commission that could examine a President’s fitness for office and “determine whether the President is mentally or physically unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.”
While Biden has had issues with gaffes in the past as a politician, including as vice-president, they have become more numerous and worrisome since he became president.
Jackson noted that while Biden has brushed aside the assertions as partisan political attacks, the “left-leaning New York Times recently published an article outlining all of this in great detail.” He said the article mentions how at public appearances, Biden shuffles his feet when he walks, slurs his words, loses his train of thought, has trouble remembering names, and appears momentarily confused, like when he goes to shake the hand of a person who isn’t there.
He notes that gaffes have ranged from Biden’s statement that we must “keep alive the truth and honor of the Holocaust” on a recent trip to the Middle East to more serious ones such as a vow to a direct military response if China attacks Taiwan to a need to remove President Putin from power.
Jackson also says the aforementioned Middle East trip was postponed because Biden’s advisors felt that ten days of overseas travel would be too taxing for the 79-year-old president, who will turn 80 in November.
Other recent gaffes showing issues with the President include him saying “Repeat the line” from a teleprompter that is giving direction on how to deliver a statement to saying that he has cancer, which he doesn’t have. These issues are not just being talked about across the U.S. but across the world as well, as evidenced by the Sky News Australia anchors who point out these issues in their videos.
Numerous polls show that the American people are losing faith in Biden, including those from Rasmussen, Harvard/CAPS Harris, and the New York Times mentioned in Jackson’s letter. They cite that 66% of voters believe he should take a cognitive test, 56% say they aren’t confident that he is mentally and physically fit for his duties as President, 64% believe he has shown signs that he is too old to execute duties of the President of the United States, including 60% of respondents 65 and older, and only 33% approve of the job he has done as President, with some polls going as low as 25%.
“The American people should have absolute confidence in their President, knowing that he or she can perform their duties as Head of State and Commander in Chief,” Jackson said. “They deserve full transparency on the mental capabilities of their highest elected leader.” He said that to observe that level of transparency, the members who signed the letter urged Biden to take a cognitive test immediately and publish the results “so the American people may be informed on your full cognitive capabilities, and so that you may continue this example for all Presidents going forward.”
