Like the man they back, President Biden's supporters can be a combative bunch.
Even as high-profile supporters jump ship — Hollywood high rollers George Clooney and Rob Reiner say it’s time for Biden to step aside, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stopped short of saying she wants Biden to stay in the race — true Bidenites are gaining a foothold.
Of course, there is California Gov. Gavin Newsom and several members of the House and Senate who believe Biden should stay the course. But I am hearing directly from readers upset by my column suggesting Biden undergo a full battery of neurological tests (based on assessments by doctors I spoke to) to reassure the public that he is fine, as he defiantly insists.
“You should get tested and have the results made public,” said Dan Cordova of Albuquerque. “You might as well just back off and go back under a rock.”
“SHAME ON HIM for contributing to the media frenzy around Biden,” wrote Marcy Rothenberg of Porter Ranch. “It’s already been reported that President Biden has arthritis; his back is stiff, so he walks slowly. He can still ride a bike. Can Donald? No. He can’t even walk on a golf course.”
Even former state legislator and Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl threatened me with a stick.
“Instead of joining the ignorance of ecojournalism, perhaps you could have done, like [history professor and essayist] Heather Cox Richardson did just that and revealed the letter from the president's real doctor, Dr. [Kevin] O'Connor, at her neurological examination in late February. I hope she will read it as thousands of people do every day and reveal this in a column.”
I understand and respect Biden's loyalty. As I've said before, he appears to be a decent, civic-minded man and has been a good president.
I also believe, and have said often, that former President Trump is a threat, and I don't know who is the bigger threat to the republic: him or all the lemmings lining up to hand a second term to a lying, hateful, vindictive, narcissistic criminal who kept virtually none of his campaign promises (look it up if you don't believe me).
Readers have asked me how I could write a column saying Biden should undergo testing but not Trump, who has had his own particular set of behavioral problems. I assumed it was obvious that Trump should have his head examined. But of course I will support both of them undergoing a full diagnostic exam.
I loved Highland Park's Terry Spencer's suggestion that Biden and Trump should take the intentionally confusing California DMV license renewal test, and whoever scores higher will win the election.
Biden's supporters appear to fall into one or more of three categories: those who believe his health is good enough to continue serving in office; those who believe it's too late to switch candidates; and those who would rather vote for a bean and cheese burrito than vote for Trump.
“I never give polls much credit, but Biden still does better against Trump than others,” Kuehl said, adding that the chaos of “changing horses midstream” would do more harm to the party “than sticking with Joe, who I think will win.”
It's plausible, but the stream is deep and the horse's head barely sticks out of the water.
A reader named Mark Richardson from Encinitas is hoping to take over, but not yet.
“We will see how the next few months go and if he is elected, he can resign a month after Inauguration Day, in January 2025 and [Vice President Kamala] “Harris can take control,” Richardson said.
It is also plausible, but the key words are “if elected.” I have serious doubts and said earlier this month that Biden should pass the baton and walk away with pride, dignity and grace. Not because of his age (many older people are in great shape), but because of his health.
The president did not help his chances with his stiff gait, listless expressions and hesitations as he spoke in the June 27 debate. Nor was his judgment sharp. Instead of getting carried away by a silly argument about which candidate is the better golfer, Biden should have said that, as the planet melts and Trump’s Supreme Court has stolen women’s reproductive rights, he would rather talk about saving the country than playing golf.
Things didn't get much better for Biden in the ABC interview a few days later. And as for the medical report cited by Kuehl and many others, based on a physical Biden underwent in February, it leaves many questions unanswered.
“An extremely detailed neurological examination was again reassuring in that there were no findings that would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or ascending lateral sclerosis, nor were there any signs of cervical myelopathy,” Biden’s doctor’s report said.
I don't take any statement from the White House as absolute truth, regardless of who is in office, and I have questions.
When and by whom exactly was the neurological examination performed? What does “extremely detailed” mean? And given the progressive nature of memory and movement disorders, isn’t it possible that Biden’s condition has changed over the past six months and is continuing to do so?
As Kuehl pointed out, there is a huge difference between the opinions of doctors who make a diagnosis from a distance and those who actually see the patient in question. I couldn’t agree more, and in fact wrote a column criticizing people who thought they could diagnose dementia in Biden by watching him on CNN. Dementia is not a generic phrase for a memory lapse, which can be caused by a whole host of things.
But no matter how much you love Biden, hate Trump, or both, I don't know how anyone could have watched that debate and not been concerned about Biden's health.
Neurological movement disorders are often accompanied by specific symptoms that doctors can screen for. Several people contacted me after the debate to say they had seen signs of Parkinson’s or a related disease. Two neurologists noted Biden’s blink rate, facial expressions, rigidity and speech patterns.
One of them, Dr. Michael Mahler, a neurologist and faculty member at UCLA, said he suspected something related to the “Parkinsonian” paradigm.
Dr. Jack Florin, who has been a professor at USC and held research fellowships at Stanford and Harvard, said he believes Biden suffers from a variant of Parkinson's called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), which can involve cognitive decline that worsens over time and impacts mental processing speed, attention and concentration.
The White House report on Biden’s health did not convince Mahler or Florin that we know the whole story, or that their own impressions of Biden’s condition are wrong. Florin suggested that an MRI, if it hasn’t been done already, would be helpful in supporting their theory that Biden has PSP.
Mahler said that “some of the disorders in the parkinsonism field are inherently variable,” meaning they change over time. And “having a normal neurological exam in February (or earlier) doesn’t mean anything if a person had a stroke or a series of small strokes in March.” But he was cautious about making a specific diagnosis, saying that medication for certain disorders can produce symptoms that mimic those of Parkinson’s.
“One thing Biden has repeatedly said is that serving as president is a tougher test than asking him to draw a clock or remember five words, and that’s probably true,” Mahler said. “But it’s also true that neurologists across the country saw more during the debate than confirmation that the president was neurologically fit.”
What I saw was a sad moment in American political history.
A tyrant who expects victory in November.
A weakened president trying to stay on his feet.
Some of his supporters abandoned him and others redoubled their efforts.
It may be that none of the candidates take the test, but come November, we all will.
