We had a rare treat at the G20 press conference on Sunday. As things were wrapping up, President Joe Biden addressed the media at a press conference and even agreed to take some questions from reporters. Given how rarely his staff allows him to speak to the press and the panic that ensues whenever he looks like he’s going to go off script and start freestyling, this was a rare moment of opportunity. But it quickly became apparent that once Biden finished the prepared remarks he had been given, there weren’t going to be any opportunities for off-the-cuff exchanges with the media. Biden once again grasped onto a piece of paper and began that portion of the presser by announcing that he had been “told” to call on a reporter from the Associated Press first. He obviously had a cheat sheet telling him who to call on and in what order. (Fox News)

President Joe Biden once again appeared to call on a pre-approved list of reporters after meeting with the press following the G20 summit in Rome.

On Sunday, Biden discussed meeting with other world leaders in Rome to enact climate change initiatives. After his talk, he opened the floor to questions but admitted that he was told to start with the Associated Press.

“And now I’m happy to take some questions. And I’m told I should start with AP, Zeke Miller,” Biden said.

Here’s the Fox News video of the presser, cued up to the moment where he gets ready to take questions. Judge for yourself whether this is “being taken out of context” as some of his supporters have suggested or if it’s precisely what it sounds like.

How many times have we seen this happen now? As the report from Fox reminds us, during his meeting in Geneva with Vladimir Putin back in June, Biden similarly said, “I’ll take your questions, and as usual, folks, they gave me a list of the people I’m going to call on.”

I guess he wasn’t kidding when he said: “as usual.” This seems to be the standing order of the day inside of the Oval Office. We’re still left with no idea of who this mysterious “they” might be. Who is the person who is dictating to the President of the United States which reporters he’s allowed to call on and what questions he should answer? We deserve to know because that would be an extremely powerful position to hold.

Are Biden’s handlers really so terrified of him trying to answer an unapproved, unscripted question that he has to be given a set of written instructions like a note from his mother to keep him from wandering down some mental backwater channel? If there’s some other explanation for what we’re observing I’m happy to consider it, but nothing is coming to mind. If you’re a reporter covering the Biden White House, no matter how much you may have despised Donald Trump, you have to give him credit for one thing. He was fearless with the press and took questions on any subject. Nothing was ever pre-scripted with him and he would dive into any topic at the drop of a hat, frequently to the dismay of his own advisers who occasionally tried (and failed) to keep him on the script.

After all of the times that people in the media questioned the sanity and mental stability of Donald Trump, I don’t expect to hear any complaints about analyzing Joe Biden’s performance in this fashion. Something isn’t right in the Oval Office these days. And if there is some shadow figure or figures actually running the country and feeding lines to Joe Biden like a puppetmaster, the public deserves to know who they are and what their agenda consists of.

In closing, lest you think I’m the only person asking these questions, the latest TIPP poll just dropped and just 42% of voters believe that Joe Biden is “mentally sharp.” Not exactly a vote of confidence.