Biden will skip King Charles' Coronation: ‘Too Old’ to Travel

BEN STANSALL

One downside to having an old geezer as president is that stories like this get written about him. It makes the United States look weakened on the world stage. Biden’s handlers have repeatedly refused to confirm that he will attend the coronation of King Charles next month in London. The word is that the White House doesn’t schedule him twice in the time span of a month for overseas travel. The fear is that he will become too tired to do whatever it is he’s supposed to do. In other words, he’s too old to do the job.

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It’s sure not a good look for his re-election campaign. Biden is eager for the world to know it is not a snub to King Charles. He will probably send his wife, Jill, ( that’s Dr. Jill to you, peasant) with a high-level delegation. There is an excuse being given that historically, world leaders who may distract from the main event do not attend such high-profile events. Let’s be honest here – no one thinks Joe Biden will upstage King Charles. The only fear his handlers have is what he may do to embarrass the White House. Would he be his usual dazed and confused self and have to be led around? Probably. An 80-year-old man isn’t going to suddenly get sharper. Remember when Biden attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and was seated behind the European leaders? He was placed behind the President of Poland. That was awkward and created an unwanted kerfuffle in the press for the White House.

Biden is traveling to Northern Ireland for an event later this month and apparently, Biden is letting that take precedence over the coronation of the king. Think about all those speeches we’ve heard over the years about the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States. Meh. That goes out the window when Biden may be too tired to attend the coronation in May after a trip to Northern Ireland in the middle of April. Good heavens.

Biden is also scheduled to travel to the G7 summit in Japan next month.

A source close to discussions on his attendance of the Coronation said: “The guy is 80. They space out his big bursts of activity quite considerably.

“They did that too with Trump, and he was younger. When Biden does something like the State of the Union address, we didn’t see much from him in the following 48 hours. They don’t like to push him around the world too much.”

Officials in both London and Washington stressed Mr Biden has not yet formally decided whether to attend the Coronation and said it should not be interpreted as a snub to the British monarchy if he decides to remain in the United States.

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There is a historical reference made that President Eisenhower didn’t attend the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It wasn’t because of his age or that he’d be too tired to do his job, though.

President Eisenhower, who was in office at the time of the late Queen’s coronation in 1953, sent a delegation of government officials to take his place at the service, and it has been suggested that Mr Biden may choose to send his wife, Jill, to the coronation in his place.

Historically, states would send a more junior member of their royal family to attend a coronation as a mark of respect to the seniority of the monarch being crowned.

Mr Biden is expected to meet Rishi Sunak on at least three occasions in the next three months, including during his visit to Northern Ireland and at the G7.

Biden is not known to keep a busy work schedule. Recently Jen Psaki made a joke at his expense that he doesn’t start work before 9:00 a.m. because he is a night owl. It made me think of stories of George W. Bush rising at 5:00 a.m. every morning and in the Oval Office well before 8:00 a.m. Trump, who is just a few years younger than Biden, was known for keeping more of an Energizer Bunny schedule. He was known to be up late, often worked multiple events in a day’s time, and traveled frequently. With Biden (and Harris) it is common to see their schedules noted in the press with nothing scheduled.

Why is he running for re-election when he’s too old to do the job now? It’s all about power and ego. An 80-year-old man should not be running for president. His mental acuity is gone. He frequently is dazed and confused. Now we know that his handlers limit his travel schedule so he won’t be so tired. He’s in worse shape than I thought.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | December 16, 2024
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