Leave it to the editors of Foreign Affairs, the establishment journal of international relations, in the wake of the Biden debate debacle and Donald Trump’s vigorous response to his assassination attempt, to find two political science professors to conclude that if Biden or Trump wins in November, America will be viewed as a “senile superpower.”
Where have they been for the past four years? Why didn’t they warn us about this in 2020?
The timing is exquisite — just as the Democrats appear ready to forego a Biden candidacy and choose a younger, more “vibrant” replacement (Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsome, Josh Shapiro), these political scientists discover that not only is Biden cognitively impaired, but so is Trump.
Joshua Byun, assistant professor of political science at Boston College, and Austin Carson, associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago, write that “the problem of an aging president does not apply to Biden alone.” Donald Trump, they write, “is hardly a model of youthful sharp-mindedness.”
The authors claim that Trump “has shown moments of confusion, unrelenting digressions, striking ignorance, and egregious (but perhaps partly intentional) misrepresentations.” Unable to hide Biden’s cognitive decline any longer, the anti-Trump professors place Trump in the same cognitive category as Biden. “[F]or both Biden and Trump,” they write, “a second term carries the risk that doubts about the president’s competence will permeate international diplomacy and burden U.S. foreign relations.”
In reality, the authors have merely updated their February 2023 article in International Studies Quarterly titled “More than a Number: Aging Leaders in International Politics.” In the abstract to that piece, the authors argued that chronological age is not important, instead it is how aging leaders interact in face-to-face encounters that determines whether foreign leaders will perceive them as senile or mentally and physically fit.
In the Foreign Affairs piece, the authors note that an aging Konrad Adenauer (83) showed himself physically firm and mentally alert during one of the Berlin crises in 1959, while 73-year-old Zhou Enlai “showcased his vigor and intellectual sharpness” in meetings with then-American National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger.
Donald Trump has shown no signs of senility or cognitive impairment — quite the opposite — yet the authors write: “Even if one believes that Trump’s verbal and physical signs of aging are milder, foreign counterparts will be rendering senility-related judgments about Trump, too.” Unable to rescue Biden, the professors invent signs of Trump’s cognitive impairment just as the Democrats seem ready to force Biden to bow out of the race in favor of a younger candidate.
I searched in vain for previous articles and comments by either professor noting Biden’s cognitive impairment. Where have they been for the past four years? Why didn’t they warn us about this in 2020? Carson in a social media post before the Biden debate debacle, argued that while Trump appears to be more vigorous and alert than Biden, “this is regardless of how the two men might actually compare in terms of health and competence.”
He quotes a “speaker and coach on leadership” who said about Trump, “Oh, he’s aging. He makes at least as many mistakes as Joe Biden, but because he does it with this bravado, it doesn’t seem like senility. It seems like passion.” Perhaps Trump was “senile,” when after being shot in the ear with a would-be assassin’s bullet, he pumped his fist in defiance and yelled “fight, fight.” And Carson states that “Democrats and some Republicans have said Mr. Biden remains sharp in private conversations.” They aren’t saying that anymore.
The purpose of this Foreign Affairs piece seems quite obvious — the professors likely have concluded, as many Democrats have, that Biden cannot beat Trump in November. Best to admit Biden’s cognitive impairment and chase him from the race so that a younger Democrat can be compared to the “aging” Donald Trump. (A few days after the professors’ article was featured on the Foreign Affairs website, Biden caved-in to the pressure and dropped out of the race).
With professors like these, it is a wonder that anyone sends their kids to college.
READ MORE from Francis P. Sempa:
Toning Down the Dangerous Rhetoric Didn’t Last Long
Former Trump Defense Official Makes the Case for Prioritizing Asia Over Europe
‘Existential Threat to Democracy’
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