The executive branch of the United States of America, for almost four years now, has been in the nominal hands of President Joseph R. Biden – a man who was suffering from serious senility even before he took office, and whose mental capacity has declined even further in the time since. There are abundant indications that much or all of Biden’s presidency has been an unacknowledged regency, with a small circle of close advisers and relatives effectively directing the actions of the presidential office. While all elected politicians are to varying degrees the vehicles for other political interests, they nevertheless exercise formal power directly and personally. Biden, however, does not have the capacity to govern on his own; instead, an unelected and partially anonymous Biden Regency has been ruling in his stead. This is a highly unusual state of affairs, and one deserving of far more commentary.
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Since 27 June, evidence for the Biden Regency is everywhere, if you know how to look. Numerous reports shed light on the regency’s extent, its tactics and internal functioning and even its relationship to the broader executive:
As I said in an earlier post, it is paramount that regents control access to their charge, because like mentally infirm kings throughout history, Biden is highly impressionable and easy to manipulate. Should somebody else get his ear or secure a claim to ruling on his behalf, the existing regents would find themselves on the outs almost immediately. Thus, as I noted in an earlier post, we have Seymour Hersh’s unconfirmed report that Biden is effectively “a captive,” who has little understanding of what is going on around him. He calls old friends, pleading that his administration is “in chaos,” and his staff eagerly block his access to outsiders. They have exercised this tight control since the beginning of Biden’s presidency, which would suggest that the regents govern not so much by telling Biden what to do or by issuing orders on his behalf, as they do by presenting the president with a highly manipulated model of the world that nudges him towards the desired decisions.
Those regents closest to their charge have an interest in publicising their position, because it is difficult to wield unacknowledged power. Thus we find this amazing Washington Examiner report from 2022 about the efforts of Jill Biden to establish elements of presidential ceremony for herself:
The Marine Corps band was instructed last fall to come up with an entrance theme for the first lady, a source told the Washington Examiner. The band now has in its repertoire an original composition titled “Fanfare for the First Lady.” The song … is essentially Jill Biden’s personal “Hail to the Chief,” in that it is to be performed and repeated at official White House functions, from her first appearance until she is ready to speak. …
The band was “rushed” to provide the entrance song for the first lady, the source said, adding the Marine Corps band submitted a few options for the White House’s consideration. The first lady’s handlers settled eventually on the original piece “Fanfare to the First Lady.”
The song is apparently terrible, but I can’t find any online recordings to confirm. Jill Biden’s press secretary naturally denies the story and insists that the Marine Corps band came up with the idea on their own. Because the Biden Regency is an unacknowledged political arrangement, the first lady cannot be too open with her pretensions, but there are probably risks in being too hidden about them as well. It’s important, for example, that outsiders know who speaks for the president and who has the final word.
Although Biden is the tool of others, he must still enact the presidential office, and not only in public, but also – incredibly – within the confines of his own White House. His public appearances and private meetings are therefore tightly choreographed theatrical events, until recently staged with the total complicity of the press:
… [T]here have been clear signs throughout his term of Biden being increasingly stage-managed, with lists of talking points, names of questioners and drawings of where he should walk presented to him by aides. Ahead of closed-door Cabinet meetings that Biden attends, it is customary for Cabinet officials to submit questions and key talking points that they plan to present in front of Biden ahead of time to White House aides, two sources with direct knowledge told CNN.
These procedures are necessary so that the president’s regents can pre-formulate how Biden will discuss policy with and direct his own subordinates. This means that the Biden Regency must be a very confined group; even at the highest levels of government, Biden has to perform his own presidency:
“The entire display is kind of an act,” one of those sources told CNN. “They would come and say, ‘Hey, the president is going to call on you about 25 minutes in, and ask this question. What are the bullet points you’ll respond with?’”
The second source, who echoed that same description, said when Biden attends Cabinet meetings, they are “not free-wheeling, and pretty well-orchestrated.” And the meetings themselves are infrequent, with one Cabinet secretary telling CNN they are uncertain of Biden’s condition because they so rarely see him.
In fact, the last full Cabinet meeting took place on October 2, 2023. Sources also said Cabinet meetings during the Obama years, which Biden attended as vice president, were not pre-scripted this way.
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Since the public fiction of Biden’s mental competence collapsed, Biden’s regents themselves appear in these stories. Intriguingly, with the exception of Jill Biden, they are almost always anonymous:
… [S]ources blamed the president’s inner circle of advisers and family for what they said has become a painstakingly choreographed daily operation designed to prevent him from being in unscripted settings for extended periods of time.
“There’s this general sense of just, unbelievable holding your breath every time he does an event, every time he’s with people,” one top Democrat in close touch with Biden’s inner circle of advisers told CNN. This person added that some of those advisers have privately acknowledged: “This is going to get worse.”
That Democrat was blunt about how the president’s closest advisers have responded to any criticism or concerns expressed about the president – including his age and fitness: “Everyone who expresses any level of suspicion or contrary views? They call everyone and they beat the s*** out of them and say: ‘Stay on message.’”
The Biden Regency have fought ruthlessly to keep their charade going for a very long time, and until recently opposing them was very dangerous. Now they are on the defensive, and many are free to air their long-accumulated grievances. This is surely one reason that the tide turned so fiercely against Biden after his public humiliation. Now the press will no longer overlook Biden’s gaffes, and a growing number of his opponents know precisely how to discredit the Biden Regency – by forcing ever more unscripted public appearances on the president, like the news conference yesterday evening. These then become occasions for articles like this one, on “Biden’s false and misleading claims.”
