Biden 'Beyond Doubt' Has Cognitive Impairment, Health Expert Claims After Watching First Presidential Debate
Joe Biden faced Donald Trump for the first 2024 presidential debate on Thursday, and some health experts shared what they noticed about the president following the face-off.
There have been speculations that Biden has dementia due to his age. However, the 81-year-old politician shut down the rumors, saying his memory was "fine." During the recent debate, he made rambling responses about a Medicare question and made another fumble when he talked about the U.S. border.
Dr. Mike Smith, an NHS GP from Hertfordshire, watched the debate. As a health professional, he claimed that Biden has cognitive impairment.
"It is beyond doubt he has cognitive impairment," Smith said, per the Daily Mail.
The expert noted that Biden was showing telltale signs of the issue, which can cause multiple neurological conditions.
"He struggles to find the right word, he sometimes finishes a sentence with something that makes no sense, for example, his sentence on Medicare... he appears to have to concentrate very hard to keep on topic," he explained. "Also his shuffling indicates there's some locomotive issues there as well."
Professor Robert Howard, an expert in old age psychiatry at University College London, also shared his professional opinion. He clarified that they could not diagnose a person without examining them. However, based on the clip he saw of the debate, the U.S. president reportedly struggled to keep his attention on one subject.
"Based on the footage of the debate I've watched, the freezing and rambling make me concerned that Biden struggles to maintain attention," he said.
"He's fine 98 per cent of the time, but there are occasions when he appears to have lost his train of thoughts and others where he can't stop himself from rambling. These fluctuations and dips in attention are a key symptom of Parkinson's."
According to the Mayo Clinic, Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder affecting the nervous system and other parts of the body controlled by the nerves. The first symptom is a noticeable tremor in one hand. The condition can also cause slow movements and stiffness.
The debate allegedly highlighted Biden's memory issue and struggle to maintain a point. For instance, when he talked about restrictions on abortion, he pivoted to immigration and mentioned a "young woman who was just murdered" by an immigrant.
Prior to the debate, Biden was spotted looking disoriented and confused on various occasions. He also appeared to freeze on multiple outings.
Howard said that people with dementia show such symptoms, but they do so "all the time, not intermittently." However, one with "fluctuating attention will only do badly when their attention dips," which reportedly seemed to be Biden's case.
"It's just really bad luck that Biden seems to be affected when he's on show," he said.
"It will also be difficult for those around him. If he had dementia, they could test him and say, look, you're not fit to carry on as President or a candidate. But if it's fluctuating it's only those moments that are a concern, and the rest of time, he'll be absolutely fine."
