Journalists who helped the White House cover up President Biden’s mental decline must be held accountable for misleading the public. The New York Post asked in a scathing new editorial.
“Democratic journalists saw the same evidence as the rest of us that Biden was compromised, and instead of being skeptical, asking questions and holding the White House to the fire – they did their best.” jobs — they joined the crusade to put America in the spotlight,” the Post editorial board wrote Wednesday.
As Biden prepares to leave office, the media is once again under scrutiny for how it covered one of the biggest stories of the year — concerns that Biden unsuitable for the office.
Throughout the 2024 presidential race, many media pundits and commentators came to Biden’s defense amid speculation about his mental acuity, including after Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report that he well-meaning but forgetfulviral videos of him looking disheveled and a Wall Street Journal report on his erratic behavior behind the scenes.
Journalists who defended President Biden against criticism should be held accountable, The New York Post said. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)
Despite polls showing that the majority of Americans believed Biden was too old to serve a second term, many journalists treated questions about Biden’s health as a right-wing conspiracy.
“The whole idea that Biden was anything but healthy — virile, even — was treated like right-wing tinfoil talk.” wrote the Post.
These concerns reached a tipping point after Biden’s faltering debate performance in June, after which he was pressured to drop out of the race.
“And at every turn, spineless journalists in the tank obediently did Team Biden’s propaganda dirty work — until the debate, when Biden’s senility became too undeniable to continue denying,” the Post editorial continued.
“Now they act timid, but it is far too late to save their shattered credibility,” the Post wrote, citing a recent Semafor report in which several liberal journalists admitted this that their defense of Biden was their worst version of 2024.
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President Biden faced intense calls for him to step aside after a disastrous debate performance. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“I come out of 2024 with a lot of contempt for the president and for the people around him – who have essentially been involved in elder abuse – and also with a fair amount of shame that I didn’t see through their deceit before,” journalist Josh Barro said Semafor.
“Like many others, I was completely, utterly, totally, embarrassingly wrong about Biden’s lack of mental competency,” former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan also admitted to the outlet.
The revelations come at a time when there is confidence in the media at a historic low, according to Gallup polls.
FLASHBACK: MEDIA, TOP DEMOCRATS AND LEADERS PASSIONATELY DEFEND BIDEN’S ABILITY TO SERVE
Several liberal journalists recently admitted that defending Biden was their biggest regret of 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Biden’s former defenders in the media should not be misled, the Post editorial board emphasizes.
“No one perpetuated, concealed, or… ignored this grotesque scandal should be resolved at some point,” the editorial continued.
The criticism follows a recent Wall Street Journal report, citing interviews with current and former White House aides claiming Biden’s staying power issues were evident during his first few months in office.
The The White House pushed back the contents of the Journal’s report in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying Biden’s policy achievements provide “indisputable evidence” of his qualifications and leadership.
Joshua Q. Nelson and Hanna Panreck of Fox News contributed to this report.
