Journalists who helped the White House cover up President Biden’s mental decline should be held responsible for misleading the public, The New York Post demanded in a scathing new editorial.
“Dem-friendly journalists saw the same evidence as the rest of us that Biden was compromised, and instead of being skeptical, asking questions and putting the White House’s feet to the fire — doing their jobs — they joined the crusade to gaslight America,” the Post’s editorial board wrote Wednesday.
As Biden prepares to leave office, the media is facing renewed scrutiny over how it covered one of the biggest stories of the year — concerns that Biden was unfit for office.
Throughout the 2024 presidential race, many media pundits and commentators ran to Biden’s defense when there was speculation about his mental acuity, including after Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report about him being well-meaning but forgetful, viral videos of him looking confused and a Wall Street Journal report about his faltering behind-the-scenes demeanor.
BIDEN WHITE HOUSE URGED DEMOCRATS TO CALL BACK WALL STREET JOURNAL AS IT REPORTED ON PRESIDENT’S MENTAL ACUITY
Despite polls showing the majority of Americans felt Biden was too old to serve a second term, many journalists treated questions about Biden’s health like a right-wing conspiracy.
“The entire idea that Biden was anything but healthy — virile, even — was treated as a right-wing, tin-foil-hat talking point,” the Post wrote.
These concerns came to a tipping point after Biden’s faltering June debate performance, after which he was pressured to drop out of the race.
“And at every turn, spineless, in-the-tank journos obediently did Team Biden’s propagandistic dirty work — right up until the debate, when Biden’s senility became too unmistakable to continue denying,” the Post’s editorial continued.
“Now they’re acting bashful, but it’s far too late to salvage their shredded credibility,” the Post wrote, referring to a recent Semafor report where several liberal journalists admitted that their defense of Biden was their worst take of 2024.
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“I come out of 2024 with a lot of contempt for the president and for the people around him — who have essentially been engaged in elder abuse — and also with a fair amount of embarrassment that I didn’t see through their deception earlier,” journalist Josh Barro told Semafor.
“Like many others, I was completely, utterly, totally, embarrassingly wrong, about Biden’s lack of mental competence,” former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan also confessed to the outlet.
The revelations come at a time when trust in the media is at a historic low, according to Gallup polling.
FLASHBACK: MEDIA, TOP DEMOCRATS AND LEADERS RAN PASSIONATE DEFENSE OF BIDEN’S ABILITY TO SERVE
Biden’s former defenders in the media shouldn’t be let off the hook, the Post’s editorial board insisted.
“No one who perpetuated, concealed or ignored this grotesque scandal should ever live it down,” the editorial continued.
The criticism follows a recent Wall Street Journal report, citing interviews with current and former White House staff, which alleged that Biden’s stamina issues were apparent within his first few months in office.
The White House pushed back on the substance of the Journal’s report in a statement provided to Fox News Digital, saying Biden’s policy accomplishments provide “indisputable proof” of his qualifications and leadership.
Fox News’ Joshua Q. Nelson and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
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