Hersh: Can Biden Really Serve Out his Term?

July 23—Journalist Seymour Hersh posted an article on July 20 on his Substack platform, “‍

‍ A Presidency’s Bitter End,” on Biden’s (already obvious at that time) intention to drop out of the race. In it Hersh compares Biden to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who announced he would not seek another term on March 31, 1968, following the strong showing by Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn), the anti-Vietnam War candidate is the New Hampshire primary that Johnson won.

Hersh wrote in his kicker that “Biden knows he has to go, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it.” Hersh talked with some of the major donors to Biden, who were angry and critical of the reasons for his decision. “‘Not one of the president’s key aides,’ he told me, ‘ever said one word to the donors’ about the extent of Biden’s disabilities prior to his revelatory debate with Trump last month. ‘It was as if the Democratic band was playing “Nearer, My God, to Thee” on the deck of the Titanic.’”

Hersh’s main point was the comparison with Lyndon Johnson, who, he writes: “who on March 31, 1968, told a stunned nationwide television audience that he would not run for re-election in November and would instead, eschewing domestic politics, focus on running the disastrous Vietnam war that he insisted at that late date, in what might charitably be called his own derangement, could still be won.” Hersh goes on with his point then, stressing: “The notion that Biden is capable of managing the disastrous American involvement in the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip until the inauguration of his successor next January 20 is just as far-fetched.”

As for Biden’s current cognitive capacity, Hersh says, no one knows with certainty, since Biden is secluded with his Covid at his Rehobeth, Dele. beachouse and not communicating. Therefore: “No one really knows whether the president has deviated from his delusional line—buttressed by his immediate staff, who will go down in infamy for their self-serving protection of their careers—that he is doing just fine in the polls.” He credits Pelosi for finally telling Biden he had to get out, but makes the obvious point that Vice President Kamala Harris (who Biden endorsed and who apparently has secured enough delegates to obtain the nomination) is  equally incompetent and is doing even worse in the polls.

With both of Biden’s wars, in Ukraine and Gaza, going very badly, and with Biden and his “stunningly incompetent foreign policy team” refusing to hold any negotiations, Hersh does not address the question of “who is really in charge"--Global NATO—and whether it is the same people behind the attempted assassination of the GOP candidate for President, former President Donald Trump.