Who exactly is running the country? Certainly appears to be Jill Biden — and not Joe

It’s easy to forget because he’s usually invisible but we still have Joe Biden as president for four months. 

That’s a scary prospect considering his obvious cognitive decline. He’s spent almost half his presidency goofing off and being shielded from scrutiny but the situation is rapidly getting worse. 

The fate of the free world should not be left in the hands of a man who can’t remember where he is or what he’s meant to be doing at any given moment.

On Saturday, for instance, he made the prime ministers of India, Japan and Australia shlep to Wilmington, Del., for the annual meeting of the Quad, a partnership designed to keep an increasingly aggressive China in check. 

In public remarks livestreamed by the White House the president forgot that he was supposed to introduce Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Who am I introducing next?” Biden asked the crowd.

After an awkward silence, he started shouting “Who’s next?” before Modi raced on stage all smiles and saved the day.

Dr. Jill in charge

The whole thing was an embarrassment. Starting with the fact that the Quad leaders were not being hosted with dignity at the White House and instead were housed at the rundown Hotel DuPont in Biden’s podunk hometown and had to hold their summit at Archmere Academy, the posh Catholic prep school Biden attended while his younger brothers had to content themselves with the local public school.

At least the Quad leaders got individual tours of Joe’s palatial estate, which has been off limits to the media due to fascinating speculation about how the self-described “poorest man in Congress” could afford such luxury, a Georgian pile Joe had built by master craftsmen from Bryn Mawr on a lake in the ritziest neighborhood in Delaware, an upgrade from his former Du Pont mansion. 

In photographs dribbled out by the Australian delegation, we got a glimpse of the grandeur of the custom-built wood paneled library where Joe secreted classified documents dating back to his Senate days, for which he never was held accountable because special counsel Robert Hur thought he was too old and forgetful for a jury to convict.

But why was this important meeting being held in Wilmington at all? The White House patched up a story about Biden wanting to show off his hometown but he’s never had the urge before and, quite honestly, there’s not much to show off. 

More likely it was that the White House was already booked out for the self-aggrandizement of the relentlessly ambitious first lady.

On Friday, Jill Biden was hosting a glitzy party for the cast of the West Wing.

Saturday night was a pet project for the “life-long educator” on the South Lawn: hosting the “first-ever Back-to-School Night at the White House to celebrate the start of the new school year with educators, school professionals, students, and families,” as the press office put it.

No room at the White House for the leaders of 2 billion people to discuss how to combat Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific. So off they trooped to Wilmington.

What a joke. 

But not as much of a joke as what happened Friday, at Joe’s first Cabinet meeting in 11 months. He brought in Jill to sit at the head of the table as if she were running the show. She delivered a little speech on one of her pet topics while Joe stared vacantly into space and Cabinet members had to politely clap. 

Harris to blame

Whether it’s Jill or someone else running the country, the bottom line is that we don’t have a functional president. 

This is a constitutional crisis.

Kamala Harris is most to blame because she has the constitutional duty as vice president to ensure the president’s brain is not AWOL. 

She also knows more about Biden’s cognitive health than anyone, apart from Jill and Hunter Biden. 

She has lunch with him regularly and often has boasted of being the “last person in the room” when decisions are made.

But she has been lying through her teeth to the American people about Biden’s health — for instance, calling him “bold and vibrant” in February when concerns were raised. 

“Our president is in good shape, in good health, and is ready to lead in our second term,” she said.

A few weeks later she said: “Not only is he absolutely authoritative in rooms around the globe, but in the Oval Office.”

Even after Biden’s disastrous July debate, she was still at it, like Baghdad Bob, insisting Biden might have had a “slow start,” but he triumphed with “a strong finish.” Sure.

She lied to make sure Joe got through the Democratic primaries with all other challengers hobbled, so that only she was left. 

All she had to do was run out the clock so she could ascend to the throne without having to win actual votes or make an effort.

She would slide through with fake smiles and vacuous phrases and be anointed president as has happened in every role she has ever held. 

Biden being forced out of re-election was not her preferred option but the complicit media and the old Obama hands managing her are ensuring she escapes the traditional scrutiny we expect for presidential candidates. 

Harris’ decision to skip the Archdiocese of New York’s Al Smith charity dinner is telling. It will be the first time in 40 years a presidential candidate has not attended the roast and shows how incapable she is of the impromptu and humorous appearances that Donald Trump excels at. 

Duty-bound

She can hide from the Al Smith dinner, but she can’t hide from her constitutional duty. 

It is her duty to ensure that Biden is fit for office. 

If he is not, then she and a majority of the Cabinet are bound to invoke the 25th Amendment, at which point Harris becomes “acting president.” 

Law professor Jonathan Turley says that because Biden is still functioning in a fashion, and not comatose, it is not a straightforward decision.

But scheming Nancy Pelosi has made it easier to address this conundrum because in October 2020 she introduced a bill to revise the 25th and allow Congress to appoint an independent body to assess the president’s physical and mental fitness.

That’s the least the American people deserve. An honest report of Biden’s condition instead of this increasingly farcical presidential kabuki theater. 

Even the White House press corps was complaining last week that all they get are “photo ops.”

It is up to Harris to ensure we have a president capable of doing the world’s most important job. Anything that goes wrong in the next four months is her fault.