Honest Question.

I believe the question is probably just a touch off.

Biden definitely has diminished cognition. But with many such cases, it isn't like they are at bottom 100% of the time. Much of the time they are quite capable and able to function at a high level. So most of the time, my guess is that Biden is making the decisions and setting the direction. I think he, like most peesidents do, take information and advice from a wide variety of people depending on which areas the policy would be in. Depending on the situation some decisions could be put off until he's better rested. In some they can't, so it is far from ideal. But I don't believe he's sitting around all day in a drooling vegetable state.

I think it's absolutely fair to ask which advisors are most trusted.

 

Is that the minimum standard now to NOT be US President?

 

Neither candidate is creating policy.

The position of president is more of a public relations position.

It's always been the staffers there provide the nuance of a president's positions.


Neither candidate are intellectual powerhouses who understands the nuances of policy. Both will rely on staffers for talking points and positions.

 

Let me also add another caveat, the collective policy is also that Biden should step down, so he clearly has control over that decision to continue as well as the nukes, but also just the capacity to say yes and sign stuff

I don’t think it’s to the extent you alluded to otherwise he would already have step downp

 

Humans want the position, not the responsibility.

Biden isn't going to start a nuclear war because he has dementia. That's not how this works.


Biden wants to be the public relations guy for the presidency

I doubt he cares about making the hard decisions. He has had staffers for that.

 

like this guy:

Senior White House official who has known Biden since Obama administration wants him to bow out: report

https://nypost.com/2024/07/07/us-ne...-bidens-campaign-wants-him-to-bow-out-report/

 

Ya a lot of Democrats have been vocal about wanting Biden to step down. Good for them. It's the right move. Biden is being selfish at this point.

But at the end of the day he isn't a fascist like Trump so if the Democrats force us to choose between these two it's going to be the non fascist for me.

 

The minimum standard in this election is to NOT be a felon who has actively sought to overturn an election.

We don't get to pick a fantasy person with all of our ideal characteristics. We choose between the choices available.

 

The President relies on his cabinet and the thousands of government workers in the administration to recommend policies. While he often delegates decisions, the final call is usually his to make. The President does not handle every policy decision, and some never reach his desk. For those that do, he must make the ultimate decision. If he is unable to do so for medical reasons, he should voluntarily step down temporarily (e.g., for medical procedures) or permanently, or his cabinet can invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him.

Regarding the conspiracy theory that he is not in control, that's not how our government works. It is illegal for someone else to make policy decisions on his behalf without his delegation.

 

Soros

 

I don't think anyone is seriously suggesting he is in a complete vegetated state or even close to it. However we should safely assume the Biden we see in public, such as the debate, is his peak daily daily performance.

 

That depends on what decisions you consider hard. Yea most day to day decisions including some big ones such as deployment of federal resources for hurricane aid is made by staff. The executive branch is simply too large and complex for any single individual. It is by definition an “administration.”

Decisions though like whether to use US military forces in the event of a something like say if NK shot down a US plane, the President would make. In a crisis there are many decisions that would not only legally be in the purview of the president but would be expected to be made by the President and not left up to staff.

 

I agree with this, it’s kind of like coaching in the NBA. Assistants run stuff but the leadership is important

 

The 25th Amendment has been a subject that has been brought up a lot in recent years. My understanding of it is that it isn’t a political tool but only for emergencies. That a president is slow or declining doesn’t mean the 25th should be invoked. This would be in the President is incapacited or in some other way incapable of making a decision.

 

The president gets a distilled "explain it like I'm 5" choice of options. We've created a system where a 15 year old could be the chief executive.

 

Leaving aside that Constitutionally they can’t it’s not nearly as simple as that.

Presidents have different management styles and the famous example was Carter micromanaging the operation to try to rescue the Iranian hostages while Reagan went to sleep after ordering the bombing of Libya. The President should still be able to take in a fair amount of information and make difficult judgment calls that are literally life and death.

For example the Bin Ladin raid Obama probably didn’t understand how the helicopters would try to evade Pakistani air defenses or even the exact layout of the Bin Ladin compound. He was though required to give a go no go order when his staff told him that conditions were right to undertake the mission. That required weighing a lot of risk where there were still a lot of unknowns.

 

With any large and complex organization this is the case.

 

I agree with you.
However its up to the American people not to elect people in a clear state of mental decline.
And the supporting parties should also do their best to prevent these types of people running.

That said, you do need a leader who in the very least appears to be in control of his administration. Our adversaries are obviously taking full advantage of the situation. If anyone thinks the Presidency is just blindly signing off on whatever their administration tells them, they person is a complete idiot. One of the presidents prime purposes is to work with and negotiate with foreign leaders. This is exactly why we have so much turmoil in the world. Its so laughably stupid Hamas is even presenting as much chaos as they are right now. Bidens foreign policy is one of the worst this country has seen.