President Joe Biden’s old age is a major sore point in the run-up to the upcoming elections. And the 81-year-old’s recent spate of public blunders is raising even more concerns.
Pundits and voters alike have expressed concern over Biden’s series of strange “freezing incidents” over the past week.
Most recently, the president’s face and body appeared to freeze on stage at a fundraiser in Los Angeles. Biden stopped moving after his speech and stared blankly over the crowd for several seconds.
But a White House representative dismissed reports of a frozen response on DailyMail.com as “fake” and “lies,” explaining that his response was simply “taking in a crowd of people applauding for a few seconds.”
The episode comes less than a week after POTUS also appeared to freeze during a White House celebration in June during a concert with gospel singer Kirk Franklin.
He was seen staring blankly into space as Vice President Kamala Harris danced next to him. In a speech at the event, he also appeared to slur his words.
Just days before the Los Angeles incident, while attending the G7 summit in Italy, another video showed the president wandering off, walking away from other world leaders while watching a skydiving demonstration and giving a thumbs up in the opposite direction.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni then approached Biden and sent him back to the group.
The president’s team said this video did not show that there were other skydiving protesters over the leaders in a different direction.
The White House has regularly batted away the criticism, insisting that Biden is in top shape, both physically and mentally, and can effectively serve another term until 2028 – when he would be 86 years old.
In February, the results of his annual physical examination were released which showed there were “no new concerns” about his health.
The report details several of the president’s medical conditions, including sleep apnea, acid reflux, an irregular heartbeat, high cholesterol, seasonal allergies, arthritis and nerve damage in his feet.
It also listed the medications he takes to treat these conditions, including a blood thinner that lists confusion as a side effect.
But now experts speculate that his frostbite could be a sign of a handful of conditions.
A Los Angeles doctor said: ‘Frozen, masked faces, reduced arm swing, reduced blinking, (are) likely due to a central neurological disorder such as Parkinson’s disease.’
President Joe Biden attends a flag ceremony and skydiving event during the G7, where he appeared to stray
Plastic surgeon Dr. Sheila Nazarian continued in a tweet: ‘If this was just a normal old person, I wouldn’t be posting about it. However, the perceived weakness of our commander in chief poses a threat to national security. It affects us all.
“Right now, we need a leader who exudes power and strength… We must bring back excellence, merit and love for America. We must reign in all this madness.”
Commenting on neurodegenerative disorders in general and not specifically on the president’s condition, Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, a neurologist who invented the gold standard cognitive test, previously told DailyMail.com that slurred speech is seen in Parkinson’s – which affects the levels of brain hormones involved in movement.
Parkinson’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease in older adults after Alzheimer’s disease.
More than 90,000 people in the US are diagnosed with the condition each year, most of whom are men over 60.
Although symptoms such as tremors are common, Parkinson’s disease can also cause stiffness and problems with movement of the limbs and face. slurred speech.
It is also known to cause cognitive impairment, affecting memory, concentration and even mood.
The symptoms of the disease worsen with time and there is no cure. The disease itself is not fatal, but patients can die from complications such as pneumonia, heart disease, falls, choking or urinary tract infections.
Rare genetic changes may be the cause of Parkinson’s disease, as can exposure to toxins, but experts are still unsure of the cause.
Former President Barack Obama was seen giving Biden’s arm a gentle tug and leading him off stage after the president froze during applause at a fundraiser in Los Angeles
Biden spoke at a campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday, before a video showed him appearing to freeze and being led off stage by Obama
In addition to the physical side effects of the disease, Parkinson’s can also lead to thinking and cognitive problems, as well as depression and anxiety.
Recently, Biden has been seen mixing up the names of world leaders and referring to deceased politicians and public figures.
In February, Biden botched the identification of a world leader by naming Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
He also appeared to forget the name of the terrorist organization Hamas at a separate press conference that month.
And just two days earlier, Biden made another blunder when he called French President Emmanuel Macron François Mitterrand, the country’s former leader who died 28 years ago.
He also confused the late German leader Helmut Kohl with former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Dr. Nasreddine said the mixing up of names and dates is “concerning because that’s not supposed to happen in normal aging.
‘It can happen… every now and then we make a mistake. But if it happens very often, I think it would be a concern.”
Because of his accidents, doctors have called on Biden to take a cognitive test and make the results public.
Dr. Stuart Fischer, an internal medicine physician in New York City, previously told DailyMail.com: “We have waited far too long for this kind of research. No one likes to admit or acknowledge the passage of time, whether it’s me or the President of the United States, but in certain cases you have to.
“(Biden) is a public servant, an elected official … and does have some responsibility to the people who voted for him.”