The fallout continues from former first lady Jill Biden’s upcoming memoir and her claims about her husband’s health and his infamous 2024 debate with Donald Trump.
Democrats are up in arms over Mrs. Biden’s revelation that she thought then-President Joe Biden was “having a stroke” during the disastrous debate, and they have been outspoken in criticism of the timing of the memoir, “View from the East Wing,” which comes out next week.
“I think Jill Biden must have had a stroke herself to think that her husband was up to the job,” a former Democrat aide in the Biden administration told the New York Post. “If she can sit back and listen to his constant drivel for over 4 years, she’s the one with real cognitive decline. The fake doctor may want to consider self medication if it took this long to gain some self realization.”
Journalist Alex Thompson revealed that many “simply don’t believe” Jill BIden’s claim that she was afraid for her husband as she watched the debate.
“Well, a lot of Democrats, including several Biden aides that I’ve talked to since yesterday when this interview came out, just simply don’t believe her,” Thompson, who co-authored “Original Sin” with CNN’s Jake Tapper, said.
A lot of Democrats including several former Biden aides I talked to just simply don’t believe Jill Biden.
Given how she behaved post-debate, several Biden aides said that if she really believed he was having a stroke, that’s not how she would act.
Talking w/ @brikeilarcnn pic.twitter.com/CcFHEHjWHf— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) May 28, 2026
“And, you know, a lot of Democrats think that this is simply unhelpful to come out at this moment and try to rewrite this portion of history,” Thompson said.
“And then for the first former first lady to come in and say that she was ‘frightened’ and that she thought her husband, the president, ‘might been having a stroke.’ You know, I have to say that there is a significant skepticism that she is trying to rewrite this narrative right now,” he added.
That assessment is shared by others in the party who want Democrats focused on the midterm elections, not reliving the 2024 race.
“We need this as much as we need a hole in the head,” Democrat strategist Jim Manley told the New York Post.
“But it will have none, zero, zip impact on the election,” he added. “It’s all about Trump. And his polling is in a free fall. It’s an unnecessary distraction.”
“No one thought he had a stroke,” a former Biden White House official told The Post. “That is in her head and her head only. This has been litigated and relitigated among staff. We didn’t think he had a health issue because they kept on with the schedule. Immediately to the afterparty and then to Waffle House. Who goes to Waffle House after a stroke?”
Dr. Jill confesses she thought Joe was stroking out during CNN debate disaster https://t.co/8WToqwoz5v
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) May 28, 2026
Andrew Bates, a former senior deputy press secretary for President Biden, also lamented the timing.
“We had a duty to win and we didn’t,” he told The Post. “I think about that all the time. But I don’t see why that painful conversation for the party needed to be publicly re-opened right now.”
However, Bates is confident the midterm elections will be “a referendum on Republicans’ broken promises to end inflation and stop wars.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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