News/Commentary

‘We need a real leader’: Biden’s first Cabinet meeting in nearly a year almost immediately thrown to Jill

September 21, 2024 | | Print Article

Critics are raising the alarm after first lady Jill Biden presided over the Biden-Harris administration’s first Cabinet meeting since late 2023.

Last held on Oct. 2nd, 2023, the latest Cabinet meeting began Friday with President Joe Biden speaking for only two minutes before turning it over to the first lady, who was oddly seated at the head of the table.

The first lady then reportedly read from a binder about maternal health initiatives for nearly five minutes. Moreover, Cabinet members “were given folders of notes whose covers were emblazoned with both Joe and Jill Biden’s signatures,” according to the New York Post.

After the Cabinet meeting, the first lady went on to host a Rose Garden event without the presence of her husband, who instead reportedly hopped on a flight to Delaware.

The first lady’s extensive involvement with the White House’s activities perturbed many critics, especially those who’d already been concerned about President Biden’s poor mental health.

“Wow. A visibly exhausted Joe Biden just held a full Cabinet meeting for the first time in 11 months and immediately turned the mic over to his wife, Jill,” former Trump adviser Steve Cortes tweeted. “Who is running the country?”

“Jill Biden is kicking off the first cabinet meeting the White House has had in almost a year and we’re expected to act like this is normal,” political commentator Kate Hyde added.

“I wasn’t aware that our constitutional system of government bestowed any power whatsoever to the unelected wife of the figurehead president,” The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis likewise wrote on X.

“Oh neat, an unelected person married to the mostly incapacitated elected president is overseeing the first Cabinet meeting in forever,” former CNN contributor Mary Katharine Ham tweeted. “Does anyone have any questions about this?”

See more responses below:

The White House has, for its part, dismissed these concerns.

“Before President Biden updated his cabinet and the country on the continued achievements of the most successful administration in modern history, he asked the First Lady to join for the top of the meeting to showcase groundbreaking work they are leading to fundamentally change how we fund and approach women’s health research,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News.

“If the only response these critics have are conspiracy theories that devalue historic progress researching women’s health – including terrible diseases – then that says a lot about why more and more American women feel that the right couldn’t care less about them, including as it pushes radical abortion bans,” he added.

Maybe these so-called “conspiracy theories” wouldn’t be trending if the president hadn’t waited nearly a year to hold another Cabinet meeting.

All this comes months after Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential election on account of his disastrous performance debating former President Donald Trump in June. That performance has also been attributed to his poor mental health.

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles