“On the Holmes Front,” with Frank Holmes
It’s no secret that the Democratic Party’s leaders aren’t overflowing with youth and vigor — but it seemed ready to completely undermine international confidence in the government with a simple move: Democratic leaders seemed ready to have three of the top four leaders showing signs of cognitive decline or dementia.
President Joe Biden, who is about to turn 80 years old on Sunday, already stirs questions and rumors about his health with his shuffling gate, inability to speak clearly, and reliance on aides (including the Easter Bunny) to guide him everywhere.
Many believe his time in office will be short… and the country will need someone with a sharper mind.
Well, good luck with that.
Under the Presidential Succession Act, Joe Biden would be succeeded by Vice President Kamala Harris — whose questionable mental acuity has nothing to do with her age — and then 82-year-old Nancy Pelosi, who announced this week that she’s stepping down as Speaker of the House.
Insiders say the track to succeed her goes to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., but in the meantime, Pelosi is followed by the third-in-line: the president pro tempore of the Senate. It is a spot usually given to the longest-serving member of the party that controls the body. Outgoing Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy will be vacating his post as he retired at age 82.
The next in line would be 89-year-old Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whom aides have admitted has been “seriously struggling” with cognitive decline for at least a year. Rumors that she is battling dementia have swirled.
Things are so bad that her own party refused to endorse her when she last ran for reelection to the Senate, in 2018.
Feinstein’s sad mental state went on full display just this week, when a reporter asked if she would serve in the line of presidential succession.
“I haven’t thought about it,’ Feinstein told the reporter.
The only problem is she had already spoken about it, just one month before.
“I’ve never thought about being the president pro tempore, and I have no interest in it at this time,” Feinstein—or someone in her office, under her name—told The Washington Post in October.
When one of her aides hijacked the interview to point out her previous statement, Feinstein fought her fiercely.
“I don’t know what you’re saying,” Feinstein admitted to the aide.
“This is about the Senate pro tem position,” the staffer told her gently.
Then Feinstein made the heartbreaking comment everyone in her circle knew was coming: “Well, I haven’t said anything about it, that I know of.”
After her staffer eventually convinced Feinstein that she had already completely ruled out the position, the senator responded, “Well then, I guess it’s out.”
That tops off a huge number of embarrassing comments, as well as a host of scandals including employing a Chinese spy for 20 years and an accusation that her late husband Richard Blum financially benefited from inside information.
It looks like Feinstein’s public about-face proved too much even for the Democratic Party.
Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., nominated Senator Patty Murray of Washington in Feinstein’s place.
In a public statement, Murray bragged that she leapfrogged Feinstein, because her innate qualities and abilities convinced Schumer to give her the leadership slot in her colleague’s place. “I am honored to have earned the confidence of Leader Schumer and my colleagues to serve as President Pro Tempore,” Murray said in a statement after Schumer’s announcement. “It’s not lost on me the significance of what it would mean to be the first woman to serve in this role.”
The significance is Murray replaced someone whose intellectual capacity disqualifies her from serving in the Senate at all, let alone becoming three heartbeats away from the presidency.
Schumer’s quick save can’t hide the fact that the Democrats are a party of terminal dementia, from the top all the way down to Pennsylvania Senator-elect John Fetterman, who cannot communicate without a specially-tailored auditory device (and often cannot speak coherently with it).
What kind of message does that send to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who climbed all over 50-year-old Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a behind-the-scenes meeting this week?
Will he fear going head-to-head with Joe Biden, Kamala, Pelosi, Feinstein, or Murray, for that matter?
Or will he size up the leadership and sweep them out of his way, and turn the American dream into a Chinese nightmare?
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”