White House 'gaslighting' Americans on Biden's faculties, critics say

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KJP goes ‘extra mile’ to defend her boss’s age: Dana Perino

‘The Five’ co-hosts discusses how Karine Jean-Pierre is answering questions about President Biden’s age.

Critics called out the White House on Wednesday, alleging they are continuing to "gaslight" the American people about President Biden's competence and personal faculties – amid increasing gaffes and "brunch lids" when the president reportedly has little scheduled until midday.

The most recent conjecture arose after CNN host Jake Tapper challenged White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Biden's acuity, citing a poll claiming 77 percent of adults are concerned with his ability to be president based on age and stamina.

Jean-Pierre bristled at the subject, as Tapper quipped Biden had been in politics since before the 49-year-old spokeswoman was born. She countered that it has been "hard for us to keep up with this president" as he reportedly is always actively governing.

Jean-Pierre was also challenged in the White House briefing room this week by a reporter who asked if such doubts had to do with recent "brunch lids" – when Biden would not have scheduled work before a certain hour in the morning – which the ombudswoman characterized as a "ridiculous assumption."

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Biden (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Piers Morgan commented on Fox News that critics attacking Biden strictly based on his age, however, may be misguided, given the apparent spryness of other high-profile octogenarians.

Morgan told "The Five" of a recent encounter with Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger, also 80, at a recent England v. Australia cricket match. 

He described Jagger as someone who continues to hold action-packed, marathon concerts regularly at his age, adding that they had a very in-depth talk during which Morgan had quipped that the rock star could almost be president if he were born in America.

"He's a guy who races around a stage for two-and-a-half hours a night, he never falls over, he never forgets the words of his lyrics," Morgan said, adding that the octogenarian rocker was "whip smart."

Morgan added that renowned naturalist David Attenborough is 97 years old, saying viewers of his programs "never hear him call a gorilla an antelope."

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Mick Jagger (Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Morgan also contrasted Biden's faculties with that of financial partners Warren Buffett, 93, and Charlie Munger, who is nearly 100. He said both investors are still very active and can give their annual addresses in great detail without issues.

"This is not about age – this is about [Biden's] ability to do the job given the condition of himself mentally and physically. And we need to get this debate away from ‘he’s 80'," Morgan said. "My dad is 83 and he doesn't fall over every two minutes, and he didn't forget [Queen Elizabeth II] actually died."

Morgan had been referring to a June speech Biden gave in Connecticut, which he ended with "God Save the Queen, man," despite King Charles III being the current monarch of Great Britain.

"The Five" also presented images of Biden appearing to fall asleep during a luncheon in Maui earlier this month, and another from 2021, where the president appeared to nod off at a Scottish climate summit.

Host Jesse Watters cited excerpts he read from a new book by Atlantic writer Franklin Foer, which he reported claimed Biden was proposing building "things like a parking lot"during the Afghanistan withdrawal.

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The New York Post also cited passages describing Biden's demeanor during that time as showing a "swaggering faith in himself," and as the paper put it, offering "unhelpful and impractical suggestions like the parking lot idea.

"Diplomacy, in Biden’s view, was akin to persuading a pain-in-the-ass uncle to stop drinking so much," Foer said, according to the paper.

"It's not a conspiracy theory that [Biden] is not in charge," Watters said, to which Judge Jeanine Pirro agreed, saying the controversy is not about Republicans attacking Biden gratuitously about his age.

"KJP is gaslighting us – 'it's go go go we can't keep up with him'," she remarked, adding that while serving as a judge in White Plains, N.Y., she always advised those in court that "if someone has lied to you once, you don't have to believe another thing they say to you during the course of this trial."