In 1957, the movie “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” directed by Jack Arnold, was released in theaters. It was a B-movie adaptation of Richard Matheson’s book from the previous year, “The Shrinking Man.” The film follows the journey of a man who, after being exposed to a strange mist while on vacation with his wife, begins to shrink in size progressively until he reaches microscopic dimensions.
Joe Biden was 14 years old when this film was released. Why is that relevant? Because President Joe Biden seems to walk perpetually in a mysterious mist these days, and has, since his ouster as the Democrat’s standard-bearer, been greatly diminished. His physical and mental decline, obvious to all who took the time to notice it, is accelerating. As he marks his last weeks as president, he seems to have largely withdrawn; it is his once-opponent, Donald Trump, who seems to be the acting president.Â
You might say Joe Biden is The Incredible Shrinking President, and with good reason – although the New York Times, predictably, would have you believe otherwise.
This is the twilight of Mr. Biden’s presidency, the final days of the final chapter of an epic half-century political journey that has had more than its share of twists and turns. Time is catching up with Mr. Biden. He looks a little older and a little slower with each passing day. Aides say he remains plenty sharp in the Situation Room, calling world leaders to broker a cease-fire in Lebanon or deal with the chaos of Syria’s rebellion. But it is hard to imagine that he seriously thought he could do the world’s most stressful job for another four years.
It’s hard to believe he’s been doing the world’s most stressful job for the last four years. Joe Biden never was all that; he was always petty, vindictive, venal, and corrupt, but things have gotten worse. His physical and mental decline was apparent even in the 2020 campaign, and that decline is now accelerating. Under the Biden administration, inflation spiked, the economy tanked, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was a bloody disaster, and the borders were thrown open to any goblin or smuggler who felt like getting his feet wet in the Rio Grande. His VP pick, a vacuous, cackling, empty suit who would have to study hard to attain mediocrity, was installed to replace Joe in the 2024 election; Kamala Harris proved to be the worst presidential candidate in living memory.
It’s not surprising befuddled, old Joe Biden is weary. Failure is tiring.
