When Joe Biden took over as President of the United States from Donald Trump in 2020, I learned the names of most of his cabinet officers. As the years went by, I forgot most of them. So when The Daily Show ran film-footage of this man commenting on the mental health of President Biden, I had no idea who he was. From his spirited defense of President Biden, I assumed he was a presidential "handler", one the men who protect the President's public image.
So I was surprised to learn that he is, in fact, Alejandro Mayorkas, Director of Homeland Security, appearing on February 17 on Meet the Press. Mayorkas speaks so obviously as a political handler, I had to wonder why anyone would appoint him to such a sensitive post? I would describe his voice as unctuous and sugary—not at all the kind of no-nonsense law-enforcement officer who should occupy this position.
The second thing that concerned me is Mayorkas's denial of President Biden's cognitive problems, which should have been immediately apparent to anyone in Biden's circle of advisors. For contrast, I have included a bit of Jon Stewart's blistering assessment of Biden and his implicit skewering of Biden's handlers in subsequent broadcasts of The Daily Show. Stewart's contrasting view of Biden, that he lacks sufficient brain-function to do his job as Commander-and-Chief makes Mayorkas and other administration figures look deceptive, if not dishonest.
Stewart also played part of an interview with California Congressman Robert Garcia who sits on the Homeland Security Committee. Garcia was similarly in denial, or dishonest, about Biden's state of mind. Every presidential administration hires handlers to spin questionable statements or actions of their leaders and to fend off criticism; but Mayorkas and Garcia do not serve as spinmeisters on any basis.
On another episode of The Daily Show, Stewart pointed out that President Biden had shown mental decline as early as 2022 when he referred to Congresswoman Jackie Walorski and asked if she was in attendance in the conference room. In fact, Walorski had died six weeks earlier in a car-accident. Biden also referred to a visit he had had with Francois Mitterrand, the President of France, who had unfortunately died twenty years earlier. Stewart went on to say that Biden's performances must have scared average Americans into thinking of their own mentally-challenged family-members.
As it turns out, Americans not only had to call in question President Biden's abilities, but also the suitability of Mayorkas and Garcia as leaders of Homeland Security. The actions of Mayorkas and Garcia undermine the trust that Americans must have in their leaders. That these officials worked so hard to promote an illusion of competence in a clearly incompetent leader scared me.