Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report into President Biden’s handling of classified documents dropped yesterday. The report featured stunning language that amplified what had long since been the biggest problem for Biden’s reelection campaign: concerns over Biden’s age and memory.

Hur’s report, which dismissed the possibility of charging Biden for his possession of classified documents, should have been benign, if not outright beneficial to the president’s cause. But Hur went somewhat off-script, repeatedly and scathingly critiquing the president for his alleged poor memory.

Here are a few examples.

Hur Didn’t Pull any Punches on President Joe Biden 

“Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023,” Hur wrote on page 9 of the report.

“Mr. Biden’s memory also appeared to have significant limitations…with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries…In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president,” Hur wrote on Page 208.

“Mr. Biden’s apparent lapses and failures in February and April will likely appear consistent with the diminished faculties and faulty memory he shows in…our interview of him,” Hur wrote on page 247, concluding that “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Hur didn’t pull any punches. Democrats were quick to point out that Hur was a Trump-appointee who appeared to be putting his thumb on the scale of an election ala FBI Director James Comey 2016. But whether or not Hur’s extensive mention of Biden’s memory in a special report about classified documents handling was appropriate, the concerns Hur raises are legitimate, have been percolating amongst constituents for years, and raise an important question: should Biden president?

Should Joe Biden Be President?

At present, Biden should be president simply because the American people elected him to be president for a term that doesn’t conclude for nearly another year.

But should Joe Biden be running for reelection?

Should the Democrats be clearing a path for Biden to run for reelection, virtually unopposed from an inter-party challenger?

No and no.

And not because of anything Robert Hur had to say. Hur’s report is substantive only so far as it clears Biden of wrongdoing in the classified documents investigation. And let’s give Biden the benefit of the doubt and assume Hur’s reported was tainted with Trumpian partisanship.

Yet, Hur’s report aside, Biden does appear to suffer from a limited memory. Biden does appear to struggle to finish sentences. He mixes up names and dates. He trails off. He mumbles. Biden does, frankly, appear to be sundowning – which is understandable: the guy is already 81 years old; the guy has already lived half a decade beyond the life expectancy of an American male.

If Biden were reelected, his second term would keep him in office through his 86^th birthday. And what Hur would tell you, what most Americans know in their heart, is that Biden does not have another five years of effective governance in him.

Lining Joe Biden up for another term is not appropriate or reasonable. And while Hur’s report may not have been the venue to make such a point, the fundamental fact remains.

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.