Top Democrats are so alarmed about Joe Biden's ailing health some fear a shadowy cabal is keeping him in power so they can pull levers behind the scenes, it is claimed.
The astonishing theory was detailed in the liberal New York magazine. Its reporter Olivia Nuzzi revealed that even Democrat elites are stumped as to how and why the fast-declining 81 year-old is being allowed to continue his re-election bid.
Nuzzi said she had heard questions being posed by high-ranking Democrats on the east and west coasts about whether Biden is a puppet whose strings are being pulled by another group of secretive Democrats.
She highlighted the irony that this is the same theory espoused by many on the MAGA right, with Donald Trump himself previously alleging that former President Barack Obama is the real power behind the Biden White House.
Explaining the strange convergence in beliefs between Biden and Trump supporters, Nuzzi said: 'Nothing else made sense. They were in full agreement.'
This theory that a cabal was controlling Biden parallels a similar idea pushed by Trump that Barack Obama is actually calling the shots
At a New Hampshire event earlier this week, the former president said: 'It’s never been worse than it is now under crooked Joe Biden, and frankly, his boss, Barack Hussein Obama. I think it’s his boss.'
There's no evidence to suggest Obama is effectively serving a secret third term as president.
But the fact that such theories are now being openly-discussed in liberal circles and amplified by a left-leaning magazine highlights just how much panic has erupted over Biden's fitness to govern.
And with Nuzzi revealing that top-flight Democrats are among those concerned, Biden is only likely to face more pressure to quit.
The left-wing conspiracy of silence was effectively ended by last week's disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, where Biden repeatedly floundered.
Following the debate, a handful of Democratic lawmakers have said publicly that they think Biden should bow out of the presidential race.
Nuzzi went on to highlight Biden's constant reliance on teleprompters to tell him what to say. He even needs one at small, intimate gatherings like a fundraiser for 50 rich donors held at New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's home last Saturday, she revealed.
Devastatingly, Nuzzi said the president's voice and sentences often 'dissolve' into an 'incoherent gurgle.'
Nuzzi added that Biden approached the lectern with a 'stiff gait' and despite large speakers surrounding the place, the president was still difficult to hear.
The press scrum that had formed to cover the event were left to exchange their own notes in an attempt to decipher just exactly he had said.
Concerns had reportedly started swirling around Biden's fitness to continue in office as early as January of this year.
Nuzzi reported that Democratic officials, activists and donors made their concerns clear with each other, but only in whispers.
She said they did so amid fears that admitting everything was not fine would jeopardize the future of the country. That is because nobody wanted to be responsible for helping get a resurgent Trump re-elected for a second term.
One die-hard Democrat was stunned to realize Biden was too frail to make it through an entire White House reception, Nuzzi said. The unnamed bigwig is then said to have realized that it may have been premature to dismiss theories about Biden's fitness for office as right-wing propaganda.
Some of Joe Biden's friends and top supporters are also shocked at his behavior and controlling inner circle.
According to anonymous sources close to the president who spoke to the Intelligencer, the president is forgetting the names of old friends and is easily manipulated by close confidants like his wife and top aides.
At a recent event, the president was pulled in to say hello to a Democratic mega-donor and long-time friend.
He is said to have forgotten that person's name, with First Lady Jill Biden forced to whisper a greeting into the president's ear, which he then dutifully repeated.
Nuzzi was told that Biden is being shielded by ever-growing layers of bureaucracy that have made it harder and harder for people to reach him - often on important official matters.
Many are speculating the red tape is being used as a means to try and prevent people from learning the truth about Biden's health and wellbeing.
After getting an up-close audience with the president, Nuzzi found Biden having unnaturally dilated pupils and an awkward stare after having not seen him in months.
'Under artificial light and in the sunshine, he took on an unnatural gleam,' she wrote.
'He looked, well, inflated. His eyes were half-shut or open very wide. They appeared darker than they once had, his pupils dilated. He did not blink at regular intervals.'
The writer said that while Biden was looking at her, his eyes did not appear to be 'on.'
Nuzzi said Biden's widely-rumored cosmetic surgery - said to include facelifts and eyelifts - are part of the reason for his distorted appearance. But she believes that his disturbing demeanor were the result of covered-up health issues and not distortions caused by a surgeon's scalpel.
She wrote how Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - both 82 - are old.
Still, she concedes that Biden is 'something not of this earth.'
Similarly, in April of this year Nuzzi joined a queue of people to get a photo with Biden and the First Lady.
Nuzzi revealed that her and Dr. Biden had maintained a somewhat close relationship over the years.
But she said that on seeing her and realizing who she was, Jill gave a 'panicked' expression.
The implication appears to be that Jill knew how badly her husband had declined dramatically since she'd last seen Nuzzi - and that she was worried the journalist would see it too.
And while concerns started to be raised on social media after official videos shows the president staring into space without blinking, the White House refused to engage when questioned by it.
The press office blamed it on his political enemies on the right pushing what they described as 'cheap fakes'
Following that event in April, Nuzzi said some reporters had indulged in a bad taste joke about 'how dead' the president appeared to be, with one unnamed journalist guessing '40 percent.' It's unclear if any of the participants were writers for liberal outlets since accused of helping shield the truth about Biden's health.
Biden is said to privately concede that he may well have to bow out in favor of a younger Democrat candidate to take on a surging Trump as a make-or-break weekend approaches.
He is giving an interview to ABC News on Friday night and has two campaign stops this weekend. If those fail to impress, Biden could decide to throw in the towel as early as next week, it is claimed.
On Wednesday, Biden assured campaign staff on a call that despite mounting calls for him to stand down he remains in the 2024 race for the presidency.
He said: 'Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running - no one's pushing me out. I'm not leaving. I'm in this race to the end and we're going to win.'
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters during her briefing on Wednesday that Biden is not preparing to exit the race.
Jean-Pierre, spent the best part of an hour being grilled on the President's health and confirmed that while he still has a cold, he hasn't seen a doctor.
Jean-Pierre claimed 'jet lag' from his two back-to-back international trips 12 days before the debate contributed to the president's poor showing.
Despite the fighting talk however, Biden on Thursday described himself as being a black woman during a radio interview.
He stumbled over his words during Thursday's interview with Philadelphia's WURD, seemingly mixing himself up with his Vice President Kamala Harris.
'By the way, I'm proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first black woman... to serve with a black president. Proud to be involved of the first black woman on the Supreme Court. There's so much that we can do because, look... we're the United States of America.'
Biden appears to have been referring to Vice President Kamala Harris, but the flub could not have happened at a worse time.
He also referred to Trump as being a 'former colleague' when going off-script Thursday as he tried to insert a jab at the former President
'By the way, you know I was at that World War I cemetery in France and a - the one that one of our colleagues, a former president, didn't want to go and be up there,' Biden said. 'I probably shouldn't even say that. Anyway,' he continued, his voice going low.
At another point in the speech he again said, 'by the way.'
'I've been all over the world,' he said, his voice dropping to a mumble. 'I've been in and out of battles, anyway. You're incredible,' he told the military members and their families gathered on the South Lawn.
It has also since emerged that Biden acknowledged that he needs to get more sleep and wants to limit evening events so he can turn in earlier to be rested for the job,.
One person said the president joked that his health was fine, it was his brain that had challenges.
Biden will be traveling to Madison, Wisconsin on Friday where he will sit down with ABC News for his first post-debate interview.
The President will then head to a campaign stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are key swing states that will help determine the outcome of the 2024 race.
In those states and the five other battlegrounds, Trump has pulled ahead in polling following their debate in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, June 27.
Since the debate, Biden and his team have conducted widespread damage control and reached out to reassure party members, staff, lawmakers, donors, allies and voters that Biden is still a viable candidate that can beat Trump again.
But many within the party are looking for other options and are floating those like Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
None are able to beat Trump in nationwide and battleground state polling and all fall behind Biden in his chances of winning against the former president.
