In what may come to define one of the most pivotal chapters in modern American political history, a forthcoming book reveals that White House aides considered administering a cognitive test to President Joe Biden months before his dramatic withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
The revelations come from “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America”, co-authored by top political reporters Tyler Pager, Josh Dawsey, and Isaac Arnsdorf. The book, slated for a July release, details the internal deliberations of a Democratic administration struggling to balance image, optics, and a grueling reality.
According to reporting from The New York Times, aides believed Biden would likely pass a cognitive test with flying colors. However, they ultimately decided against it, fearing that such a move would legitimize public concern about his mental fitness and potentially create a narrative of weakness, rather than strength.
The timing of these internal discussions was no coincidence. They occurred in February 2024, just as Special Counsel Robert Hur released a damning report on Biden’s handling of classified materials. The real gut punch wasn’t about the documents, though.
It was Hur’s unflinching assessment of Biden’s memory: “significantly limited” and “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” The legal fallout was inconsequential—no charges were filed—but the political damage was nuclear.
As the campaign wore on, Biden’s physical frailty and cognitive lapses became impossible to ignore, culminating in a debate performance against Donald Trump that was widely viewed as incoherent and alarming. In that moment, the pressure reached a fever pitch. Donors panicked. Pundits pivoted. And ultimately, Biden bowed out, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris to step in as the Democratic nominee.
Even in the wake of this unraveling, longtime confidants like Mike Donilon remained loyal. In an interview with The Harvard Political Review, Donilon argued that Biden's age was unfairly weaponized.
“I thought the best answer was going to be performance,” he said. “If you watched his farewell address... he had as clear and cogent an assessment of where the country is and the threats of the country as anyone’s ever given.”
But the larger narrative had already solidified. For many, the image of Biden in the debate—not the farewell address—was the final word. A man who, by all accounts, devoted his life to public service and endured personal and political tragedies with grace, exited the stage under a cloud of uncertainty and visible decline.