In a startling revelation, Joe Biden’s former Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, has spoken candidly about the president’s alleged mental decline. These claims are set to be published in the upcoming book, Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History, by Chris Whipple. According to Klain, Biden struggled to grasp key concepts during his presidency, even mistaking himself for the leader of NATO.
Ron Klain, who served as Biden’s White House Chief of Staff from 2021 to 2023, returned in 2024 to assist with debate preparation. He is quoted by The Guardian saying that Biden was often unaware of what was happening, particularly during interactions with former President Trump. Allegedly, during debate prep, Biden would become so fatigued that he would leave the session and fall asleep by the pool.
Klain recounts a specific instance where Biden suggested he could appear perplexed when Trump spoke, hoping voters would take that as a sign of Trump being foolish. Klain responded, “Sir, when you look perplexed, people just think you’re perplexed. And this is our problem in this race.”
The book also describes a moment at Aspen Lodge where Klain was shocked by Biden’s exhaustion, suggesting that the president seemed more engaged with NATO leaders than domestic politics. Klain half-jokingly questioned whether Biden thought he was NATO’s president rather than the U.S.’s. Such focus, Klain noted, did little to help with Capitol Hill as “domestic political leaders don’t really care what [Emmanuel] Macron and [Olaf] Scholz think.”
Whipple, in an interview with Politico, suggests that referring to the situation as a “cover-up” is an oversimplification. He believes the situation was more complex and troubling, characterized by a “fog of delusion and denial” among Biden’s closest advisors. They seemingly believed only what they wanted to believe.
