She did it for us
Earlier this week, in a clip from an interview with 60 Minutes that will air Sunday promoting her new book, Jill Biden revealed she was horrified watching her husband’s disastrous debate with Donald Trump in June, 2024. She said she feared Joe might have suffered a stroke.
I was horrified that night, too — so horrified I couldn’t get to sleep after witnessing the obvious impairment of the man whose finger was on the nuclear button. So I stayed up and watched the post-debate news coverage as Jill took Joe to a supporters’ party at a local bar and announced, “Joe, you did a great job. You answered all the questions! You knew all the facts!” From there, they went to a Waffle House for more glad-handing, then flew back to D.C. The next day they attended a campaign event in North Carolina, then flew to New York for another rally and private reception. The day after that, they were in the Hamptons for a campaign meeting and reception, then it was on to New Jersey for a fundraiser.
As I watched the 60 Minutes clip and heard Dr. Biden expressing her anguish and concern about her husband’s debate performance, I wondered why she didn’t order the Secret Service to rush him to a hospital the moment he walked off the stage instead of taking him to a Waffle House and flying him up and down the East Coast.
After thinking it over, I realize why she didn’t: Jill Biden loves her country so much she was willing to risk Joe having another stroke — even dying — because he was the only person capable of stopping Donald Trump.
Right-wing commentators and cynics on “X” are saying she didn’t seek help because she didn’t want anyone doubting her husband might not be capable of a second term. They claim, without evidence, that she loved the perks of being First Lady more than she loved him — the attention, the power, the ability to zip across town in a motorcade rather than waiting at stop lights like ordinary people.
Her detractors are, in my humble opinion, wrong. One hundred years from now, Jill Biden will be revered as the First Lady who was willing to sacrifice everything — including her husband — to save her beloved country from an orange orangutan.
Jill Biden’s book, View from the East Wing: A Memoir, will be released on June 2. I am one of the millions of grateful Americans who can’t wait to read it and know that you, my loyal readers, feel the same way.
