President Biden had just finished trying to persuade a group of congressional Democrats to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill when Nancy Pelosi, then the House speaker, took the microphone.
In 30 minutes of remarks on Capitol Hill, Biden had spoken disjointedly and failed to make a concrete ask of lawmakers, according to Democrats in the room. After he left, a visibly frustrated Pelosi told the group she would articulate what Biden had been trying to say, one lawmaker said.
“It was the first time I remember people pretty jarred by what they had seen,” recalled Rep. Dean Phillips (D., Minn.), who would go on to mount an unsuccessful primary challenge against the president.
That was October 2021. That month was the last time Biden met with the House Democratic caucus on the Hill regarding legislation.
Nearly three years later, concerns about the 81-year-old president’s age and mental acuity have put an abrupt cap on his half-century political career. They had grown from a murmur among allies, who said they believed—or hoped—they were catching the president on a bad day, to a deafening roar, as many of those same allies called on him to step aside in the wake of his disastrous June 27 debate performance.
