The NY Times can finally tell us what we've all known (01-23-2025--Hour3)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] So now it can finally be told. The New York Times, with the story, headlined, How Biden's Inner Circle Protected a Faltering President. How can you close me up? On what ground? I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here. You're winning, sir. Oh, thank you very much.

[00:00:48] Yes, the people closest to President Biden were well aware that he had changed. He talked more slowly than he had just a few years before. Needed to hoist himself out of his seat in the presidential limousine and walked with a halting gait.

[00:01:09] So. Let's stop right here for a moment and just point out how the things that the New York Times is identifying in this piece by Katie Rogers, Adam Entous, Maggie Haberman and Carl Holsey. These are all physical things. These are physical things. Not mental. He's totally fine. Mentally.

[00:01:32] He talked more slowly, needed to hoist himself out of the seat in the presidential limo and walked with a halting gait, which they explain was because when he took the fall on one of those. I mean, not crimes. No, no, not like that. No. When he took the fall when he fell down at some point, I think it was off of the bicycle. Remember? I mean, he had several falls, so I don't remember which one, but I think it was the bike that he had. He injured his foot, apparently, in that fall.

[00:02:01] And I know I thought the same thing, like, thank goodness it wasn't a hit because that's don't come back from that. But it was a foot and then he refused to wear the boot. He didn't want to wear a cast or something like that while the foot healed because he didn't want it to look like he was old. So, like, yeah, that would be the giveaway, right?

[00:02:26] Anyway, and so the foot didn't heal correctly and that's why he was walking weirdly and, yeah, okay, so whatever. So these are all physical ailments, right? His age was showing through in his lack of mobility. That's the thing. Like, I don't look, I don't care. Joe Biden could have been in a wheelchair if he was mentally sharp. I would not have any concerns about his ability to do the job.

[00:02:53] I would not. But his brain being in a wheelchair, that is a different story. Mr. Biden acknowledged the concerns, but the warnings only ignited his defiant competitive streak. Defiant competitive streak. Or as I have called it, being a jerk. He has been a jerk for his entire career and you don't just lose that.

[00:03:23] And when you turn, you know, 80, if anything, it becomes more pronounced. In April of 2023, get this, without convening his family or having long deliberations with aides, he announced he was running again. So he apparently made this call, made this decision without telling his family?

[00:03:52] Does that sound normal? When have you ever heard any politician ever say that they just made the decision on their own? No, they always say that they consult with their family. And any non-jerk running for an office would, of course, do that. Because your family goes along for this ride.

[00:04:18] And I have said this for years and a lot of people may not even think about this, but it is always harder on the family members. Always. Because they have to adhere to all of these, you know, rules and strict customs and stuff. And you, you know, can't do this, can't say that, can't go out there. You got security details around you. Your life changes. You get all of, all the downside and very little upside. Very little upside.

[00:04:49] Like, think about like the kids that are growing up. I mean, yes, you're in the White House and oh, that's cool. And you get weighted on and you have all, I'm not saying it's without privilege. I'm not saying that. But there is so much that restricts your life for the rest of your life. That's why you have to, unless you're a jerk, you have to talk to your family about this stuff. So apparently Joe did not because, like I said, he's been a jerk for a very long time. So Biden decides I'm running again.

[00:05:18] At 82, he makes an extraordinary admission in an interview with USA Today back on January 5th. Okay. So he's still president at the time, does an interview with USA Today. And he says he's not sure if he would have made it through a second term.

[00:05:41] He said, quote, which means who knows what I'm going to be when I'm 86 years old. And that's a perfectly natural thing to think, right? You're 82. You slowed down a bit. You got injured and, you know, you've, you're in the, you're in the last year of your life.

[00:06:10] You don't know how much longer you've got. Nobody knows, right? So at that age, you know, like, this is it. I'm on limited time here. And the last years, I'm not going to be able to keep doing this stuff. And so who knows what I'm going to be like at 86? Yeah, I mean, I mean, that's sort of the whole term. So he was aware of this. The president's acknowledgement. I love this line in the New York Times.

[00:06:38] The president's acknowledgement has put a new spotlight on his family and inner circle, all of whom dismissed concerns from voters and Biden's own party that he was too old for the job. First, the New York Times saying this line about the president's comments putting a spotlight on his family.

[00:07:05] This is like our hands are clean as if you're not the ones operating the dadgum spotlight. You guys are controlling the spotlight. You literally are moving the spotlight around to highlight things and show things. And, oh, hey, look at this. Look at that person. Here's an issue. Here's a guy. Oh, my gosh. Oh, that's a Nazi salute by Elon. Like, you're the ones controlling the spotlight.

[00:07:29] Whoever put the new spotlight on the family members, whatever, those comments, if that's what it took, you think that's the comment? That comment on January 5th, that puts a spotlight on the family members? Why, you didn't know they were on stage or something all this time? You didn't realize that they were, like, close to Joe? It's just ludicrous. This is them trying to absolve themselves of any kind of responsibility for covering up the biggest scandal in presidential history.

[00:08:00] That's what this is. I have been saying this for years. It is the biggest scandal. The fact that we have a president that should have been removed by the 25th Amendment by his own cabinet members, his family, people that knew his condition, and they didn't stop it. They just let him continue. Why? Because they were running the government. They were pulling the levers of power, and they enjoyed it.

[00:08:28] And so they kept him there as this figurehead, as this puppet. I am left with no other logical conclusion. Did he have good days? Was he coherent in some sentences and words throughout the course of the day? I'm sure he was. I've seen enough of his interactions and media availabilities and stuff over the last four years to know that sometimes he had a good day. Some days he was okay. But he was not every day. And the New York Times says this in this article.

[00:08:58] That he had good days and bad days. And the staff knew it. And the family knew it. And the legislators knew it. Chuck Schumer knew it. Senate Democrats knew it. Senate Democrats were getting ready to go public with all of this. And it's only after Joe Biden is out that the New York Times can finally tell us the story. Oh, yeah. You know what? The Senate was actually going to coup Joe Biden. They were going to throw a coup against him.

[00:09:24] They were going to, like, demand neurological reports and stuff. They were going to, oh, yeah, they were going to call for him to step down. They were getting ready to do it. And Schumer couldn't hold them back anymore. And so Schumer had to go out and visit Joe Biden on the beach at Rehoboth and have a heart-to-heart. And why Chuck Schumer? Because Obama said, you need to go do this because he won't listen to me. And why won't Joe Biden listen to Barack Obama? Because Barack Obama didn't endorse Joe Biden in 2016.

[00:09:53] He threw his weight behind Hillary Clinton. Ew. But he did. He threw his, yeah, he was like, it's Hillary's time. So Barack Obama, and that ticked off Joe. But it's funny because Joe Biden gave an interview where she said that Joe Biden forgives everybody. And so she is the keeper of the family grudges, which is quite the admission. That is a thing to say, is it not?

[00:10:21] Even if you are the keeper of the grudges, why do you say that? Why would you say that? Ugh. This family, man. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain. And Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion,

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[00:11:41] and make memories that'll last a lifetime. Email is Pete at thepetecalendarshow.com. John says, Pete, did you just say that the president's kid, being the president's kid, has very little upside? You mean like being able to sell a childlike painting for hundreds of thousands of dollars, being paid 80 grand a month to sit on an energy board? That's true. Okay, outside of engaging in criminal activity as part of a family crime syndicate,

[00:12:09] outside of that, you know, I was mainly thinking of like being a young child, right? Going through your teen years, like you're under this microscope, you know? And look, there is some element that I can relate to about this is that, you know, this, okay, this may surprise you, but there are people that say things about me that are not very nice. I know. I don't know why either.

[00:12:37] They just, they say some pretty mean stuff about me. And here's the thing. I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. You say whatever you want to say. Go ahead, whatever. I don't care. There isn't anything you can say that will hurt me. Because whatever worst thing you can think of to say about me, I have probably said it about myself before. Worse things than you can think of, because I know myself better than you know me. And so like, it doesn't really matter to me.

[00:13:05] Many people say this, but my family members, like they want to defend me just like you would want to. And I would want to defend my family members when somebody says something about them. Right? So it's much harder. But, and then, but then you layer on this thing where, you know, I mean, look what happened with governor Cooper's wife. Right? Right. Remember Roy Cooper, my good friend, Ray. He was, um, his wife rather was, uh, was driving through Raleigh, I guess on her way back to the governor's mansion.

[00:13:34] And she saw some people out there protesting the mask mandates and the COVID lockdowns and stuff. And I mean, they didn't know she was, they didn't know she was who she was or what she was doing, but, but yeah, but she was, she flipped off a kid. Remember? Gave the middle finger to some like 12 year old kid holding a sign. Okay. That may not be the greatest example of what I was talking about, but it is always harder on the family, not always, but like many times,

[00:13:59] like it's very difficult to be a family member of an elected official, particularly if, you know, there's a controversial issue or, um, the politician rises to a level of, you know, prominence where people now know who they are. Um, there are, you know, there's, there are security measures that like I have that I've taken. Um, and you have to take when you become public, you're in the public eye, you know, um,

[00:14:28] there are things that you do when you're out in public. Like whenever I go out in public, I am quote on have to be, I cannot do anything in public. If I'm out at a grocery store restaurant or whatever, I always assume that somebody is going to be, uh, videotaping me recording me or trying to pick a fight. You have to think that way because if you don't think that way and it

[00:14:56] happens, bad things will occur after that. So if you are mentally prepared when you go out, so you're always quote on, you're on the clock basically, then you are less likely, not that it will never happen, but you're less likely to get caught unawares. And there are people that actually try to do this in order to destroy you. Not me. I mean, I'm, I'm small beans, right? Nobody's doing like, they're not going to that kind of effort. Although some have, right?

[00:15:26] Some people have tried to cancel. They've tried to, well, they have, they've threatened me, you know, identified my house, doxxed me, threatened to hurt me, my family, that sort of stuff. So that is part of the, that's part of what comes with all of this. And people who are in politics, they, they go into it and the family needs to be on board because it's very difficult. So I get that. I don't know how I got onto this topic. I was talking about Joe Biden being mentally incapacitated. All right. I hope you had a happy holiday season,

[00:15:55] but tell me if something like this happened at your house, your family and friends are gathered around. Maybe y'all are in the living room. You're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing. And then somebody says, Hey dad, remember those old VHS tapes? Did you ever get them transferred? And then the room gets all quiet. All eyes are on dad who says, Oh, you know, well, I've been meaning to, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Look, don't let those priceless memories sit in a box for another year. All right.

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[00:16:52] located in Mint Hill right off I-485 and online at createavideo.com. Pete at the Pete Callender show is the email. Kevin says, I listen to your show all the time. I really do enjoy it. Also, I love discussions and a good debate, but I don't know how you are able to keep your mouth going for hours every day. I consider myself a talker, but man, again, I'm not sure how you do it day in and day out. Thanks again for all you do, Pete. It's on Kevin.

[00:17:20] So, number one, exercises. I exercise the mouth a lot. Two hours of prep for one hour on air. That's my general rule. Some days, you know, it's easier than others. Some days I have to do way more prep, but most of the time, a lot of the prep, I never get to. I never actually turn into content because I just run out of time because I'm running my mouth too much.

[00:17:52] The other thing is something a program director told me a long time ago. I believe it was Randall Bloomquist, a.k.a. Hurricane Randall, who said everybody has a show in them. Everybody can do one show. And most people can do a week. You got enough material. You have enough time to plan. Most people can do five. Can you do a month? Can you do a year? Can you do five years? Can you do ten years?

[00:18:23] And the thing is, you don't know. Nobody knows until they do ten years that they can do ten years. Nobody knows. Some people burn out and they're done. They don't have anything else to say or whatever. It happens. But you just start running, and at some point you're like, that'll do, pig. That'll do. All right, back to the New York Times piece here.

[00:18:50] How Biden's inner circle protected a faltering president. They would arrange meetings to make sure Biden was in a better mood. Right? Good days, bad days. These people, quote, cooperated to manage his decline. This is according to more than two dozen aides, allies, lawmakers, and donors that the New York Times talked to.

[00:19:19] Twenty-four people plus, right? Say that, yeah, they cooperated to manage the decline. They would delay sharing information with Biden. They would surround him with people. Like, remember when he was walking to the helicopter? And they claimed it was, you know, because he was constantly working, when in fact it was to shield him from video being captured of him walking weirdly to the chopper. They had Biden use a teleprompter.

[00:19:46] Even when he would go to these really small fundraisers in private homes, they would set up a teleprompter so he could read. Anybody that wanted to ask him questions would have to provide the questions ahead of time. So there were no impromptu Q&A. He couldn't do it. That is not a physical infirmity. Right? And this concerned people that would go to these donor events.

[00:20:16] Six people, key people, protected the president. Jill Biden. You call her Dr. Jill. Dr. Jill Biden. Guy named Mike Donilon. Steve Ricchetti. Lawyer guy. Annie Tomasini. Deputy Chief of Staff. And Anthony Bernal. Who was Jill Biden's senior aide.

[00:20:40] So Jill Biden's senior aide was part of the cabal, basically. Right? This guard that protected Joe. Which tells you what? Dr. Jill is the one with the power. Right? The New York Times goes on to say, All of them are deeply devoted to Mr. Biden. All are adept at navigating his quick temper. As I mentioned earlier, he's a jerk. All enjoy proximity to the most powerful office in American politics.

[00:21:10] Gosh, if only we could figure out a motive for why they would do such a thing. Could it be that they enjoy proximity to the most powerful office? Is it the proximity to the most powerful office? Or is it actually using the most powerful office that would keep them doing this? Then there was Biden himself, whose pursuit of the White House had been the family's project for nearly 40 years. Right? He finally gets it. And he says, I'm going to be a transitional president. Right?

[00:21:40] And everybody was like, oh, he's only going to be around for one term. Okay, cool. But then his pride and a string of legislative accomplishments and a strong showing in the 2022 midterms by Democrats makes him decide in April of 23, I'm going to run again. History will remember him as the man who beat Trump and then paved the way for Trump's return.

[00:22:07] In May of 2023, a month after he announced he was running for re-election, Biden was in the Fifth Avenue duplex of Hamilton James, the billionaire former president of Blackstone, who is not an oligarch. Okay, just because he's a billionaire and just because he's got the ear of the president inviting him over to his house and having a conversation with him about doing stuff, whatever. That doesn't make him an oligarch. Only oligarchs are oligarchs when they are friends with Republicans.

[00:22:35] Just in case you were wondering what that makes somebody an oligarch. Anyway, he makes his case for another term, but to these nervous donors at this event. And the donors walk out and they were like, we have the opposite effect now. Like we left with more worries about his age again, not his age. It's his mental abilities. They then spend a page going over all of the physical stumbles, literally, and the falls that he had in the physical stuff, blah, blah, blah.

[00:23:04] And then at the end, they start talking about the grueling bad days. He had pursued a final term in part because he felt his family was in shape to withstand an exhausting campaign. But by the time the race was underway, Hunter Biden's legal problems were mounting. Federal prosecutors were investigating Joe for the classified documents handling. Robert Herr came out and said, oh, you know, sympathetic old man with a failing memory. He goes, how dare you? And he goes out and does the news conference and everybody's like, oh, Herr was right.

[00:23:31] Biden was struggling at the time to manage support for the stalemate in Ukraine, growing furor in the party over the Israel-Gaza war. And so they're chalking this up as the demands of foreign policy took a toll on his energy levels as he campaigned. Oh, the poor guy. Right? He's got all of these things. It's just, you know, Israel and Ukraine and that. This will be Johnson in this war. That's the reason. Like, no. He can't do the job anymore.

[00:24:00] He doesn't have the mental bandwidth to do the job. He was taking naps. This story says they had to schedule him naps during his debate prep because he had taken foreign trips weeks before. Weeks before. So weeks before the debate, he goes overseas. He comes back, which is that's where maybe he was like wandering around. Oh, it's a parachute, you know, and like, oh, look at that.

[00:24:26] And why are these foreign leaders having to, like, guide Joe Biden to the buffet table? And weeks later, he's taking naps because he's just so wiped out from all of his foreign travel. That's not. That's not good. But now we can be told now when it doesn't matter any longer. The first lady who was married, married into the family in 1977, believes he would have been fine with a second term. She says, quote, I mean, today I think he has a full schedule.

[00:24:56] You know, he started early with interviews and briefings and it just keeps going. And Biden's allies say he remains sharp in private situations. See, so it's like it's all physical. It's not mental. So this is them giving a little bit of ground. All right. Well, OK, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, he's 82. It's mentally fine. Mentally sharp as a tack. Except House Speaker Mike Johnson had a bit of a different experience. He'll tell you what that was up next.

[00:25:27] All right. If you're listening to this show, you know, I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do, too. And you probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News. It's an app and it's a website. And it combines news from around the world in one place. So you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete.

[00:25:55] I put the link in the podcast description, too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature.

[00:26:24] Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. All right. So here's Mike Johnson talking with Barry Weiss, founder of The Free Press. And I say this without any personal animus at all. I mean, you know, in some ways, I actually kind of feel sorry for Joe Biden. I mean, he's in the twilight years of his life. He is not obviously has not been in charge for some time. And I know this by personal observation. And now the whole world knows it.

[00:26:54] And it's been very, very concerning to me over the last year and a half since I've had this position. Is this a story when you say personal observation? What kind of thing did you see? Well, I mean, it's public now because the Wall Street Journal got it and put it on the front page. But January a year ago, almost exactly a year ago, I had been asked. I became Speaker in October 2023. And there were all sorts of big national security concerns and everything going on. And I started requesting a meeting with the President because, you know, I'm kind of old school. I'm a constitutional law guy.

[00:27:22] Speaker of the House should be able to talk to the President, especially in times of great national interest and calamity. But they wouldn't let me meet with him. And his staff kept getting excuses. This went on for like eight or nine weeks. I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker, he doesn't have time. What are you talking about? I'm second in line of the presidency. He has time. I need to talk to him. We had, I can't say the classified parts, but we had some big, big national concerns at the time that I was losing sleep over. Finally, I just went to the Hill Press Corps and I said, the President is not being allowed to meet with the Speaker. There's a problem. So they started putting pressure on him.

[00:27:52] Long story short, they finally relented. They invited me to the White House. I show up and I realize it's actually an ambush because it's not just me and the President. It's also Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem, you know, the whole CIA director, everybody. And then so I walked in the Ovalon. Oh, I know what this is. This is a, they're going to hot box the Speaker on Ukraine funding. That's what it was. This is probably the third week of January. We sit down. We're in the midst of it. And the whole conversation, and I'm going, we don't need to have this conversation. The President reaches over just like this.

[00:28:21] We're sitting in the, right next to the fireplace in the Ovalon, he grabs my arm and he says, the Speaker and I just need a couple minutes together. Will you all just leave us alone? And I looked up on the faces of some of the staff standing around the wall and they're like, no, he did it. So they, he called it. He's the Commander-in-Chief. So everybody leaves. And he and I are standing awkwardly in the middle of the Oval Office right over the rug by that coffee table. And I said, Mr. President, thanks for the moments. You know, this is very important. I got some big national security things I need to talk to you about that I've heard and I think you know and what do we do. But first, real quickly, Mr. President, can I ask you a question?

[00:28:51] I cannot answer this from my constituents in Louisiana. Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Like, I don't understand, you know, liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do that? Because you understand, we just talked about Ukraine. You understand you're fueling Vladimir Putin's war machine because they got to get their gas from him, you know. And he looks at me stunned with this. And he said, I didn't do that. And I said, Mr. President, yes, you did. It was an executive order like, you know, three weeks ago. And he goes, no, I didn't do that.

[00:29:20] And he's arguing with me. I said, Mr. President, respectfully, can I go out here and ask your secretary to print it out? We'll read it together. You definitely did that. And he goes, oh, you talk about natural gas. Yes, sir. He said, no, no, you misunderstand. He said, what I did is I signed this thing to we're going to we're going to conduct a study on the effects of LNG. I said, no, you're not, sir. You paused it. I know I have the terminal, the export terminals in my state. I talked to those people this morning. This is doing massive damage to our economy, national security.

[00:29:50] It occurred to me, Barry, he was not lying to me. He genuinely did not know what he had signed. And I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought we're in serious trouble. Who is running the country? Like, I don't know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn't know. So did he not know because he had forgotten? Right. Faulty memory. Old man with a failing memory. Is that it? He just didn't remember that he signed it. But if that's the case, then why did he say the part about, oh, no, that was a study?

[00:30:20] Well, who told him it was a study? How did he come to that? Is that maybe he's misremembering it, confusing it with some other thing that he signed that was a study? Or maybe somebody put something in front of him and said, this is to study it. And in fact, it wasn't. It was to pause the exports. And who was that person? And why did they do that? And the people that were in that room, Harris, Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer,

[00:30:49] Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader, and the CIA Director. So who do you think was running the country? I think it might be those folks that Johnson just named. Now, why did it take until, oh, what, last week for Johnson to tell this story publicly? That I don't know. I have never heard this story, and maybe he has told the story before, and I didn't know it,

[00:31:17] and maybe he leaked it somewhere, and it was reported someplace else. But that is terrifying. Because now it makes me wonder and question every single executive order that this president or the former president signed. Did he actually know what he was signing? All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here.

[00:31:44] You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecalendorshow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.