Biden's aides roll their eyes when he says he feels youthful as First Lady tries to keep him from overdoing it
First Lady Jill Biden has an "extraordinary amount of influence" over President Biden's schedule to keep him from getting overtired, and his claims of feeling youthful are drawing eye rolls from his staff, according to a new report.
"Jill Biden has an extraordinary amount of influence over the president’s schedule," Axios reporter Alex Thompson said during a Tuesday appearance on "CNN This Morning."
"Now, it’s usual for first ladies to keep an eye on the schedule," Thompson said. "It is not so normal for a First Lady to be crafting the presidential schedule."
POLL SHOWS BIDEN HITTING RECORD LOW APPROVALS, FALLING BEHIND AGAINST TRUMP IN 2024 MATCHUP
Thompson explained that Biden's age also causes conflict between his aides over the president's schedule management.
"A lot of aides that I have talked to have been struck that Biden behind closed doors repeatedly says, ‘I feel so much younger than my age.’ He says it so often and with such real sincerity that there’s become this tension where he ends up overextending himself," Thompson explained.
"Aides feel he doesn’t know his own physical limitations and tries to do too much," the reporter continued. "That has this adverse effect where he ends up wearing himself out. Even though he is doing more events, he actually presents as more tired, which is then how you get these poll numbers that show that over 70% of voters have serious concerns about him doing a second term."
Biden's claims that he feels young "can draw eye rolls" from aides who think that the president "doesn't realize how old he can come across," per Axios.
Jill is also "very involved in making sure [Biden] gets enough rest. She's also been pushing him on his diet, trying to get him to eat more fish and salmon and a little less junk food," Thompson said. "She is very much in this role of making sure that the president, who is the oldest president ever, is staying healthy, getting enough rest and being able to present as vigorous going into this re-election."
That is because Jill sees herself as a "protector" for her husband, especially as he risks being exhausted from serving as president and life on the campaign trail.
Jill has worried about her husband's health for years.
"Joe's working too hard," Jill would tell former chief of staff, Steve Ricchetti, according to Joe Biden's 2017 memoir "Promise Me, Dad."
"He's exhausted. He's not sleeping. It's going to kill him," Jill Biden then said of her husband when he was in his "early 70s," Thompson said.
Multiple polls indicate trouble for Biden, especially in reference to his age.
A Monmouth University poll from October revealed a huge gap in the level of concern from voters over President Biden's advanced age versus former President Trump's.