Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) essentially agreed on Tuesday evening with Fox News host Sean Hannity’s baseless claims that President Joe Biden is “struggling cognitively,” asserting that foreign leaders are thinking to themselves that the president is being used as a “puppet.”
Hannity, a close confidant of former President Donald Trump, has long peddled conspiracies about Biden’s mental health and fitness, spending the majority of the 2020 presidential campaign portraying the current White House occupant as senile.
In recent weeks, Hannity has returned to openly questioning the president’s cognitive ability, citing reports that Vice President Kamala Harris has held calls with international leaders as proof of Biden’s supposed decline, even going so far as to say “it’s getting a little scary.”
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Interviewing Rubio on his primetime Fox News show on Tuesday night, Hannity began banging that drum once more while wondering aloud if the Florida senator agreed with him.
“Let's start with a guy we knew four years or 10 years ago. Or the guy that debated Paul Ryan,” Hannity noted, mentioning Biden’s 2012 vice-presidential debate.
“I see dramatic, significant decline,” the Fox star continued. “He looks weak, frail, and obviously he’s struggling cognitively. Senator, if I’m—if you disagree, tell me I’m wrong.”
The Republican lawmaker, for what it’s worth, did not tell Hannity he was wrong.
“Well, I’ll tell you what else it reveals, it reveals the hypocrisy,” Rubio replied. “I remember Rick Perry was torn apart and mocked by the press because he couldn’t remember something in a debate. I myself was torn apart in a debate because I repeated the same thing three times. It’s just a complete double standard.”
After recapping his 2016 presidential primary debate lowlights, Rubio then suggested that the cable news host was correct in his medical diagnosis of the occupant of the White House.
“I also think we have to understand something,” the senator said. “If you’re a foreign leader and you’re watching this stuff, they’re going to make their own assessments of what they think they can get away with.”
“Are they dealing with a weak leader? Are they dealing with someone that doesn’t have control of the situation?” Rubio added. “Is he just an instrument and a puppet for the radical out-of-control lunacy of the far left in its party, and they’re just using this presidency to sort of achieve these things they’ve been trying to do forever?”
Wrapping up his assessment, Rubio concluded: “I even remember the president of Mexico, I believe it was today, there’s no way they leave that meeting feeling like they’re dealing with a strong leader.”
The meeting Rubio referenced happened on Monday, not Tuesday.
