For months leading up to the 2020 election, Trump promoted two lies. One became THE Orwellian Big Lie of our nation’s history: if Trump lost, it could only be because there was massive election fraud. Despite no evidence, the majority of self identified Republicans, and virtually all Trump supporters, have accepted this Big Lie as the truth. Note that believing this necessitates buying into a conspiracy theory.
Also for months leading up to the election, Trump bragged about his own cognitive excellence, and insisted that Biden was feeble minded and should be forced to take a cognitive exam prior to the debates.
Trump was hardly the first to suggest Biden was declining mentally, but the new conspiracy theory that “his handlers” are “protecting” him was largely born of Trump supporters who bought into the belief Biden is rapidly declining.
In a very general way, this is all part and parcel of the fact that conspiracism is now the default thinking mode of millions of Americans. Conspiracism is certainly endemic among Trump supporters. Conspiracism as a default thinking mode. Not human reason. Not the use of the discriminating component of one’s intellect. No. Conspiracism.
That said, yes, Biden needs to hold that first press conference. I believe he is fluent in issues both domestic and foreign. A friend told me he can actually see Biden’s declining mental acuity in his eyes(!?) uh, OK....
There are legitimate criticisms of Biden. That he hasn’t held a press conference yet isn’t really one of them.
www.vox.com