Cal Thomas: History repeats

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, May 22nd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says questions about former President Joe Biden’s health problems while in office need answers.

CAL THOMAS: The massive cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline reminds me of a similar event more than a century ago.

President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke on October 2nd, 1919. It left him barely able to work. First Lady Edith Wilson moved quickly to shield her husband’s condition from the press and public. Historians say she took on so many of his responsibilities that she functioned like a president. Edith Wilson went so far in her scheming that she covered Wilson’s left side with a blanket to hide his paralysis. Even Wilson’s doctor was part of the cover-up.

As described in Rebecca Boggs Roberts’ book “Untold Power: The Fascinating and Complex Legacy of Edith Wilson,” members of Congress were frustrated when they were prevented from seeing the president. The Senate formed a delegation and informed a top White House aide that they were coming to the White House to see Wilson that very day. Edith and some of Wilson’s staff staged a “dress rehearsal” before the meeting that they hoped would allow the president to seem articulate and engaged. There was even talk of propping him up in a beach chair, but they settled on elevating him in bed. The publicist for the Democratic Party was brought in to help stage the charade.

Fortunately for the conspirators, Wilson was having one of his so-called “good days” when the senators arrived. He engaged with the visitors, even indulging in humor. When one of them said “We have been praying for you, Mr. President,” Wilson replied, “Which way?”

Edith Wilson in essence, if not in fact, became the first female president of the United States. She controlled access to her incapacitated husband, made decisions on matters of state and essentially ran the Executive branch for almost two years. Employing euphemisms that might resonate today with Biden, Edith claimed she did not make decisions for her husband, but that she was only—in her words—a “steward.”

If this sounds familiar in a modern context, it should. With a few changes, it resembles the script used for the cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline, the conspiracy by some of his top staff members who helped orchestrate it, and the denial by the helpful media that there was anything seriously wrong with the president. They all promoted the fiction that Biden was “sharp as a tack” and “fully engaged.”

Democrats now realize they are caught in a trap of their own making. Their response is to tell reporters they don’t want to talk about the past, but “move on” toward the future. Republicans should not allow that to happen. Democrats wouldn’t if the roles were reversed and indeed Democrats impeached Donald Trump three times during his previous administration over what amounted to nothing.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has announced it will hold hearings on the suspected cover-up. Co-conspirators must be called to testify about what they knew, when they knew it, and forced to admit why they lied. This should include former First Lady Jill Biden, who could be called the Edith Wilson of our time.

Under oath they will be required to tell the truth or suffer the penalties that go with perjury. Why the 25th Amendment wasn’t employed to remove Biden from office might be one of the questions asked. The public deserves to hear the truth and not just read books from some of those in the media who were part of the cover-up and who are now trying to wash the stain of deceit from what reputations they have left.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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