Even Biden’s advisers are shocked by the president’s decline in the debates

President Joe Biden’s faltering performance in Thursday’s first televised debate — an old man showing his age — reportedly came as a shock to White House staffers and voters alike who must choose between him and Donald Trump in November. Sources familiar with the matter told Axios that Biden has been so hidden from view during his time in the White House that many current and former staffers were “shocked by the 81-year-old president’s limitations during Thursday night’s debate.” According to the report, Jill Biden’s top aides took steps early in his term “to essentially isolate the president” — even from those employed to care for him in the official White House residence. “The separation between the family and the residence staff was so great, so divided,” one former residence official said. “That’s not supposed to be the case and it’s generally not the case, even in the Trump White House.” “A White House official said the president “deeply appreciates the work of the residence staff, but is not accustomed to being waited on regularly or having butlers, so some staff members are often allowed to go home early.”