AP
LAS VEGAS — President Biden’s cognitive health, debate stumbles and the growing belief that mainstream media outlets worked to hide the 46th POTUS’ condition from the public matter none to several Democratic Party-supporting veterans who turned out Thursday to stand by their man.
Ex-military members spoke at a Biden-Harris campaign-organized event, one of several across the country aimed at launching “Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris.”
“Everybody is aiming for the same thing: Defeat Trump,” said Gary T. White, a purchasing agent and the president of the local chapter of the Montford Point Marine Association, an organization of Black U.S. Marine Corps veterans.
“Am I concerned about Biden’s health? Yes, sir, yes,” White said.
“But I’m also concerned about your health, my health everybody else’s health. He’s an old man, but an old man gains wisdom and knowledge and along the way.”
Swing state Nevada, where Trump leads Biden in the polls, is home to Nellis Air Force Base and a significant number of veterans – about 205,000 as of 2022.
White said this election marks “a very significant turning point” for America and is alarmed that former President Trump could return to office.
“I see so many things going backward. They want the LGBTQ community back in the closet. They want women back in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant. They want black people or other minorities in this country to revert back to almost Jim Crow if not [the] Jim Crow era,” he said.
Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman of North Las Vegas — who Thursday equated Trump with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin — said she wasn’t worried about Biden’s cognitive health, nor suggestions that the media covered up his now-public issues.
“There’s nothing to cover up. There’s really nothing to cover up,” insisted Spearman, a top Nevada Democrat.
She added, “President Biden said himself he had a cold and he was not feeling well. I wish people would focus on the fact that he has a proven track record of what he’s done. He has a proven track record, especially for veterans. Did you hear the people talking about that today? Okay, now, that’s the story.”
Nathan Atkins, a U.S. Army veteran who works in technology sales and owns an IV vitamin wellness center said he backs the presumptive Democratic nominee because “President Biden has been in support of [the] military and military families.”
He said he was “not in a position” to judge whether the media has masked Biden’s health issues, and said “I don’t necessarily have concerns one way or the other” about the commander-in-chief’s fitness for the job.
Atkins admitted some general uneasiness about Biden’s prospects, however.
“I’m always worried,” he said.
“I’m always concerned irrespective of who’s, you know, sitting in the seat. I always have concerns and I think it’s fair for people to have questions about anything.”