President Joe Biden, as is customary, attended the dignified transfer of the Kabul heroes at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. And, as is also customary, he met with the Gold Star families of those killed in the suicide attack.

For Joe Biden, it did not go well. Many of the family members had nothing but contempt for the Commander-in-Chief whose disastrous withdrawal mission led to their loved ones’ deaths.

To be fair, that anger is not terribly unusual. After all, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan made it her life’s mission to constantly blast George Bush for the war in Iraq, in which her son died. (She went silent after Obama became president.)

Then there was Donald Trump, of whom media created a cottage industry of finding ways in which he supposedly insulted military dead. Some Gold Star families joined in that chorus, too.

But while Trump wasn’t exactly cut out to be a Comforter-in-Chief, you’d think that Joe Biden would be a shoo-in for the job. Surely Lunch Bucket Joe from Scranton could grieve with these families.

Except he was the one who demanded the risky and too-hasty pullout from Afghanistan that led to the deaths of the 13 service members. That was something the families could not — and maybe will never — forgive.

But on top of that, his behavior at Dover was also insulting to these families.

U.S. Army/flickr/CC BY 2.0.

There was the infamous image of Biden checking his watch while at Dover — something even the liberal Washington Post noticed. Darin Hoover, father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, told Sean Hannity on Fox News:

“They would release the salute and he looked down at his watch on every last one.”

Hoover and his family refused to meet with Biden:

“We said, ‘Absolutely not.’ We didn’t want to deal with him. We didn’t want — we didn’t want him anywhere near us.” 

While Mark Schmitz, father of Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, also noticed the constant watch-checking:

“I actually leaned into my son’s mother’s ear and I said, ‘I swear to God, if he checks his watch one more time …’”

Joe Biden checking his watch as he observes the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base pic.twitter.com/iBJiMDrtyV

— Alexander Cutadean (@AlexCutadean) August 29, 2021

The Gold Star families also heard Biden speak repeatedly about his late son Beau, who died in 2015 of glioblastoma. Mark Schmitz did not appreciate the reference.

“When he just kept talking about his son so much, it was just — my interest was lost in that. I was more focused on my own son than what happened with him and his son. I’m not trying to insult the president, but it just didn’t seem that appropriate to spend that much time on his own son.”

The father of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollom refused to meet with Biden. Roice, one of Rylee’s sisters did, and she also reported that Biden kept talking about his son Beau.

Roice McCollom also told the Washington Post:

“You can’t f-ck up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry. This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands. The thousands of Afghans who will suffer and be tortured is a direct result of his incompetence.”

WaPo reporter Ashley Parker read Roice’s words to Press Secretary Jen Psaki at a Monday briefing. Then she pushed Psaki to answer:

“Can you talk a little about how the President thought the meeting with the families went? And also, what responsibility, if any, for these deaths does he think he bears?”

Psaki, however, gave a calculated answer:

“It is certainly the right of any individual who met with the President yesterday to speak publicly about their experience, but I’m not going to speak about the President’s experience beyond what I’ve said already.”

Not only did Biden’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan result in the deaths of 13 Americans, it also showed how Biden is completely incompetent as president. But on top of that, his meeting with the Gold Star families also showed his cognitive decline.

Take, for example, his perseveration in looking at his watch. Then there were his constant references to his son Beau, whose death, while certainly tragic, was inappropriate to the time and place.

Biden’s obsession with Beau may be due to his belief that toxic exposure in Iraq caused his son’s brain tumor. There is no proof of that, but Biden thinks that Beau’s death connects him with the Gold Star families.

However, those families lost their loved ones because of a suicide bomber. Beau Biden’s illness is irrelevant to their experience, yet Joe Biden doesn’t see his mistake.

Joe Biden lasted decades in the Senate, not because of his brilliance or accomplishments, but because of his blarney and ability to talk a good game. Now he’s even losing those social skills. His interactions with the Gold Star families is another demonstration of how his dementia is leading to a disastrous presidency. And the nation is paying for it.

Featured image: Utah National Guard/flickr/cropped/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.