Huh? PBS Claims 'Biden's Health Has Been Litigated In Public Exhaustively'

Alex Christy
May 30th, 2026 9:39 AM

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PBS News Hour anchor Geoff Bennett and MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart teamed up to try to absolve the media from their past errors on Friday by making the curious claim that “Joe Biden's health has been litigated in public exhaustively.” For his part, Capehart went so far as to try to shift the presidential health concerns to President Trump for simply having three semi-annual physicals since returning to the White House.

Reacting to former First Lady Jill Biden’s recollection of the infamous 2024 debate, Bennett wondered, “So the issue of Joe Biden's health has been litigated in public exhaustively. We're talking about it again because she's talking about it. But the fact that she was so concerned and thought that there might have been a serious problem, that is not what top figures in the Democratic Party were saying at the time. So, Jonathan, does this undercut their credibility?”

Maybe it has been litigated exhaustively since the debate, but it certainly wasn’t before. Capehart himself wanted Biden to stay in the race even after the debate, saying, “I am not worried about him, his abilities, his performance, or his mental acuity."

 

 

Capehart also reacted to the Hur Report by asking if anchor Amna Nawaz was trying to “trigger me” with Hur’s observation about Biden’s memory loss while also calling it “gratuitous.” Nominal conservative counterpart David Brooks agreed it was “over the line.”

Back in present day, Capehart sang a different song, “That's not what she even said. The day after, said, 'You answered every question, Joe.' This is not helpful. This is not helpful, certainly for Democrats, who have a unique ability to circle the wagons and then just fire at each other while Republicans watch with glee. This is a sort of a second self-inflicted wound on the party, the first one being earlier last week with the draft of that autopsy that was released.”

Capehart then tried shifting the conversation to Trump for simply going to his physicals, “To my mind, to your point, Joe Biden's health has been litigated up and down, even when he was in the White House, which stands in stark contrast to what is happening today with the current sitting president, who went in for yet another physical at Walter Reed. He's only been in the job for 18 months.”

Wrapping up, Capehart again tried to suggest that “we” were skeptical of Biden’s health all along, “Three visits to Walter Reed? Why are we, as a profession, not talking as extensively and exhaustively and urgently about the health of the sitting president of the United States, when we did that to Joe Biden for four years?”

In other Capehart ramblings, he earlier reacted to Wall Street Journal columnist Matthew Continetti claiming the Texas Senate race will be between Ken Paxton’s “biography” and James Talarico’s “ideology” and that Democrats will have a steep hill to climb if they want to win. While, Bennett has happy to talk about Paxton’s personal baggage, he was less happy to talk about Talarico’s ideological baggage, “Well, what about that? Does this put Texas in play potentially, or is that more theory than reality?”

 

 

Capehart tried to be hopeful, “Well, I mean, if you look at The Cook Political Report, the moment Cornyn lost, they switched it to no longer—I think, from toss-up to lean Democratic. But, again, as I said before, Texas has been the whale that the Democrats have been hoping to turn for at least 20 years. This might be it.”

Cook has the race at lean Republican, down from likely Republican, but nevertheless, Capehart also lamented, “But, to Matthew's point, this race is going to be ugly between the two of them. It's already starting to be ugly with some of the innuendoes about James Talarico. The question in my mind is, will Talarico—how will he take the punch, and then how will he respond to the punch?”

If PBS wants to talk about Paxton’s problems, it should also talk about Talarico’s. The guy believes there are six sexes, that God is non-binary, is troubled by the American flag, thinks meat consumption is bad for the planet, and—in the most recent Talaricoism to go viral on the internet—thinks calling women “our neighbors with a uterus” is a normal thing to say.

Here is a transcript for the May 29 show:

PBS News Hour

5/29/2026

7:27 PM ET

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, what about that? Does this put Texas in play potentially, or is that more theory than reality?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, I mean, if you look at The Cook Political Report, the moment Cornyn lost, they switched it to no longer—I think, from toss-up to lean Democratic. But, again, as I said before, Texas has been the whale that the Democrats have been hoping to turn for at least 20 years. This might be it.

But, to Matthew's point, this race is going to be ugly between the two of them. It's already starting to be ugly with some of the innuendoes about James Talarico. The question in my mind is, will Talarico—how will he take the punch, and then how will he respond to the punch?

And that's something that Democrats nationally will be looking at, but I bet something Texans of all sorts who will go into the voting booth will be watching for to see, is he Texas-tough?

…

BENNETT: So the issue of Joe Biden's health has been litigated in public exhaustively. We're talking about it again because she's talking about it. But the fact that she was so concerned and thought that there might have been a serious problem, that is not what top figures in the Democratic Party were saying at the time. So, Jonathan, does this undercut their credibility?

CAPEHART: That's not what she even said.

BENNETT: Right.

CAPEHART: The day after, said, “You answered every question, Joe.” This is not helpful. This is not helpful, certainly for Democrats, who have a unique ability to circle the wagons and then just fire at each other while Republicans watch with glee. This is a sort of a second self-inflicted wound on the party, the first one being earlier last week with the draft of that autopsy that was released.

To my mind, to your point, Joe Biden's health has been litigated up and down, even when he was in the White House, which stands in stark contrast to what is happening today with the current sitting president, who went in for yet another physical at Walter Reed. He's only been in the job for 18 months.

Three visits to Walter Reed? Why are we, as a profession, not talking as extensively and exhaustively and urgently about the health of the sitting president of the United States, when we did that to Joe Biden for four years?

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