July 5, 2024

"Social media users have been sharing an image online that shows Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with his irises black and claiming that he is 'on drugs.'..."

I found that at Reuters because I'd Googled "what happened to biden's eyes why are they black instead of blue." I was concerned about how, during the debate, Biden's eyes looked like black dots.

But you know what's really interesting about that? It's from September 30, 2020.  Headline: "Fact check: Biden's eyes appeared blue, not black, during debate."

I also found this, from June 9, 2021, also at Reuters: "Joe Biden’s eyes are still blue." Excerpt: "Posts making the claim that U.S. President Joe Biden has been replaced by another person because his eye color has changed with age are false. Examples can be seen here and here."

Long after his misbegotten locutions are forgotten, I will remember the lost, misty mooniness in Biden’s eyes. When Trump was speaking... Biden’s face was often frozen: wide eyes, vague expression, slack mouth. He looked like he’d just remembered something of drastic domestic importance—the combination to the safe in his bedroom closet, the location of a lost key—and was in the process of forgetting it again. When he spoke, he seemed almost surprised—those eyes again!—to be hearing the hoarse sound of his own voice.... 

And then there's this, from last February, posted by Biden's own X account:

68 comments:

imTay said...

Still blue eyes dilated by powerful drugs might appear black to a camera, so pointing out that his eyes are still blue probably means nothing. But we better call Rupar to get to the truth, and never forget the most important commandment, ignore the evidence of your eyes and don’t come to any conclusions. Rupar will sort it all out for us.

wildswan said...

Here's another conspiracy theory. I've been told that in the upper echelons of society an offer of eternal life is bring made to certain select people in exchange for their co-operation with an agenda. They are told that a cocktail of drugs now exists that will keep you going until medicine learns how to replace all your parts like a rebuilt antique car. I regard this as rubbish because I know the scientists haven't kept a fruit fly alive eternally so they certainly don't know how to keep the far more complex human body going.
This eternal-life-through-a-continual-repair-job idea was very popular with eugenicists and such awhile back and I really looked into it. I believe there is a treatment that will somewhat prolong life if you are healthy at the start and that's all I could find out. But sometimes when I see an elderly person who is in the elite and who has very white skin, few wrinkles, a funny look in their eyes and a certain vigor (relatively speaking) I wonder if I'm looking at a person who thinks they are going to be immortal through material means. Is there an "Eternity Ring" (as I call it to myself) and are they in it?
An anti-aging treatment, which tries to keep your body in balance when it's losing the ability to maintain itself naturally, could go very wrong because of personal idiosyncrasies and shove you down the path of decay faster. That's one good reason not to mess with unknown treatments but people seem very desperate and gullible these days and will swallow anything - intellectual or physical.
Every now and then I find myself thinking about the "Eternity Ring" - does it exist or was it all a high-level urbam legend?

Heartless Aztec said...

The President is jacked and wired. It's not even a question. End of story.

rehajm said...

Oh! I feel so much better now…

imTay said...

I am ready for President Harris. Let's start saying it, let's manifest Joe Biden's exit from the White House.

Ann Althouse said...

"... until medicine learns how to replace all your parts like a rebuilt antique car...."

Or the Ship of Theseus.

Ann Althouse said...

"The President is jacked and wired. It's not even a question. End of story."

The story I'm shedding light on is that it's been this way since the days of his vice presidency. He was held back in 2016 then pushed forward to become President in 2020 by people who knew his condition. It was a desperate move, and it happened after the Kamala Harris candidacy failed and it seemed that Bernie Sanders was going to take it.

Ann Althouse said...

The question is how and why Biden held onto the presidency and continues to hold and why Kamala Harris hasn't ascended according to what seems to have been the plan. The people rejected her in the 2020 campaign and those who promoted her don't seem to want her now.

Was/is Biden power mad or is he struggling to the death to save us from Harris?

imTay said...

"He was held back in 2016..."

That seems to be his fate, it happened to him in the third grade too.

But after reading these stories, I think that there should be a GIF of a horse whinnying every time "Dr Jill" makes an appearance.

R C Belaire said...

The "eternal ring" : Read The Boat of a Million Years, a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson, if you want to learn how it's done.

Breezy said...

“It was a desperate move, and it happened after the Kamala Harris candidacy failed and it seemed that Bernie Sanders was going to take it.“

Accurate. And done by the team so worried about protecting democracy. And Clyburn up in WI this week talking to the 2024 election riggers. They won’t stop.

Breezy said...

“Was/is Biden power mad or is he struggling to the death to save us from Harris?“

Or he and his family want to keep as much of the campaign war chest as possible. Harris could claim it if she were the nominee.

The rule of Lemnity said...

Don’t it make my blue eyes black.

Biden’s eyes now appear black because he has seen the plight of black and brown peoples of color in America, and his has gone through a physical transformation not of his own superficial making but from his own personal experience down in the trenches with the people who didn’t look like him but now see Biden black eyes and identify with his suffering as they suffer.

Biden is one of us now.

Rafe said...

“Or the Ship of Theseus.”

The Jurupa Oak of Theseus.

- Rafe

Tacitus said...

Explains his penchant for wearing aviators sunglasses as often as he can. Dilated pupils don't like bright sun. And hiding your creepy lookin' eyes this way is slightly better than showing them. We are deep wired to look at eyes and determine trustworthiness.

donald said...

If he can’t pardon his entire family for any past crimes his presidency will have been a failure…for the Bidens. That is the end game when he sadly reports he can’t stand for re-election at the convention.

tim maguire said...

Watching Biden’s face—one droopy eye, the other wide open, the twisted smile. He looked like he had a mild stroke. Which he may have—it’s not like they’d tell us if he did.

Big Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lawnerd said...

Biden is a sub-mediocrity at best. His many achievements include graduating near the bottom of his shitty law school class, serial plagiarism, and inability to maintain truth. Obama picked him as a VP candidate only because of his lack of ability, thereby making the master shine in comparison. How he became president is a mystery to me. His win in the 2020 primary and the supposed 81 million votes in the general election makes be believe Trump’s accusations that the election was rigged. Now add senility to stupidity and you have the worst president in the history of this country. Carter was incompetent but at least he was high IQ.

Big Mike said...

My wife picked up a conspiracy theory that he’s using special contact lenses that work as teleprompters because he cannot be counted on to remember his alking points. In this theory Biden’s terrible debate performance is explained away as Trump’s people equipping himself with a tiny jammer that wrecked the wireless signal to the contacts.

American miniarurization technology is outstanding, but that’s a couple bridges too far for me.

My guess is that Biden’s eyes are highly dilated because of the cocktail of drugs he takes to get his mind working (relatively) sharp, so he wears special contact lenses to protect his vision from strong studio lights. When I go to the eye doctor and he dilates my eyes, I’m forced to wear very dark shields inside dark sunglasses until my eyes recover, so this theory seems plausible to me. The theory has the side benefit of explaining why he needed help getting safely off the stage — if the contacts left him practically blind when not looking at the cameras.

Lawnerd said...

Meanwhile we get this winner headline from the fine folks at Associated Press.

Biden at 81: Sharp and focused but sometimes confused and forgetful

Laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

rehajm said...

The question is how and why Biden held onto the presidency and continues to hold and why Kamala Harris hasn't ascended according to what seems to have been the plan

When you get away with the whopper lies they’ve been getting away with it’s impossible to recognize where the limits are. If I were the one pulling the strings I’d act as they did and assume the incumbent President projects stability vs a flawed candidate that could not garner a vote of confidence from her own party. They hoped they could hold Joe together long enough but it’s looking to be a bigger challenge than expected…

…but they probably will…

Christopher B said...

Biden started his campaign to justify the Ukraine impeachment.

Harris's campaign failed to launch and didn't make it to Iowa.

Bernie was on track to win the nomination before the four strongest candidates all dropped out in the span of five days, leaving Biden as his primary opponent.

The Biden campaign desperately tried to find any reasonable black female Democrat officeholder to fulfill Biden's blurt that he was going to select a black woman for VP. The problem is most black female Democrat officeholders are either bat-shit crazy Congresscritters or mayors who were compromised by their actions during the 'summer of love' in 2020. In the end Harris was the only willing and plausible candidate.

Mikey NTH said...

I think the Democrats are going to take their lumps this time around and smile when doing so.

rehajm said...

I’m surprisingly annoyed by anyone who wants to fix the Dem candidate before November. You have some level of accountability to what has happened, so now suck it…

…our system has an opportunity to correct it for you coming in November. I’d like to suggest you take it…

Christopher B said...

The question is how and why Biden held onto the presidency

DOCTOR Jill.

rehajm said...

When I go to the eye doctor and he dilates my eyes, I’m forced to wear very dark shields inside dark sunglasses until my eyes recover

There’s now a machine that takes lovely images of your retinas so dilation isn’t necessary…

Dave Begley said...

My fellow Americans.

I am incapable of executing the duties of the President of the United States. I am therefore surrendering the Office of the Executive on July 13.

But before I go, I’m going to shoot straight with the American people for the first time in my life. This speech isn’t on the TelePrompter as they have no idea what I’m about to say.

I’ve been unable to do my job for some time now, but I held on for three reasons. One, I wasn’t about to let Kamala Harris run the country. Two, my beloved son Hunter was busy collecting bribes - mostly in Bitcoin - from donors and foreign countries. And, finally, Jill liked the perks too much.

I was forced by Barack and the DNC to name Kamala Harris as Vice President. I wanted that gay guy because he’s glib, but they wouldn’t let me. When I pushed back against Kamala, she gave me a blow job to sweeten the deal. Folks, that’s her only talent.

You may ask, who’s been running the country? Who’s they? They is Ron Klain, Susan Rice, Val Jarrett and Barack Obama. Barry and I had a weekly call where he gave me my marching orders.

I’m also here to tell you that the Dems stole the 2020 election. No way in the world could I get 81 million votes. And the Dems are doing it again in 2020.

That Facebook guy funded the steal. PA, GA, WI, MN and some other states I can’t recall is were where the cheating occurred.

My family to date, had been paid $1,666,000,000 in bribe money. You know about the bribes from China and Ukraine, but there’s way more. Jill and Beau just collected $400m for me to step down. Know that $500m in bribe money was paid by both the climate-industrial complex and the military-industrial complex. They really run the country.

To be clear, CAGW is the biggest scam in the history of the world. Folks, it’s all about the federal income tax credits. Fat cats don’t pay their fair share of taxes! Nothing about saving the planet. Solar and wind are expensive and unreliable. The ChiComs, of course, love it.

Donald Trump calls the media the Fake News. That doesn’t begin to describe their corruption. They knew I couldn’t do the job from day one. But as Bob Dylan wrote, “the newspapers all went along for the ride.”

I’ve admitted to a number of crimes in this speech. I’m exercising my constitutional power and giving a full and complete pardon to James Biden, Jill Biden, Robert Hunter Biden and myself. And while I’m on the legal stuff, my student loan forgiveness was all unconstitutional.

I’m also pardoning Donald J. Trump. AG Garland cooked up that lawfare thing against Don. NY and GA were in on it from the beginning.

Folks, there’s an old saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s why I did it. And for the money. I couldn’t help myself. But I was raised Catholic and I’ve just confessed my sins to America. As an old guy, I want my confession to be my legacy.

So please forgive me. And as John Adams wrote, “may only honest and wise men inhabit this house.” I wasn’t that guy and I’m sorry.

God bless America and your next President, Donald J. Trump. Just hoping that he can drain this swamp.

Mikey NTH said...

"Or the ship of Thesus."

Or USS Constitution or HMS Victory for more recent examples.

rhhardin said...

The eyes don't transmit, they receive, as far as light goes.

rhhardin said...

It might be like the false GPS hypothesis, that the satellites track you. Your GPS is just a receiver.

Dave Begley said...

My fellow Americans.

I am incapable of executing the duties of the President of the United States. I am therefore surrendering the Office of the Executive on July 13.

But before I go, I’m going to shoot straight with the American people for the first time in my life. This speech isn’t on the TelePrompter as they have no idea what I’m about to say.

I’ve been unable to do my job for some time now, but I held on for three reasons. One, I wasn’t about to let Kamala Harris run the country. Two, my beloved son Hunter was busy collecting bribes - mostly in Bitcoin - from donors and foreign countries. And, finally, Jill liked the perks too much.

I was forced by Barack and the DNC to name Kamala Harris as Vice President. I wanted that gay guy because he’s glib, but they wouldn’t let me. When I pushed back against Kamala, she gave me a blow job to sweeten the deal. Folks, that’s her only talent.

You may ask, who’s been running the country? Who’s they? They is Ron Klain, Susan Rice, Val Jarrett and Barack Obama. Barry and I had a weekly call where he gave me my marching orders.

I’m also here to tell you that the Dems stole the 2020 election. No way in the world could I get 81 million votes. And the Dems are doing it again in 2020.

That Facebook guy funded the steal. PA, GA, WI, MN and some other states I can’t recall is were where the cheating occurred.

My family, to date, had been paid $1,666,000,000 in bribe money. You know about the bribes from China and Ukraine, but there’s way more. Jill and Beau just collected $400m for me to step down. Know that $500m in bribe money was paid by both the climate-industrial complex and the military-industrial complex. They really run the country.

To be clear, CAGW is the biggest scam in the history of the world. Folks, it’s all about the federal income tax credits. Fat cats don’t pay their fair share of taxes! Nothing about saving the planet. Solar and wind are expensive and unreliable. The ChiComs, of course, love it.

Donald Trump calls the media the Fake News. That doesn’t begin to describe their corruption. They knew I couldn’t do the job from day one. But as Bob Dylan wrote, “the newspapers all went along for the ride.”

I’ve admitted to a number of crimes in this speech. I’m exercising my constitutional power and giving a full and complete pardon to James Biden, Jill Biden, Robert Hunter Biden and myself. And while I’m on the legal stuff, my student loan forgiveness was all unconstitutional.

I’m also pardoning Donald J. Trump. AG Garland cooked up that lawfare thing against Don. NY and GA were in on it from the beginning.

Folks, there’s an old saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s why I did it. And for the money. I couldn’t help myself. But I was raised Catholic and I’ve just confessed my sins to America. As an old guy, I want my confession to be my legacy.

So please forgive me. And as John Adams wrote, “may only honest and wise men inhabit this house.” I wasn’t that guy and I’m sorry.

God bless America and your next President, Donald J. Trump. Just hoping that he can drain this swamp.

John henry said...

(Jill)Biden-Harris 24!

John Henry

Lucien said...

The Democrats are in trouble because they are so burdened by what has been.

John henry said...

Tim,

Brandon may or may not have had a stroke.

He has had 2 brain aneurisms that required twice opening his skull.

In the 90s iirc.

John Henry

John henry said...

Now, it is a law in Lloyd's that the "Jane"
repaired all out of the
old until she is entirely new is still the "Jane". The "Spray" changed
her being so gradually that it was hard to say at what point the old
died or the new took birth, and it was no matter.


Joshua Slocum in "Sailing Alone Around the World"

Spray was the gifted sailboat he rebuilt.

First thing I thought of reading about the oak and These us yesterday.

John Henry

michaele said...

This past Wed in a radio interview, Biden said, "By the way, I'm proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, the first Black woman to serve with a Black president, proud of the first Black woman in the Supreme Court," he said. "There's just so much that we can do because together we—there's nothing. Look, this is the United States of America."
So, since he's a self declared black woman, it's most likely that his eyes would also have made the transition and be dark brown instead of blue.

Roger Sweeny said...

This article from the New Yorker, the article two posts down from New York Magazine: I'm amazed by how nasty they are, how erstwhile Biden supporters are pissing on him. After months (years?) of "don't say anything bad about him; that will only help Trump."

I don't think it's too much to say that much of the establishment literally hates Trump and hate has made them do things that some of them are now ashamed of. So, in this case, they're mad at the president.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Reliable sources say it’s caused by a stutter.

imTay said...

That last image is their technique again, lean into their weaknesses, and deny them and say that the exact opposite is true.

"I knew there was something about his eyes... Oh, it was just him protecting us from Trump!"

Barry Dauphin said...

Isn't Harris' first task as president-in-waiting to find a way to get rid of Biden. I mean if she can't do that...

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

Was/is Biden power mad or is he struggling to the death to save us from Harris?

Biden is struggling to save Biden (all of them) from Harris.
Harris famously called Biden a racist during the 202 debates; later tried to shrug it off as "It was a Debate!" As if.

Biden as president assigned Harris no-win jobs; if by some weird trick Harris found a way to solve the border problem, Biden would have torpedoed it. Again, as if.

Biden is scared that if Harris is allowed to become president, she will not be kind to him and his family. She will say all the right things, but leaks will happen, DOJ will shift focus, things will proceed.

Keeping his enemies close.

Sydney said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sydney said...

Parkinson’s drugs cause pupil dilation. If that’s the cause of Biden’s pupil condition, then that White House doctor has some explaining to do. I have no doubt his pupils are abnormally dilated. As someone above noted, it explains his perpetual use of sunglasses, which goes back to his vice president days.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

We'll since Biden was the first black female VP, his eyes should be dark.

Aggie said...


I thought the perfect, encapsulating sentence from that New Yorker comment was this: "When Trump was speaking—always an opportunity for his opponent to convey a frank, relatable disbelief at the stream of lies that inevitably pours forth—Biden’s face was often frozen: wide eyes, vague expression, slack mouth. "

Whereby the reader immediately knows that they are never going to be understanding anything other than the writer's bottomless partisan bias on all issues Presidential.

"Was/is Biden power mad or is he struggling to the death to save us from Harris?"

He's not power mad, per se. And I would add that Joe Biden career has never been as a politician of the stripe that is interested in public service. The only thing Biden has ever struggled for, was advancing (or saving) the interests of Joe Biden.

JAORE said...

In 2019 I was talking to my neighbor about the election. For context he has two sets of photos on his kitchen shelf. One is his wife the other is the Obamas. I told him I was concerned Biden had signs of dementia. He said, "Absolutely". But he still voted for Biden.

As to the black eyes.... The eyes are the windows of the soul. In Joe's case I was going to say not only is nobody home and the lights are out. Upon further thought the tenant left a long time ago ad the property has been condemned.

Joe Smith said...

Whoever came up with 'Dark Brandon' should have been fired.

The idea that this decrepit old man is some sort of superhero is beyond laughable.

If there is another debate, Trump should just address him as 'Brandon.'

Hilarity will ensue...

Joe Smith said...

I miss Q.

It was a lot of fun.

Joe Smith said...

'I regard this as rubbish because I know the scientists haven't kept a fruit fly alive eternally...'

Reminds me of a great cartoon (and I paraphrase):

A fruit fly is lying on a couch in a therapist's office.

The therapist says, "Where do you see yourself in 30 seconds?"

: )

Joe Smith said...

'Was/is Biden power mad or is he struggling to the death to save us from Harris?'

I think Joe is enough of a narcissist to think that only he can beat Trump.

Because if Trump wins, the entire Biden extended family is going to jail and will be flat broke.

That's his motivation...

loudogblog said...

Joe Smith said..

"If there is another debate, Trump should just address him as 'Brandon.'"

Trump did address Biden as "Brandon" at one point in the debate.

Hassayamper said...

@imTay: Still blue eyes dilated by powerful drugs might appear black to a camera, so pointing out that his eyes are still blue probably means nothing.

Of course. A number of stimulants, notably Adderall, have this "mydriatic" effect. But Biden's flunkies and sycophants want you to think that those who notice such things are in the grips of a batshit crazy body-snatching conspiracy theory sort of like the dead-Miley-Cyrus nonsense. Look how they frame it: Posts making the claim that U.S. President Joe Biden has been replaced by another person because his eye color has changed with age are false.

No matter how much you hate the media, it's still not enough.

Yancey Ward said...

"Whoever came up with 'Dark Brandon' should have been fired."

We still had Inga here the other day promoting it after the debate debacle.

Jay said...

I truly did not think I would live long enough to see the "Kremlinologists" back.
Back to predicting the future and fate of the world based the appearance and croaks of a lurching cadaver.

Rabel said...

Looks to me like his pupils are constricting, not dilating.

deepelemblues said...

Rabel said...
Looks to me like his pupils are constricting, not dilating.

Ding ding ding

Any time you see Joe, no matter how bright the sun is, no matter how many TV lights are blasting him in the face, his pupils are pinned af. Like, you know, stimulants do to pupils.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Black Iris? Hey I've got that cassette!

BUMBLE BEE said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rabel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rabel said...

When the pupils constrict, the light going into the eye is reduced. Some of that light is reflected back out though the iris and produces a backlighting effect. When this reflected light is reduced to a minimum it darkens the appearance of the irises and at some point his dark blue irises begin to appear black.

Michael said...

The author was quite right, the split screen did him in. It was not what he said but how he looked when Trump was speaking. Cannot unsee that.

mikee said...

No, no, no, it was his aphasia, his derailment, the obvious lack of mental focus, his inability to use words or hold a thought to the end of a sentence, that did him in. The blank, open-mouthed facial expression wase just an outward manifestation of his inward state of decay.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Trump did address Biden as "Brandon" at one point in the debate.

It did sound like it but he was really telling Biden, “ask Brandon Suggs” (I almost certainly have last name wrong), who is the head of Border Patrol union. Trump said it twice during the part where Biden was lying about support from the union.

Iman said...

They’ve got P0TATUS Biden on the Harlan Sanders drug protocol… flying on 11 different herbs and spices.

MikeM said...

Doctor: Joe, have your eyes ever been checked?
Joe: No Doc. I swear dey always been blue.

Rosalyn C. said...

Ann Althouse asked: "Was/is Biden power mad or is he struggling to the death to save us from Harris?"

I was surprised you gave Biden such an honorable alternative motivation.

Frankly, we normal mortals all know that at any moment we could cease being here either through some unknown illness or some external accidents or criminal act. How could any sane president put our country in jeopardy by choosing a vice president who would be an actual threat to the existence of our nation? I don't think Biden is struggling to save us from Harris. I honestly think that Harris could muddle through the duties of the office of the president just as she managed to show up for work in Oakland as DA and as Attorney General of CA and sd Senator of CA. You might think she's horrible but she'd do the job.

No, Joe is definitely motivated by his massive selfish ego and his desire to hold onto power.

gilbar said...

Rabel said...
When the pupils constrict, the light going into the eye is reduced. Some of that light is reflected back out though the iris and produces a backlighting effect. When this reflected light is reduced to a minimum it darkens the appearance of the irises and at some point his dark blue irises begin to appear black.

thank you Rabel. I've been Assuming that they were dilated, which made NO personal sense
(downers dilate.. coke constricts)