Joe Biden's interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt Monday night was kind of a disaster. His failure to accept responsibility for his dangerous and violent rhetoric about Donald Trump was enraging, but the interview also became the latest example of his disturbing lack of mental fitness for the presidency. He once again came off as tired and weak, but things got really disturbing when he referred to his female Secret Service director as a man.

"Do you have — are you — are you — you have confidence in the Secret Service?” Holt asked. "Do you feel safe?"

"I feel safe with the Secret Service,” Biden said. "But look, you saw the — what we did see was the Secret Service who responded risked their lives responding. They were ready to give their lives for the president. The question is, should they have anticipated what happened? Should they have done what they needed to do to prevent this from happening? That’s the question, that’s — that’s an open question."

"Is it acceptable that you have still not heard, at least publicly, from the Secret Service director?"

"Oh, I’ve heard from him,” Biden said.

Heard from him? Ummm… Does Joe Biden not know that the Director of the U.S. Secret Service is a woman, Kimberly Cheatle? He should; he put her in that position two years ago.

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Lester Holt jumped in to correct him.

"But have you heard from her publicly?” he asked.

Biden appeared confused by Holt’s correction.

"Publicly. I’ve sat down in the Situation Room downstairs. The Secret Service, the FBI, the national security agencies, the Homeland Security, all the major elements. And there’s two pieces to this, too. And it’s — it’s not an excuse. It’s just an ordinary explanation,” he said. "There’s a major piece of this related to domestic and local law enforcement. They play a large role. And so there’s a different comp— I’m not saying they weren’t competent either. I’m just saying it’s a complicated process."

Does Biden not know who the director of the Secret Service is?

NBC: "Is it acceptable that you have still not heard, at least publicly, from the Secret Service Director?"

BIDEN: "Oh, I've heard from him."

The Secret Service Director is a woman. pic.twitter.com/Sc5fGgh5Cm

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 16, 2024

He rambled on for quite a while after that, but one thing he didn’t do was reference Cheatle at all. It felt like he was caught off guard by Holt’s correction and was confused by his referring to Cheatle as a woman.

Biden’s mistake here is downright alarming. It calls into question his mental sharpness and his honesty. How can the purported president not remember that the director of the Secret Service, whom he personally appointed, is a woman? 

But then, this is hardly surprising, considering he also called Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” during his press conference after the NATO summit.

Kimberly Cheatle has been under intense scrutiny for the security lapses that nearly resulted in Donald Trump's assassination. 

As Holt pointed out, there’s been a disturbing silence from her after the incident. Was Biden lying about speaking with the director of the Secret Service while forgetting he had appointed a woman? One might hope that if Biden truly had spoken with her in the past few days, he’d have been reminded that Cheatle is female and wouldn’t have made that mistake.