What happened: An "internal tug-of-war" has broken out at the White House over President Joe Biden's eating habits, Axios reports.
• The First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, Ed.D., wants her 80-year-old husband to follow a healthy diet. Aides complain that the president eats "like a child," refusing to eat his fish and vegetables like a big boy.
• Biden's favorite foods include "peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, BLT's, pizza, cookies, spaghetti with butter and red sauce, and ice cream that he occasionally makes into a full sundae," washed down with orange Gatorade.
What they're saying: "Damn, [Jill] makes me eat this healthy stuff all the time," Biden complained during a private dinner at the White House in September 2021, according to his sister Val.
• Dr. Jill, who is not a medical doctor, had selected an entree of salmon and vegetables.
• When his wife left the room, Biden reportedly gobbled lemon pound cake and "finished a carton of Breyers chocolate chip ice cream for dessert."
• "I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream," Biden said at a White House event in March. "By the way, I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs."
Why it matters: Biden is the oldest president in American history. If reelected, he would be 82 by the time he is sworn in for a second four-year term. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is one of the most reviled vice presidents in American history. In 2020, she ran one of the most chaotically incompetent presidential campaigns of all time.
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Bottom line: The Democratic Party is desperate to keep Biden alive long enough to win reelection in November 2024. That might not happen if the president continues to ignore his wife's (non-medical) advice to stop eating like an obese toddler.