Former ESPN host Sage Steele referred to Joe Biden as a “terrible president” and described what she interpreted as obvious signs of cognitive decline when she interviewed him in 2021.
“Honestly, I don’t like him,” Steele said of Biden during Sunday’s episode of Bill Maher’s “Random Club” podcast. “I think he’s a terrible president. However, forget that. The human aspect of what we’re witnessing right now with him, to me, is heartbreaking. And it’s inexcusable by the family when you knew during the election.”
Steele recalled her March 2021 interview with the president, adding that she does not enjoy live shows but agreed to do one to accommodate Biden. “It was satellite, it wasn’t in person. We’re having a technical issue. And so I had to, like, BS. I had to chitchat waiting for us to start rolling,” Steele said. “Well what he started to do, of course he has someone next to him and they keep a black, like, curtain over the lens of the camera so you can’t see him until the last second but you can hear and we’re chitchatting… So I can hear him and he goes ‘What is this for?’… And he’s like ‘Who am I talking to? Wait- what’s her name?'”
“I was going ‘Oh, my God!’ Steele continued. “And then he said ‘SportsCenter, ESPN.’ And he goes ‘Oh, ok.’ And so I said, you know, what do you say? ‘Hi, Mr. President. Nice to meet you.’ And so I’m trying just to fill time. And he said, ‘You know, I used to play football’… And so he started to tell football stories of his greatness. And again, I can’t see him. You can see the curtain… He goes, ‘And I have the best hands.’ What do you say to that?”
Steele went on to describe the interview as “sad,” stating that it became evident why Biden was “in his basement” during the 2020 election season. “And then I said ‘Oh, so you were a receiver.’ And he started to explain it. And here’s the saddest thing- his voice just trailed off. He said ‘I was good’ and then he went silent and he goes ‘Uhh… never mind,” Steele continued.
Maher then started laughing, at which point Steele stressed that it was more sad than funny. “I thought it was so sad because I realized that’s why he was in his basement during the whole election cycle. Because even then, he couldn’t finish his sentences. He struggled. So forget about politics, I don’t care, I didn’t vote for him. However, that made me sad.”
