DAN MCLAUGHLIN: Weeks after cancer diagnosis, Pentagon Chief goes back to hospital without telling his deputy OR the White House for days… how is this any way to run the country’s defense?

It’s utterly remarkable. Is the public to accept that the Department of Defense, which has an annual budget of nearly $820 billion, can’t handle a single sick-out? This isn’t some mom-and-pop grocery store.

No, this whole fiasco is symptomatic of something else – a gerontocratic administration that has no one at the wheel.

Sources let it be known that Biden was ‘exasperated at not more quickly being informed.’ But the 81-year-old, who himself held no public events for two solid weeks over the holidays, didn’t even speak to Austin until January 6. Then Biden reportedly said he would not accept a resignation if Austin were to offer one.

This is a pattern. An administration led by a declining octogenarian, lacking in vigor, focus and mission, is incapable of demanding excellence from its staff.

In 2021, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg – then part of Biden’s ‘Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force’ – was on paternity leave for two whole months while a logistical crisis rattled the economy and stoked runaway inflation.

The public wasn’t told and Buttigieg kept his job.

It’s utterly remarkable. Is the public to accept that the Department of Defense, which has an annual budget of nearly $820 billion, can’t handle a single sick-out? This isn’t some mom-and-pop grocery store.

No, this whole fiasco is symptomatic of something else – a gerontocratic administration that has no one at the wheel.

Sources let it be known that Biden was ‘exasperated at not more quickly being informed.’ But the 81-year-old, who himself held no public events for two solid weeks over the holidays, didn’t even speak to Austin until January 6. Then Biden reportedly said he would not accept a resignation if Austin were to offer one.

This is a pattern. An administration led by a declining octogenarian, lacking in vigor, focus and mission, is incapable of demanding excellence from its staff.

In 2021, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg – then part of Biden’s ‘Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force’ – was on paternity leave for two whole months while a logistical crisis rattled the economy and stoked runaway inflation.

The public wasn’t told and Buttigieg kept his job.

The look the other way attitude from Biden and his handlers descends all the way down to the lowest rung of White House staffers: Message Discipline: Zero — Biden Admin Plagued by Anonymous Letters From Young Staffers.

It’s the same old story: When the staffers of a leftist politician object to their employer’s policies or positions, anonymously, the legacy media faithfully reports that this is done out of respect, even love, for the principal and his/her positions. When the staffers of a politician on the right do this – and by on the right, I mean anyone to the right of Che Guevara – they are bravely coming forth to expose corruption, bad faith deals, and oppressive behavior on the part of their principle.

You can set your watch by it.

Here’s what is happening here, spin by the legacy media notwithstanding: The Biden Administration doesn’t have any idea what much of their staff really thinks, and they have zero message discipline. They have lost control, if indeed they ever had it. Since the word go they have relied on DEI hires and checking off “diversity” boxes instead of experience and competence; they are running cover for a principal who has very little idea of what goes on from day to day, and as the high-pressure campaign season kicks into high gear with the first primaries, it’s very apparent that they aren’t up for the task.

Firing some staffers — even if the White House still has no clue who is leaking — would at least send the remainders that there is some level of accountability. But as we’ve seen, absolutely none exists within this administration.