This account from Matt Viser of the Washington Post reminds us that we have a semi-retired president who no longer answers questions or spends much time in the public eye at all:

President Joe Biden was in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, unprotected from mosquitoes, fire ants and loud, squawking macaws. But there was another pest he did manage to avoid: the pack of reporters traveling with him.

For a short speech in front of about two dozen people, the journalists were initially instructed to watch Biden on a flat-screen television placed amid sand and lush trees as the president spoke about 50 feet away, though they were eventually moved closer. As Biden finished his remarks, maracas rattled by a local group prevented him from hearing reporters’ shouted questions about Ukraine.

During a six-day foreign trip to Peru and Brazil that wrapped up Monday, the president rarely spoke in public, answering almost no questions despite repeated efforts to engage him. One television producer took to writing messages on a large pad of paper, holding it up as Biden boarded and departed Air Force One.

If it feels like you’ve barely seen the president lately, your instincts are correct.

Since Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, Biden has not taken questions about what he had repeatedly called the most important election in history, one he warned would change the country forever if Trump prevailed.

Biden did address the nation from the Rose Garden two days after the election, confining himself largely to congratulating Trump, promising a smooth transition and touting his own accomplishments in office. “I’ve said many times you can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said. “You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree.”

Since then, Biden has not spoken publicly on whether he has regrets about dropping out of the race. He has not responded to those who suggest he bears some responsibility for his party’s loss because he did not withdraw sooner. He has not fully articulated whether he still believes Trump poses an existential threat to democracy — and, if he does, why he so cheerfully welcomed the former president back to the White House.

Joe Biden has no public events on his schedule today. He didn’t have any on his schedule yesterday, either. He returned from Brazil late Tuesday night.

Viser mentions the possibility that Biden may lay out his thoughts “in memoirs yet to be published.” You know, ghostwritten ones.

Something’s wrong with the president, we’ve known this for a long while, and everyone is supposed to pretend that the 82-year-old president is just doing fine.