His embarrassingly degraded role became apparent last week when he abruptly strayed from the script during a keynote address in Poland, announcing to Vladimir Putin that “for God’s sake, this man can not stay in power.” It was a dramatic escalation, a clear and simple message that no sane person could misinterpret, and yet the White House did not even seem to ask his permission before “clarifying” his statement. Biden’s people – who’s supposed to work for him, not the other way around – immediately denied that he was calling for regime change. They argued, within seconds of his speech, that the words he uttered did not really mean what he apparently intended to imply. Undoubtedly, they sought to protect Biden from himself and to safeguard US interests by canceling an intervention that could provoke a furious Russian reaction. However, it was an amazing moment, which showed that Biden’s role is now largely ceremonial: it is a collective administration, with a powerful Democratic Cabinet and a federal bureaucracy. What Biden says should not be taken too seriously. He is not the source of power and has a habit of clarifying what his colleagues were discussing in private. Many times in recent days, the President’s statements have been “removed” from those in charge. More specifically, he wrongly told the members of the 82nd Airborne Division that they would “go” to Ukraine soon. He said the United States would respond “accordingly” if the Russians used chemical weapons. His worst blunder came when he claimed before the Russian invasion of Ukraine that “it’s one thing if it’s a small invasion and then we end up fighting over what to do and what not to do.” He was then asked if he was “effectively giving Putin permission to make a small invasion of the country.” Biden’s response sent an even more devastating message to the Russians: “Good question. That’s how it sounded, didn’t it? “ Perhaps you expected that the intervention of his officials to change the regime in particular would have sparked a huge controversy in Washington – where the US Constitution states that officials dictate policy? – but it should not have been done. The double standards and the two measures and the two weights between the American elite of the Left, who pretend not to pay attention to what is happening, are shocking. After four years of tough war with Donald Trump, much of the US media establishment has returned to its old friendly approach now that one of them is back in the White House. For them, the appearance of normality, the false return to the mainstream codes of conduct, the fact that the Ivy Leaguers are again in charge of the Treasury and State, are far more important than the reality, which is that the president does not really preside and that America’s constitution is once again in deep crisis. It’s a scandal. Leading commentators were grumpy about the White House denials, but refused to ask the obvious questions about the president’s series of blunders or demand an inquiry into why this might be happening. If it was Trump, there would be calls to the cabinet to at least consider invoking the 25th amendment to the US Constitution as to whether a president could be deemed unfit to remain in office. Why such leniency towards Biden? Is it because Democrats believe that Kamala Harris, the vice president, is simply not good enough to become president? Is it because they believe in the idea of a Platonic lie, that it is in America’s interest to pretend that Biden is still fully responsible, to prevent Trump from returning? Or is it because they are intimidated by opinion polls showing that Republicans are going to sweep the midterm elections? There is no excuse for failing to control and hold accountable any president, regardless of party. Biden’s shocking weakness also helps to explain the catastrophic shift in US policy in all other respects. He is supposed to have been elected as a rational centrist, a liberal rather than an awakened activist, a traditional Democrat rather than a neo-socialist. However, financially, his latest tax proposal is far worse than anything Jeremy Corbyn dreamed of. Biden wants to tax unrealized capital gains, something he has never attempted to do so. It wants to tax wealthy Americans – in fact, not just billionaires but many other businessmen and investors, without contributing to the collapse of the US economy – by increasing their wealth on paper. This would be a recipe for financial collapse, brain drain, capital flight and a huge recession. Ordinary Americans as well as businesses are already fleeing Democrat-run cities now plagued by rampant crime, waking up with school dementia, rising taxes and, for a long time, overly severe Covid lockdowns. In the year to July 2021, left-wing New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles lost more than 700,000 residents. Meanwhile, conservative suburbs are booming. As Douglas Carswell has pointed out, about 80 percent of the population growth occurred in just 10 counties. Five of the fastest growing were in Republican Texas and two in Republican Florida. In terms of foreign policy, he seeks to turn the clock back to the time he was vice president. Biden proposes a disastrous surrender to Iran over the nuclear issue, and even the removal of the Revolutionary Guards terrorist name. His withdrawal from Afghanistan was theoretically correct, but it was executed catastrophically, and helped signal to rogue regimes that the United States had softened. The fact that Biden is in office, but not in power, has given his party’s hardliners the freedom to wreak havoc. His presidency is proving a disaster for America and a disaster for the rest of the world. How much longer should we tolerate this parody?
