President Biden Channels His Inner Trump
[guest post by JVW]
Well, I think a lot of us saw this coming. One of the things that I thought was most interesting about the 2020 election is that Democrats and their media allies absolutely hated Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, and insisted (correctly) that his personality was toxic and (questionably) that his agenda was the road to ruin. Yet the grand Democrat axis then coalesced around the candidate who is the most similar to the guy whom they purported to hate.
Worried that the President is too old and too white to lead a nation in which youth and diversity are fetishized? Yep.
Worried that the President is a lazy ignoramus blowhard with a penchant for making up things that sound assuring but simply aren’t true? Roger that.
Worried that the President is too flippant and off-the-cuff when discussing important international affairs and thus might frighten our allies and embolden our enemies? You betcha.
Worried that the President is lecherous and of low character, treating women with far too much familiarity? Uh-huh.
Worried that the President is a petulant bully who is too thin-skinned to take criticism and expects to receive a level of respect that he hasn’t done anything to deserve? Check.
Worried that the President treats the White House media — the “gatekeepers of our democracy” — with snide contempt and disdain? Surely.
Worried that the President has used his position to further the business interests of himself and his sleazy family? Can’t really argue and it’s nothing new.
Worried that the President is at heart an authoritarian who if given the chance would be glad to bypass democratic norms and rule by fiat? Right there with you.
Worried that the President plays to the most ignorant parts of his base by making grandiose promises which he almost certainly has no ability (or even willingness) to keep? Ten-four, good buddy.
Yesterday President Biden doubled down and demonstrated yet again that we traded the rightish version of Donald Trump for his leftish doppelgänger. At his press conference earlier today, when asked if his inability to pass the Democrats’ hyper-partisan election bill might render this November’s election illegitimate, the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue borrowed a page from the playbook of his predecessor:
Following the president’s big speech in Georgia, I asked if the press was ready to put this question to Joe Biden about his hyperbolic claims in support of the Democrats’ voting and elections bills: Does Biden truly believe that, if these bills do not pass, America will not have democratic elections in 2022? Will he reject their outcomes as illegitimate?
Well, today he was asked that question, and his answer was, basically, that it depends if Democrats win:
It all depends on whether or not we’re able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election. . . . I think it would easily be illegitimate. The prospect of it being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reformed passed.
This does not seem accidental. It comes on the heels of Chuck Schumer’s saying about passing Electoral Count Act reforms, “That makes no sense. If you’re going to rig the game and say, ‘Oh, we’ll count the rigged game accurately,’ what good is that?” When the Senate majority leader says our elections are a “rigged game” and the president says “it depends” when asked if he’ll accept the outcome of the upcoming elections, that is a dire sign for the party in power’s respect for democracy.
Of course it was just fourteen short months ago that everybody who was Virtuous & True was huffing and puffing about how irresponsible it is for an elected official — let alone the friggin’ President of the United States — to suggest that an election loss which comes in a contest held under rules that you don’t like is therefore corrupt and illegitimate.
Yet the guy who was elected not because he was particularly bright or wise or perspicacious or competent but because he was allegedly far less of a total train wreck than Donald J. Trump turns out to be a great deal like President 45 indeed. The Biden Administration thus far has been one failure after another — no, I don’t count simply passing legislation as being indicative of success, especially when that legislation has failed to accomplish its objectives — and his approval rating is today at the levels of his predecessor at the same point in the Trump Presidency, perhaps even lower.
Joe Biden has responded to his obvious organizational sputtering with his usual mixture of blarney, ignorance, obliviousness, wish-casting, bad faith arguments, bullying, and divisiveness. Despite his press team doing their usual bit to walk back or otherwise blatantly lie about the dumbest things the boss recently said, and with most establishment Democrats practically begging him to change directions and tack back to the center, President Biden gives every indication that he is too dense and foolhardy to execute a policy pivot and will continue to court the approbation of the insurgents, at least until Ron Klain has a change of heart. It promises to be a long and ugly year ahead in the nation’s capital.
– JVW
This was supposed to be an administration of “professionals” and “steady Washington hands,” but it has turned out to be an administration of tired old hacks, overrated nonentities, and clueless ideologues in a hurry to wreck stuff. Probably the worst combination imaginable.
JVW (ee64e4) — 1/20/2022 @ 6:48 pmEpic rant, JVW. You appear to have moved on from Junior Varsity Writing. 😛
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/20/2022 @ 7:32 pmThe emperor is surrounded by flatterers and party loyalists who tell him that he did remember to wear pants today and is thus competent enough to lead the free world. If only Biden was humble enough in a rare moment of lucidity to admit to them he’s not as powerful and capable as they all tell him he is.
Biden’s present mental incompetence blended with his life long stupidity is going to cause a war. Or two. The balance of power with Biden “in charge” is not a deterrent to adventurism by China, Russia or Iran.
steveg (e81d76) — 1/20/2022 @ 7:48 pm‘…President Biden gives every indication that he is too dense and foolhardy to execute a policy pivot and will continue to court the approbation of the insurgents, at least until Ron Klain has a change of heart. It promises to be a long and ugly year ahead in the nation’s capital…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSpOjj4YD8c
D’oh!
… and Putin smiled.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/20/2022 @ 7:54 pmOne can only blame the voters of this demented fool.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/20/2022 @ 9:34 pmYou wouldn’t want this guy driving your kids in a school bus.
You wouldn’t want this guy piloting the 767 you were flying in.
You wouldn’t want this guy conducting any surgery on you.
You wouldn’t want this guy at the wheel of an Atlanta bound 18-wheeler full of Coors.
So what the heck, let’s make this guy the most powerful man on Earth with the most destructive force imaginable at his fingertips instead.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/21/2022 @ 12:02 am2020 DNC and democratic establishment beholden to the billionaire donor class tells candidates we have to stop bernie sanders or no more $$$ from donors. Get out of race so we can drag doofus across the finish line! Older black women in southern primaries will vote for doofus and we can manipulate northern primaries now that sanders has won california primary thanks to AOC getting out the latinx vote. The democratic establishment cares about now is keeping its leftist base from taking over the party. Older white liberal women is the only group still not unhappy because he is not trump.
asset (92578b) — 1/21/2022 @ 1:00 amR.I.P. Bruce Kulick aka ‘Meat Loaf,’ 74
Today’s Blue Plate Special:
‘Bat Out Of Hell.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9hLcRU5wE4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq7k2YsCCpo
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/21/2022 @ 2:24 amThe demented fool thinks the only good pipeline is the Putin pipeline.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/21/2022 @ 2:34 amI’ll take Kamalalala ding dong for a thousand, Alex.
Having first been put off by his VAWA grandstanding back in the 90s, I’ve never like Biden and have often been amazed that such a clown remained in office for so long. But the 2020 election offered us a choice between two turd sandwiches–just a different choice of bread–and I confess that I held my nose and chose the Biden turd sandwich, only because I thought it somewhat less smelly than the Trump turd sandwich (see https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/lifestyle/magazine/trump-presidential-norm-breaking-list/ for examples that informed this difficult choice). Biden has a long history of saying stupid things, so I never expected much of his presidency. But he has managed to say (and do) even dumber things than I expected. Though no one could convince me that Trump would have been at all better, I wish now that I simply had not voted at all.
Roger (17a3ee) — 1/21/2022 @ 6:10 amYou have still got Biden, but with supposedly clean hands, Roger, if you eat the election out.
What were the top 10 things that Trump did to not secure your vote in 2020?
BuDuh (4a7846) — 1/21/2022 @ 6:14 am…sat the election out.
BuDuh (4a7846) — 1/21/2022 @ 6:15 amI forgot to mention that I don’t subscribe to the WaPo, so I cannot see someone else’s list. I was wondering what your personal pre election list was.
BuDuh (4a7846) — 1/21/2022 @ 6:19 amI read somewhere, but only God is All-Knowing, that Hope is one of the three Christian virtues because it is an expression of Free Will.
Sure, we could have huddled in a corner like a Gitmo prisoner on a diet of sewage and mind-altering drugs, not even waiting for the next waterboarding because they had now become routine or, with just one vote, one teensy-weensy little vote, we might improve our situation.
That we might not have improved our situation is irrelevant to whether it was the right thing to try. And, in any case, I am not convinced that we did not. Like I said, only God is All-Knowing.
nk (1d9030) — 1/21/2022 @ 6:37 amAll good points, JVW, but Trump will remain a unique figure in history with his complete lack of character, complete dishonesty, selfishness, narcissism, bad temperament and seat-of-the-pants decision making, IMO. It’s a dangerous combination for being in the most powerful job on earth.
Biden may score low among historians, despite good intentions, as a bumbling muddler, because he won’t get anything else done in Congress except spend buttloads of money, but he may well come across a real test if/when Putin tries to take more of Ukraine.
Trump’s malevolence was only tempered by his incompetence.
Are you talking about Trump or Biden? The correct answer is both.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 1/21/2022 @ 6:37 amDuring the 2020 election year, the Never Trumpers were telling us what a wonderful man Biden was. They extolled Biden’s so-called “Decency.”
DN (3966d9) — 1/21/2022 @ 6:58 am@ JVM
What’s even more amazing with that, is that polling is even WITH a very favorable media.
I still say, that Biden’s Afganistan debacle itself, is worst than anything Trump did (even over 1/6).
And now he’s going to lead us to WW3 because of his ineptitude, to the point now that I’m wishing he’d step down so that Harris can take over. She can’t be worst…right? (I’m mean, yes, Harris would be bad, but not this epically bad…right?!?)
whembly (7e0293) — 1/21/2022 @ 7:03 am@16
The man has always been, will aways be, a craven opportunist devoid of any decency.
whembly (7e0293) — 1/21/2022 @ 7:04 amDon’t forget – Stacey Abrams never accepted her legitimate electoral defeat in Georgia and not one Democrat stood up to correct her.
Hillary, after initially accepting her loss to Trump spent a good chunk of time trying to convince everyone that the election was rigged by the Russians. Her lawyer and confidants pushed her phony dossier full of Russian disinformation far and wide.
Hoi Polloi (121542) — 1/21/2022 @ 7:15 amBe proud, Pattericans! Perhaps you will think things through next time.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/21/2022 @ 8:13 amRIP comedian Louie Anderson (68).
Rip Murdock (379be7) — 1/21/2022 @ 8:18 amPerhaps the Lord will help Louie out with a sandwich…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/21/2022 @ 9:24 amR.I.P. Bruce Kulick aka ‘Meat Loaf,’ 74
Today’s Blue Plate Special:
‘Bat Out Of Hell.’
Meat Loaf was born Marvin Lee Aday. Bruce Kulick was with Grand Funk Railroad (and is still alive).
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/21/2022 @ 9:29 amKulick was also a long time member of Kiss.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/21/2022 @ 9:29 am17. whembly (7e0293) — 1/21/2022 @ 7:03 am
Doesn’t that depend upon Vladimir Putin?
For one thing, Vladimir Putin is not a hypochrodriac who thinks he’ll be good for nothing in a few years.
Are you saying that Biden seems to be ready to hit Goldilocks situation for starting World War III – , maximizing the possibility of a miscalculation on the part of Vladimir Putin because he will in the end, intervene?
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 1/21/2022 @ 9:41 amSammy,
Russia is now demanding NATO out of all formerly Soviet Bloc states.
Thanks for the speech Biden. Go back inside for the next 3 years and don’t come out.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/21/2022 @ 10:28 amOh St. Eugene Sawyer of Chatham (Chicago) and St. David Paterson of Harlem, we beseech thee to fill the spirit of your lost child Kamala with the minimum of wisdom not to completely crap the bed in a less than full term in power.
urbanleftbehind (c073c9) — 1/21/2022 @ 10:34 am@25
That’s exactly what I’m saying and fearing.
whembly (ae61f7) — 1/21/2022 @ 10:54 amI think he will probably send Ukraine lots of military aid and, on the civil front, at most cut Russia out of the international payments system (is there more he and the EU can do?) maybe with the idea of forcing Russia back out, pr prevents an occupation similar to the way Germany felt compelled to stop its expansion and pull out of France in 1871, and that was without specific threats.
But if it comes to that, and it works, it would have worked with Pakistan to force the Taliban out of power, so it reveals a mistake.
Ukrainian president Zelensky says the situation with Russia is not any worse than it’s been since 2014.
The answers to Russia’s questions must be composed very carefully or very vaguely.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 1/21/2022 @ 11:08 amAmerica’s back, baby!
Never Trump! Never Trump!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/21/2022 @ 11:25 amSo our allies France and Germany have turned down Brandon’s requests for a chat…
C’mon, Brandon!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/21/2022 @ 11:27 amWhat would that young warrior Bearclaw Vindman do!?!?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/21/2022 @ 11:28 am@19 difference between not accepting defeat and actively trying to overturn election. Many democrats didn’t accept defeat in 2000 and thought bush stole the election ;but told black caucus that they would not challenge the certification. I thought they should have. Clinton wouldn’t join green party’s jill stein in joining in the recount let alone challenging the election.
asset (959da8) — 1/21/2022 @ 12:14 pmUkriane solution 1950 korean war solution send in volunteers! Plenty of people hate putin and russia.
asset (959da8) — 1/21/2022 @ 12:17 pmThe Chinese “volunteers” in 1950 were quite clearly acting under orders.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/21/2022 @ 12:40 pmNJRob (eb56c3) — 1/21/2022 @ 10:28 am
No chance. All Soviet bloc states? Not just Estonia, LAtvia and Lithuania, but Poland too?
I can’t confirm any of that with Google News
Wwll, I do see Romania and Bulgaria.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/01/21/get-out-of-romania-and-bulgaria-russia-tells-nato-amid-ukraine-tensions-a76116.
Not that they quit NATO but that troops get pulled out.
Putin can always blink, so he may think this a safe request to make..
He =may need a yes in order to invade Ukraine. A no will stop him.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/21/2022 @ 12:48 pmThe demand about Romania and Bulgaria is so preposterous it must be a last ditch effort on the part of Putin to avoid cancelling the invasion or to get his get his generals to agree. There could be some other ideas.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/21/2022 @ 1:04 pmTranscript of Biden press conference Wednesday:
His press Secretary wanted to end it, but he ignored her.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/01/19/remarks-by-presi
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/21/2022 @ 1:09 pmdent-biden-in-press-conference-6/
@37. NATO’s Germany won’t help Ukraine, Sammy. It’s the ‘April Glaspie-Price-Is-Right-moment’ for ol’ Vlad:
“Vladimir Putin, come on down!”
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/21/2022 @ 1:11 pm@23. My error.
___
@15. Trump’s been out of office a year yet still rents space in your head. Has he paid up? OTOH, if he’d been re-elected you’d only have three years left — and a secure border, more opportunity at SCOTUS seats, etc., etc.. Instead, you now have three years of SX-70 Joe. Maybe. We’ll see what develops. A President Harris, perhaps? If he runs again and wins, all the more agony. Hence, raising Joe to Trump’s level is… desperately quaint.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/21/2022 @ 1:21 pmWhistling past the graveyard; Ukranian sez: “Where will we bury the Russian soldiers?”
Spoken like a Pole, circa 1939; or a Hungarian, circa 1956; or a Czech, circa 1968; or a Crimean, circa, 2014.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/21/2022 @ 3:13 pmCNN reports United States State Department Official representing the Biden Administration actually said:
‘If Russia invades Ukraine, diplomacy is over.’
Duh.
Fire Sherman. Fire Blinken. Fire them all.
Now.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/21/2022 @ 4:17 pm