President Joe Biden is no hero.
He is a career politician who thrives on failure, is purely transactional, and neurotic. His family motto may as well be, “What’s in it for me?” He’s certainly no George Washington, but after following the news this week you’d never think so.
On Wednesday, Biden spoke from the Oval Office explaining why he decided to end his reelection campaign on July 21. The speech included much about why the very survival of the United States depends on Democrats maintaining control of the White House, butwhyHe is no longer running for reelection.
“America will have to choose between going forward or going backwards, between hope or hate, between unity or division.” Biden:“I ran for president four years ago because I believed, and I still believe, that the soul of America was at stake. And I still believe that. The very essence of who we are was at stake. And I still believe that.”
“When you elected me to this office, I promised you that I would always be honest with you and tell you the truth,” he said, later adding, “I am the first president this century to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world.”
A few hours before the speech, Pentagon announces airstrikes in Yemen.
“[T]”The sacred cause of this nation is bigger than any one of us,” Biden continued in his speech. “And we who love this country…[sh] We cherish that cause, the cause of American democracy itself, and we must come together to defend it… Let us act together to defend our democracy.”
Even before the president uttered a word from the Oval Office, reporters were hailing him as a selfless hero for finally bowing to Democratic pressure to bar him from the 2024 presidential race. But if you thought journalists and pundits were overstating it before Wednesday’s speech, you hadn’t seen anything yet. To hear journalists and pundits evaluate the president’s speech, they said he not only spoke to the nation, but also turned water into wine.
“Tonight, for many in this country, the word of thanks refers to Joe Biden and calls him a patriot who stood up for our democracy when it needed it,” ABC News host David Muir said.
CNN anchorAbby Phillips“This moment [Biden]”You know, with all the great American figures — the George Washingtons of the world — he’s moved away from power. I think if he stayed on that path, it would be much more powerful and influential.”
During an appearance on CNN on Wednesday, Democratic strategistDavid Axelrod“He did something unnatural, something very rare in history – he stepped down from a position of power and did it in the interest of the country,” he argued.
Add Washington Post columnistJennifer Rubin“If you cannot appreciate the dignity, the grace, the selflessness and the patriotism of that speech (similar to Washington’s farewell address) and feel compelled to denigrate him, find fault with him or revert to petty partisan politics, then I pity you. You are denying yourself the dignity of America and the inspiration of a great President. Examine yourself.”
Biden is “someone who has dedicated his entire life, his entire adult life, to politics,” the MSNBC anchor explained.Joy Reid“But this was selflessness. This was a level of selflessness that I think is important in terms of talking about George Washington being selfless.”
Oh come on upon. What corruption. What nonsense. What an attempt to rewrite the historical record.
Biden is not a modern founding father with patriotism in his heart. He is not a patriot who selflessly passes the baton. His party leaders had to snatch it from his cold, weak hands. The truth of this final, sad chapter of Biden’s long career as a fixture of the American bureaucracy is that he was given two options by the Democratic leadership: resign with dignity or be dragged out of office with teeth marks on his teeth. What else could they have done?
Biden came out during the June 27 presidential debate, making it clear that he could barely organize a coherent thought, much less function as the leader of the world’s leading nuclear superpower. Biden lost the debate so badly that he seemed all but certain to lose not only the general election but also several lower-level offices, leaving his party with no choice but to oust him. That wasn’t easy.
Democrats started with the carrot but eventually moved to the stick, enlisting the cooperation of the entire news industry to bury the White House under a mountain of thoroughly damning reports. Biden had to be shamed, persuaded, and threatened into giving up reelection.About 1 monthFollowing this, he decided to end his campaign and announced it in a screenshot on Twitter.
The president didn’t come to this decision because he recognized he was unfit for the job, or because he understood that the White House was not his retirement home, but because he ended his presidential campaign because his colleagues and the media left him no other choice, Biden said in an Oval Office speech reminiscent of George Washington’s.
“Like so many of us, I have given my heart and soul to our country,” he said. “The past few weeks have made it clear to me that I need to unite my party in this important effort. I believe that my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future — all of these things — merit a second term. But I cannot let anything, anything, get in the way of saving our democracy — including personal ambition.”
It’s not that hard to read between the lines. I’m fine. I could easily go on for another four years. You have no idea how amazing I am. The only reason I’m sitting here tonight making this speech is because of my traitorous colleagues.
Putting aside for a moment his arrogance, his selfishness, his lack of humility and his lack of respect for the executive branch, let us remember that Wednesday’s speech marks the culmination of a shameful, years-long conspiracy by the White House, the Democratic Party and much of the press to hide the president’s rapidly deteriorating health from voters — a conspiracy that fell apart when Biden himself exposed it in the first and only debate of the 2024 presidential campaign.
This week’s “historic” Oval Office speech happened because the president and his aides lied, outright lied, and lied repeatedly in a conspiracy to mislead voters — a conspiracy that robbed Democrats of a chance at an actual primary — and no true, selfless patriot would have let this happen.
Biden confirmed Wednesday that he would not seek reelection, but stopped short of telling his vice president he would immediately take over the duties.
Biden has no intention of giving upthatNot much strength. He’s still going to board the ship despite everything else. Truly selfless. I pray that no significant incidents occur at home or abroad after 5pm Rehoboth time.
Beckett Adams is a Washington-based writer and program director at the National Journalism Center.
