Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
Another couple of weeks, another bout of madness from Joe Biden and his team. Of recent Biden delusions, consider:
Biden went off in one of his impromptu Corn Pop, or “beat-up-Trump-behind-the-bleachers” fables. These often slurred and nearly unintelligible tales characteristically virtue signal Biden’s own victimhood and “courage.”
They are interspersed with his bizarre propensity for eerie female contact. So we see or hear of his long record of blowing into the ears and hair, or squeezing the necks of young girls. He hugs, for far too long, mature women. He can call out among a crowd an anonymous attractive teen stranger. Or, recently he relates an incoherent but quasi-sexual vignette.
So Joe recalled his patient days in his usual off-topic “no lie/not kidding/no joke” manner (i.e., tip offs that he’s lying). He told us that a noble nurse once would “come in and do things that I don’t think you learn in medical school—in nursing school.” The president got a nervous laugh from the apparent quasi-pornographic reference (but then again Joe is excused because he is a “feminist”), before he detailed her technique:
She’d whisper in my ear. I didn’t—couldn’t understand her, but she’d whisper, and she’d lean down. She’d actually breathe on me to make sure that I was—there was a connection, a human connection.
A woman leaning over to blow into a prone man’s ear certainly constitutes a “human connection.” Yet all of Joe’s fables have different Homeric-style retellings. Two years ago he claimed that the same nurse in question actually blew into his nostrils. What a strange air-pressure technique that must have entailed for a person recovering from brain surgery. But perhaps it was consistent with biblical references to God blowing the spirit of life into the nose of man.
About a week later, referencing that hospital stay, Biden added that doctors “had to take the top of my head off a couple times, see if I had a brain”—a reference that did not reassure the nation he is not enfeebled.
No one in the media had much of a reaction because Joe Biden’s political utility and near senility serve as exemptions for his often sexist, racist, and creepy riffs.
Instead, the media wrote off the nurse breathing into good ol’ Joe’s orifices as belonging to the same weird genre that a while back gave us inner-city kids stroking the golden hairs on Joe’s tan legs, or the shower revelations of Ashley Biden’s diary, or his “you ain’t’ black,” “put y’all back in chains,” and “junkie” sorts of racial condescension (e.g., “Why the hell would I take a test? C’mon, man. That’s like saying you, before you got on this program, you take a test where you’re taking cocaine or not. What do you think? Huh? Are you a junkie?”).
Joe also blustered to a crowd during Black History Month, “I may be a white boy, but I’m not stupid.”
The crowd laughed at the idea that the jester Biden believes white people are usually stupid, but that he, Joe, the exception to his race, is not stupid, despite being white. At least Biden finally referenced himself as “boy.” Usually he has used that racial putdown for prominent blacks like Maryland Governor Wes Moore or a senior White House advisor Cedric Richmond.
The February-March madness of Joe was not through. Sometimes, his venom renders him disgustedly comic, as when he took the occasion of mass American deaths from fentanyl on his watch, to chuckle that the carnage was at least worse under Trump (an abject lie):
‘I should digress, probably. I’ve read, she [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene], she was very specific recently, saying that a mom, a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl, that, that I killed her sons. Well, the interesting thing is that fentanyl they took came during the last administration.’ Followed by the Biden laugh.
Apparently, 100,000 dead at least deserves from Joe a “Trump did it” chuckle.
Joe, for the third time in two years, tripped and nearly fell ascending the ramp of Air Force One. At some point even his supporters will concede that when octogenarians repeatedly stumble and fall, if not put under careful watch or provided a walker, it is only a matter of time until they break a hip and become bedridden.
In another replay, once again Biden finished his remarks, turned around to exit—and had no idea where he was going to go or whose invisible hand he was supposed to shake.
Amid all this, Biden more or less stuck to his now tired rhetorical themes.
One is the serial denunciation of the MAGA Republicans. Usually, he trashes them as semi-fascists or un-American, often in the context of his “unity speeches.” After calling for reconciliation, bipartisanship, and unity, Joe then usually tightens his face, grimaces, and starts yelling about the MAGA dregs and chumps.
If Biden is really angry, he adds the intensive adjective “Ultra” for the MAGAites. He gets particularly incensed when referencing the one percent who “don’t pay their fair share” (the one percent pays over 40 percent of all income tax revenues). Biden is oblivious that the entire Biden clan is under popular suspicion of not reporting all of the millions of dollars in quid pro quos leveraging they raked in from foreign governments without registering as their agents.
Note that his entire team, when stung by charges of incompetency or illegality, usually follows Joe’s tactic of “Trump did it.” So when Pete Buttigieg was criticized for ignoring the East Palestine rail wreck and reminded of his past serial transportation failures, junkets, and incoherent systemic racism charges, he retreated to blaming Trump for the derailment.
Buttigieg falsely claimed that Trump’s past lifting of particular electric railcar brake regulations caused the wheel bearing failure in East Palestine, a lie that even members of his department could not stomach.
Two, Joe creates elaborate fables. In the past two weeks, he returned to his civil rights lie that he was a campus activist agitating for racial justice. At least he did not add his usual fillips of being arrested or standing up to apartheid police in South Africa.
In Biden’s world, he brags he has reduced inflation. Yet when he entered office in January 2021, the annualized inflation rate was 1.7 percent. Two years later in January 2023 inflation went up to 6.4 percent, after hitting a high in June 2022 of 9.1 percent—6.4 percentage points higher than when he took office. In mid-March we will learn of the February 2023 annualized rate, but it is expected to climb back to more than 8 percent.
If anyone compares the current price of eggs, or rent, or diesel fuel, or a natural gas heating bill or building materials to their respective costs when Biden entered office, then he would know Biden’s inflation is cumulative and has nearly destroyed the affordability of shelter, food, and fuel—the stuff of life.
He mentioned lowering heating and cooling costs of American homes through his climate change advocacy. In truth, on average electric rates shot up over 10 percent last year. Natural gas and fuel went even higher to over 25 percent in a single year.
Biden talks about his low unemployment rate of 3.4 percent. But it is almost identical to what the Trump Administration achieved—without Biden’s high interest rates and acute inflation—in the months before the massive COVID lockdowns.
Moreover, current low employment is largely a reflection of reduced labor participation—due to early retirements, exits during the pandemic, fear of COVID, long COVID, the zoom culture, and most importantly the Biden continuance of massive COVID-era subsidies that discourage employment. The labor participation rate has hit near historic lows under Biden, lower than the pre-COVID rate under Trump.
It was not until last month that the Biden economy finally achieved the level of total employed Americans who had been working in January 2020 on the eve of the Covid lockdowns.
As far as interest rates for 30-year fixed mortgages, they were 2.9 percent when Biden took office. Now they are currently over 7 percent.
In sum, Biden repeats the same patterns of deception: crash the economy as evidenced by many of its major indicators, then when a data point reveals a slight and likely temporary monthly recovery, he brags he “reduced” inflation, interest, or unemployment.
We also heard during the same week from Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland who was shredded during his testimony to the Senate. He argued that the vastly disproportionate FBI response to violence against abortion centers versus attacks on pro-life groups was only due to the differences between light and dark—literally: abortion centers are attacked during daytime; in contrast, pro-life shelters are attacked during night.
Apparently his Justice Department and the FBI shut down at sunset and reawaken at dawn—as if either most violent crime does not occur at night or there is nothing to be done about it when it does.
Garland further embarrassed himself when he could not explain the disproportionate use of force in arresting or detaining conservative suspects versus the virtual exemptions given prominent left-wing suspects.
Most embarrassingly, when asked why he did not charge mobs that swarmed the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices to influence their decisions—a federal felony—he lamely claimed there were federals protecting the residences.
In Garland’s world, some criminals committing felonies are completely exempt if law enforcement prevents further violent manifestations of their criminal behavior. So illegally swarm a Supreme Court justice’s residence to influence a court decision, but then stop short of escalating further by the sight of law enforcement—and, presto, you never committed a crime in the first place.
Garland finished off his recent nonsense by repeating the lie that five police officers were killed due to the January 6 protests. In fact, none were. Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes after the protests were over. The other four committed suicide weeks or even months later and no one has connected their self-induced deaths with any act of the protestors.
About the same time, a beleaguered Pete Buttigieg went off on riffs about Tucker Carlson, who, he implied, lacked the grassroots, working-man fides of Buttigieg.
He claimed that for all the criticism he has endured, he believes that he will be remembered for posterity for his fight against “climate change”—although he did not point to any concrete result in reducing carbon emissions due to his singular policies.
In fact, Buttigieg will be known but for other characteristics: He repeatedly emphasizes his identity politics gay stature both to note his supposedly pathbreaking courage and to claim victimhood when attacked. He sees transportation through the lens of race and so chases the unicorn of white privilege, whether concerning past freeway routes or the makeup of current construction crews (falsely charging that white men are overrepresented on them). Under his tenure as Transportation Secretary, the country experienced dangerous supply interruptions, ossified ports, and harbor-bound trains robbed in Wild West fashion.
Buttigieg’s diversity mandates either did nothing to ameliorate, or actually led to, a series of near-miss airline crashes, the complete shutdown of the airline industry due to computer glitches and weather, the implosion for a week of Southwest Airlines, the East Palestine derailment disaster, and labor interruptions. In all these cases he either was on leave or a junket, wrote them off as Trump’s fault, or contextualized them as no big deal.
Delusional Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorkas has declared the border closed and the nation secure, even as 100,000 Americans per year have died from overdoses of fentanyl shipped with impunity across the open border by Mexican cartels. When upwards of 7 million aliens flow across the border illegally since Biden took office, it is written off as Trump’s fault.
Finally, last week there were several interviews with FBI Director Christopher Wray. He could not explain why his agency goes full military mode to arrest a father and husband for protesting at an abortion clinic while having no clue who has been attacking pro-life shelters.
In Wray’s mind, the performance art sweep into Mar-a-Lago, which he claims was not a “raid,” was no different from having Biden’s lawyers quietly conduct their own “investigations” of Biden’s improper removal of classified documents (improper with an asterisk, since no vice president has the president’s legal authority to declassify whatever he wishes).
Wray could not explain why the FBI sat on the Biden trove until the midterm election was over and then only acted to further search Biden residences when its own asymmetrical protocols came under fire.
Add up the last few weeks, and we learned that Christopher Wray’s FBI is doing splendidly in its even enforcement of the law. Merrick Garland’s Justice Department is absolutely disinterested and treats all sides equally. Alejandro Mayorkas has closed the border and we are now “secure.” Pete Buttigieg is building a legacy for the ages as a climate change crusader.
And an eloquent and dynamic Joe Biden has compiled an impressive legislative record on his way to a great presidency—with the energy, we are told by Dr. Jill Biden, that is more impressive than any 30-year-old’s.
The Empire of Lies is past the point of no return.
Right on the money, as usual. Thank you.
Dear Dr. Hanson:
There is no reality like virtual reality. Half the country seems to be enjoying the show with Mr. Biden and his circus. It really is eerie!
You speak truth. I find myself waking in the am and reading the news with the same anticipation and interest I once had for “Alice in Wonderland”. lol
To add, since I can’t edit; I often feel like Alice in Wonderland.
Charles, I think you’re on to something there. I think there is a faction of “Dark Brandoners” that feel that they’re unleashing destruction on their political enemies ala Trump. Whatever the team, there’s always a fraction of us that “just want to watch the world burn”.
Thanks VDH, for a thorough review of the Biden debacle. Truly a new low for an American president. And a sad embarrassment for all Americans.
I hope readers will find your other articles that describe the insanity of current American politics that could put such an incompetent in office. And including the deep state lawlessness of FBI, DOJ and 50 former federal officials who colluded with self-serving mainstream media to promote the two worst possible candidates in both 2016 and 2020 POTUS elections. Meanwhile, better candidates from D&R and other parties were ignored by biased media debate moderators. American citizens now suffering the consequences.
So agree.
Indeed, it seems we reach a new low almost every day.
However, in my little view, the absolute lowest was his first summer as Prez and his “incident” while visiting the Vatican. He seems to ‘step in it’ almost every day since.
Another brilliant dissertation, Professor Hanson. The albino reptile, while shedding his skin, has reached a new pinnacle in his quest to destroy our once great Republic. I would further add in a recent publication “Scalia: Rise to Greatness” Biden once again aptly demonstrates his prowess during Scalia’s confirmation hearing in 1986 by confronting the future Constitutional Justice stating, “Forget the Constitution. Let’s talk politics here, you and me.”
You have eloquently and concisely detailed many of the disastrous flaws of the this administration, from Biden at the top down to those who enable this corruption. Leaving out the character and moral flaws of Joe Biden (though important), he is not cognitively fit to be the leader of our country. Any other profession from medical provider, to airline pilot, educator , or whatever occupation one wants to name, requires competency at a level necessary to do that job. Most would likely not get into a car with Joe Biden as the driver, so why do we continue to have him as the leader of our country? John Fetterman was elected senator when it was clear that he could not fulfill the role of that position. Even if we tried to elect others to replace those in office now, can we be guaranteed fair elections next year or after? Meanwhile, the media is trying to convince us that all is well while our nation is collapsing. Thank you for an excellent essay.
Lisa…you summarized that succinctly and much better than most….Joe Biden is a moron and was not the sharpest bulb back when he could speak….he is not capable physically or mentally to handle the responsibilities of the presidency and yes our country is hurting….
VDH, a little math correction is in order. Inflation in June of 2022, was actually 7.4% higher than when the great Biden took office, not the 6.4% that you credited him.
I am afraid we have devolved to the point when the political team that one identifies with is more important than its candidate. How else can one explain Sen. Fetterman’s election win? His supporters know he will check the right box when voting, even if he is incoherent while doing so.
There is a saying, “Don’t pee on my leg, and tell me its raining.” Well, Biden and team have perfected the art of doing just that. Of course his should be disturbing to far more of our citizenry than it is. But it is not! Yet, I guess, one should not be too surprised by this, as this is the same citizenry that has allowed “wokeness” to fester
Thomas Paine in THE CRISIS wrote of “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots”. I am afraid those of our citizens that approve, tacitly or vocally, of what the Biden Administration is doing to our country, would not even make this mediocre grade.
Adding it all up, you have a case that Biden and his administration appear completely mad.
Transportation Secretary Buttigieg also has not tackled the problem we consistently continue experience with airline flight delays. Airlines are generally not being held accountable for their flights often failing to meet their flight schedules, when weather or waiting on aircraft to arrive at airports are not legitimate excuses.
The Cleta Mitchell interview in the Podcasts section was strong on solutions. Uictor seems to like to use his articles to go on the offensive and saves nuance and solutions for the Podcasts. He does openly advocate for the Tragic/Agrarian view of Life, so borderline nihilistic pessimism is sort of baked into his cake. Think of this site as the prose compliment to Swedish Death Metal.
I do believe that liberals and progressivies of the Democrat party have gone so much further than the Parisian Theater of the Absurd to the point that it is now the official state religion. Thus for those so inclined, following Biden and his administration will be an impossible act to follow unless we inherit Kamala Harris, let the poor eat word salad.
Mundus vult Decipi.
After grieving the loss of merit at the highest levels of leadership, I guess laughter is the ‘best medicine’; and this was hilarious. I loved the phrase “ossified ports”.
Excellent summary of our ills.
Thank you.
Kinda reminds one of the old movie: “Idiocracy”.
Dear fellow farmer: you explained the issues very well!!! However I and many others need a perspective of the BIG picture. Like the saying “its the light at the end of the tunnel or a train coming straight at us”??? Which is it? What steps do we take to deal with all this? I met a man the other day in a service business- we got talking about our similar ages, the millennials and wolk and the society breakdown. His answer was two fold, 1. I am about to retire and I wont have to be concerned. 2. every older generation believed that the younger generation was lacking. As I asked about specific issues, border, inflation, crime and my favorite “remember the Jimmy Carter days”. His standard answers were always the same as before!! Is this why 50% of the country simply accepts the current slow meltdown??? We got ours and that good enough???
“We got ours and that’s good enough” is the attitude that created the meltdown. From the Greats and Silent generations who felt what they suffered in the Great Depression and World War II entiled them to whatever they wanted to their spoiled Boomer children who believed they just deserved it because that’s the way the world works, right?
Comment from WA State, a democratic far left stronghold:
In WA, illegal immigrants are issued driver’s licenses on request and such licenses are all that is necessary to register to vote in all elections.
Governor Inslee recently equated January 6th to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Patty Murray’s 2022 Annual report claimed She reduced inflation by passing an Inflation Reduction Act.
That was one of the many spot-on descriptions you’ve given of the dire situation we’re faced with. I agree 100% with everything you said but, as usual, you provide not even a hint of a pathway to a solution. I’ll give it another month and if the next post is just another whine-session about everything WE ALREADY KNOW with no ideas for a solution, I’m done with this site.
Blah, blah, blah.
Four legs good. Two legs bad.
All animals are created equal. Some animals are more equal than others.
You want some cheese with that w(h)ine?
Elections have consequences. Stolen elections even more.
Out of respect for Dr Hanson who I believe to possess one of the finest minds I have ever been exposed to I would like to clarify the intent of my earlier comment.
In my working life I spent a fair amount of my time coaching sales managers how to correct non performing salespeople. My advice almost always was do not address the behaviour (Canadian eh),determine the cause of the behaviour and focus on changing it.
The list of examples in the article are examples of behaviours. There is nothing in the article that would be news to any sentient being. I am growing tired and fearful that listing known behaviours does little if anything to correct them. It only makes people more emotional, angrier and less able to find a solution. The only way to fix them is to identify the cause and address it.
Which IMO, takes us back to a simple premise: if that article is something you agree with, and if you are an regular reader of Dr Hanson’s work chances are very good that you do, and you are focused on anything other than election integrity you are being distracted.
God bless America
Dear Victor,
My children are gone on Spring Break. I had some broken sleep and was able to read all of this March Madness article with red wine and popcorn. Best part of my day. Thank you for entertaining and educating us. I thoroughly enjoy reading your perspective on the current state of affairs in our failing country with the current leadership.
Keep writing,
Paula in Tampa Bay
Mr. Hanson,
We can at least be proud of the fact that Mr. Buttigieg is able to keep our most prestigious climate czar John Kerry in the friendly skies working his miracles around the world. Success.
Like Aristophanes’ Socrates: Kerry is held aloft by his own …um… wind.