Biden is a stubborn old man whose narcissism and delusional ambition put American democracy and the world at great risk
““Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy,” Mr. Biden said, adding, “Tell me who the hell that is.”1
President Joe Biden has become delusional and, like Trump, believes only he can save the country and the world.
Like Trump, he manifests a narcissism so great that it is a threat to American democracy.
If he stays in the race, Biden is extremely likely to usher in government by Trump and his fascist supporters, and be the cause of crushing Democratic losses to the Republicans in both the Senate and the House.
The sheer hubris of the man is mind-boggling. He is doing everything he can to cling to the nomination in a desperate effort to hold on to power.
He thinks the election is about him, and not about the future of democracy in the United States, and U.S. leadership in the struggle to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression and to uphold the U.N. Charter-based international legal order.
He and his retinue argue that he has done a great job as president since 2021, despite what is arguably the worst foreign policy record since World War II, and domestic failures such as not investigating and prosecuting Trump and his accomplices for nearly two years.
Most scholars and experts, horrified at Donald Trump and fearful of hurting Democratic prospects in elections, have refrained from any sustained and cold-eyed criticism of Biden and his policies. Many work as consultants to government officials and on government projects. Their reticence is perhaps understandable, though one wonders what it would take for them to take a stand.
In the foreign policy arena, at least, we have been a notable exception. We have excoriated Biden and his weak foreign policy team for a number of strategic errors, including in particular his decision in 2021 to withdraw all American military forces and contractors from Afghanistan.
With the Afghanistan withdrawal, Biden not only abandoned some 40 million Afghans to a cruel fate under medieval religious zealots known as the Taliban, but also abandoned 20 million Afghan girls and women to a harsh life of utter oppression by men under a regime which will not let them go to school, study at the university, or do professional work. Indeed, they cannot even leave their homes unless escorted by a male relative.
Biden asserted that none of his advisers had opposed the withdrawal, despite the fact that U.S. military leaders had firmly opposed his decision to withdraw. On this point, Biden repeatedly lied.
Even those urging Biden to withdraw from seeking the Democratic nomination routinely assert the decision is solely his to make. This may be true under the bureaucratic rules of the Democratic National Committee and certain state laws. These presumably can be changed. Whether they would require electors to vote for an individual in obvious declining health, including mental faculties, is an interesting question.
Everyone is singing Biden’s praises as they seek to coax him into surrendering his death grip on the nomination. One is reminded of a quip by Will Rogers who once said,
Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock.
Democratic leaders are currently engaged in the kind of delicate diplomacy Will Rogers would readily understand.
James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and professor of international law at other universities. He is the author of The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021. What We Knew and When We Knew It (forthcoming in August, 2024).
Quoted by Carl Hulse, Michael S. Schmidt, Reid J. Epstein, Peter Baker and Luke Broadwatein in their article, “Biden Called ‘More Receptive’ to Hearing Pleas to Step Aside; The president has given no indication that he is changing his mind about staying in the race but is said to be more willing to listen to the case for bowing out,” New York Times, July 17, 2024 (updated 11:19 pm ET).
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