For the most part, New York Times readers hate never-Trump conservative columnist Bret Stephens because they refuse to believe that their ideology might be wrong. But before the outcome of yesterday’s election was known, he wrote an op-ed about humility for both candidates. Buried in there was a reminder about the man we’ve somehow forgotten who, as it happens, is still president and will be for the next two and a half months.
What happens to presidents who think they have mandates when they don’t? Look at Joe Biden, who promised Americans he’d be a transitional president and then decided to take a run at being the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt. He hasn’t had a positive approval rating since September 2021.
Before Biden’s legacy is written in the history books as one of massive failure, he still has a window of opportunity to do things that matter, unfettered by grandiose schemes or threading the needle between the normality of liberal democracy and the pseudo-Utopian hysteria of the woke fringe. He’s got nothing to lose at this point, as the voters have made abundantly clear.
And yet, it is time to admit that, in purely electoral terms, the argument that democracy is on the ballot simply does not seem to work. The reason for that is not just that people care more about pocketbook issues like inflation or that incumbents have in general had a bad run of late. It’s that they don’t trust Democrats on the issue of democracy much more than they do Republicans. According to one exit poll in Pennsylvania, three out of four voters in the state believe that democracy in the United States is threatened; among those who do, it was Trump, not Harris, who had the edge.
In the time left, and in the hours he’s awake and coherent, Biden needs to do as much of the job as he was hired to do and remember why Kamala Harris’ vacuous candidacy was such a resounding failure, cackling notwithstanding. Obviously, “I’m not Trump” failed to be enough to win. Joe, fill the gap that Kamala was incapable of filling. Now is the time, as you will get no other chance.
Commute the sentences of all federal death sentences to life in prison.
Pardon all the people recommended for pardon by the DoJ pardon attorney. And probably a few more.
Direct the DoJ to revisit all sentenced prisoners over the age of 55 for consideration of whether continued incarceration satisfies the parsimony clause.
Stand up for the institutions, the guardrails if you will, of this nation that have preserved us for almost 250 years, like the Supreme Court, that others on the left have undermined as if that would somehow make it better to have no “legitimate” legal system, leaving us to resolve our differences with violence in the streets.
Provide Ukraine with as much military aid as you’re authorized to provide, immediately, and remove all conditions on its use. Be a fucking ally rather than a micromanager of other people’s wars. Same with Israel, even though Israel has its own internal issues that need to be addressed. At least they can prevent a nuclear-powered Iran from blowing up Tel Aviv now, and New York later.
End the idiocy of the fringe left. Condemn identity politics. Stand for equality, not equity. Condemn it and those who promote the lie that we are a terrible, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic, nation. We are a great nation and that wing of your party that finds fault with everything American and blames every manufactured wrong on America needs to be told to shut the fuck up.
Tell the teachers to leave those kids alone and let their parents do the parenting. Fifth grade boys do not need to read books about how to give blow jobs to other fifth grade boys, and fifth grade girls do not need to have their bodies cut into and their fertility terminated because they’re going through the normal doubts of childhood.
Protect transgender folks, but first make sure they really are transgender and then make sure they can be peaceably integrated into the rest of society without subjugating society to their demands of hegemony. Stop trading one group’s rights for another’s, just because the latter is in vogue for the moment. We all have to live together.
I’m sure there are many more things you can do, President Biden, even if I can’t think of them at the moment, to be that transitional president who promised a return to normality and then failed to provide it. Grow a pair, Joe, and use your last couple months to be the president you were elected to be rather than the progressive savior your child-like advisors told you to be.
It’s now or never, Joe. The nation has spoken. Can you hear it?
Your pal,
Scott
Somewhat surprisingly, I, a lifelong Republican, would agree with most of these. But I don’t think there are enough hours left in which he’s awake and coherent.
I agree with everything except the funding of continued foreign wars. We simply cannot sacrifice the value of our currency, our logistical war making abilities, and our peace for other countries. These wars and the natural consequences of such entanglements make the country less safe.
When our allies are fighting our enemies for us, it’s far less costly to help them than wait until we have to fight them ourselves.
When did we declare war on RU, PAL, Houthis, or Iran? I missed that national discussion where the entire country discussed the attack against the US or the pros and cons of a war. Last time I checked the spending of tremendous blood and treasure should be a national discussion. Not the decisions of unelected people who have stock in Honeywell and don’t have to spend a day carrying a rifle in a combat zone.
I get very tired of being told who or what our enemies are. It seems our enemies multiply when there is money in funding the various wars. It seems the MIC is a self licking ice cream cone.
So many enemies. It is so very tiring
Nothing in Joe Biden’s long (mostly mediocre) career has even remotely suggested he is capable of a spontaneous moment of transcendence. Certainly not with a couple of fouled spark plugs in the motor.
Hunter will get a pardon though.
He will do all those things, and more! Pardons? Yes, absolutely he will pardon Hunter. Hunter is over 55 isn’t he? If he isn’t he will be soon, anyway. Remember why Kamala’s candidacy was such a resounding failure? He will remember that forever! They cheated him out of his second term, how could he ever forget? WillBiden’s legacy be written in history as one massive failure? Never! This election was stolen! Stolen, Jill, stolen. But there is still two and a half months left. The American people will finally learn the truth when Jack Smith wins before the Supreme Court. They will rally and march on Washington wearing pink hats. Peaceful, of course. Kamala will not certify the election. There must have been massive voter fraud. There is still more than two months left, and there is a precedent. And Kamala is no Mike Pence, is she? All I can say, is President Trump better deliver. It looks like the Republicans now have majorities in both the Senate and House, and a 6~3 majority in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, whispering in the confused old demagogue’s other ear: “Fuck those better angels. Burn it all down.”
But enough about Trump. Today’s the day “Bidening” entered our vernacular. As in “I totally Bidened that speculative stock and lost my shirt.” Or “After season 5 that show went full Biden.”
Oh my. You just started something that might go viral. I’m stealing this!
Agree with basically everything, just not more money for Ukraine; enough of putting more tax dollars through the war grinding machine and feeding Zelensky’s folly and stuffing his bottomless pockets.
However, counting on senile Biden and his handlers to do anything positive in two months, when they did nothing worth of notice in almost four years… I’d call that wishful thinking, maybe even folly. Not happening.
I last voted for a Democrat when Al Gore was in the Senate, but I agree with everything you said. Sadly, had Democrats ran on that sort of platform they’d have won in resounding fashion. Their inability to divorce from identity politics and divisiveness was their downfall
He is probably not listening, and likely not actually running the office at all. What is most likely is that his last days will be spent facilitating the flood of illegals and protecting entrenched bureaucrats against the onslaught to come. Plus whatever else his handlers can force through to further push the ideology. Maybe some pardons, but he really seems to be dragging his feet on that. Hunter will probably get one, as the deal for that is probably already in place.
I would like President Biden to commute the sentence of Timothy Hennis to life imprisonment especially if that would remove him from solitary confinement. Sgt. Hennis served honorably in the military, and reasonable individuals may harbor doubts about his conviction.
You obviously do not know Timothy Hennis personally like I do
I agree with everything except for the escalation of pointless and endless wars in the location de jour, but Joe Biden will not be doing any of these things, because there is no Joe Biden. “Joe Biden” is a faceless cabal that has been running things for almost 8 years now, using the withered husk of a formerly mediocre bagman as a figurehead. It’s likely that this cabal will grant 2 of your wishes by escalating the killing in those unfortunate countries that happen to be our latest proxies for the war racket, but the rest isn’t happening. These people don’t care about the American people and will not be doing anything to make things better for us. It’s impossible to predict what they will do in the state of panic caused by the knowledge that they will soon be losing their grip on the levers of power, replaced by a competing cabal that will act in its own best interest, but acting in the interest of the average US citizen isn’t on the menu.
Yes, yes, and yes.
Thank you Scott for saying what needs to be said.
I fear that anything of substance that Biden tries will get bogged down in lawsuits and delay. Perhaps that’s his fault for waiting too long but it hardly matters now.
A few notes from the world beyond America:
-What institutions will remain to protect your rights if you disagree with the American government?
-Have you listened to a Trump campaign speech and found much coherence..?
-Foreign wars happen whether America involves itself or not. Why would American attempts at isolationism work any better now than they did in WW 1 or 2?
-Many problems of the world will eventually become your problems (and vice versa), denialism about health, foreign policy, the environment, etc don’t cease to exist because you disagree with them. You may not like the solutions others devise in your absence.
The world has changed, looking after you and yours is all that is left. Signed, one of your neighbours to the North.
To paraphrase Jim Downey:
Are you talking about Joe Biden, co-author of the Biden-Thurmond Violent Crime Control Act of 1991?
Or are you talking about Joe Biden, author of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994?
I won’t be holding my breath on any of your above suggestions, even the really good ones.
Wise counsel. And I think Bret Stephens has hit the nail on the head. What America, and much of the world, needs is the return of humility in elected office, with politicians remembering that they are elected to serve, not rule.
Bye bye Biden, a mediocre prez indeed. Poor Kamala was unable to block her handlers. Her spineless proclamations were scripted and unconvincing. Now we’re faced with four more years of vacuous threats, false promises and utter idiocy. More off-color misogynistic remarks anyone?
We see another impeachment on the horizon. Do not bet against, we’re warning ya. Hopefully, Mr. tRump Master Flash spends more time on the golf course, and less time hoarding classified documents!?!
The stock market apparently luvs the man. The bond market, not so much. We go with the bond market, and forsee a looming recession in the cards. Exactly the opposite of what the Man promises. The Amerikan people get snookered again. Have we not seen this movie before!
Higher interest rates are good for savers, not for those unwilling or incapable of saving. (Bob Dylan: It’s All Right MA. As applicable now as it was 60 years ago. Also don’t forget, You’re Going to Have to Serve Somebody. )
An excellent campaign statement. Particularly to end underage elective genital mutilation in this country
Are you considering a run in 2028? Bestes!