WASHINGTON
I remember when the networks called the 2020 election for President Joe Biden. It was a Saturday. That evening, as he addressed his gleeful supporters in Wilmington, the new president-elect declared victory in “the battle to restore decency.”
“Decency,” of course, was code for “Not Trump.”
Before Biden’s one term ended, voters were ready for Trump again. They’d had enough of Biden’s vaunted “decency,” after four years of watching Biden hide behind his better-person persona even as his policies failed American families and shrank America’s posture on the world stage.
Biden’s botched withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan resulted in the loss of 13 U.S. service members and made America look weak. There were consequences. Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas killed some 1,200 in Israel and took 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Biden deserves credit for sending arms and money to Ukraine and Israel. I was impressed. But his constant push for a ceasefire in Gaza emboldened Hamas and Iran.
Now Trump can claim credit when Israel brings home some of the hostages as part of a pause in fighting, thanks to his threat that “all Hell will break out” if a deal to release captives is not struck before he takes the oath of office.
As a candidate for president in 2020, Biden preened about his intent to open the southern border. “If you want to flee and you are fleeing oppression, then come,” Biden told the world.
On his first day in office, the Democrat revoked Trump’s robust border actions. In the next couple of years, there were more than 6.3 million migrant encounters at the border.
The border was jammed with asylum seekers, unaccompanied children who crossed the hostile terrain and men with criminal records who seized opportunity.
When Biden finally acted to stanch the flow of migrants, it was too little, too late. Then he claimed credit when border crossings decreased — as if he was strong on immigration.
There’s a decency angle in the border debacle. When an individual believes that everything he does is honorable, because he’s so honorable, it’s harder to see failures when they occur. I have to believe that a different Democrat would have acted far sooner than Biden to patch the holes.
As a U.S. senator, Biden was a war-on-drugs zealot who pushed for Draconian sentences for federal drug offenders. So it was a good thing when Biden used his pardon power Friday to commute the sentences of some 2,500 nonviolent federal drug offenders.
“I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history,” Biden boasted.
Is it wrong to mention that the president wasn’t close to that record before he pardoned his son Hunter on tax-evasion and gun- and drug-related charges in December?
I don’t begrudge Biden his decision to keep his son out of prison, but I wonder about the lack of self-knowledge that led him to insist he wouldn’t use his pardon power, when everyone knew that he would. He loves his son.
And how did Biden win the Oval Office? In 2020, he signaled that if he won, he would not run for re-election — which made it easier for voters to support a candidate who would be 78 when he assumed office. Then, in 2023, Biden announced he would run in 2024 after all, because only he could beat Trump.
A cynic might argue that Biden always knew he would run for re-election, but he sent the one-term message because he couldn’t win without it.
When Biden finally did get out of the race, Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t have the chops or the organization to win the general election. Many Democrats will never forgive Biden for failing to get out in time. Or for his faltering debate performance.
There’s an ancient Greek saying: Know thyself. But I don’t think Biden understands the concept.
Trump is far from perfect. In short order, all eyes will be on his shortcomings. But I’ll say this for Trump: He knows who he is.
Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.
