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Joe Biden has always been defined by his stubbornness. So ending a 50-year career by bowing out only months before an election must have been humiliating. His decision to announce his resignation from the ticket in a social media post can be seen as one last act of defiance against his party’s political establishment.
He was able to announce his resignation on his terms, free from the dozens of leaks and catty backhanded insults his party had directed his way over the past few weeks. Their attempt to force him out was ultimately successful, but he alone will get to define the last few months of his presidency.
Regardless of who the Democrats choose to replace him — his Vice President Kamala Harris is his favoured choice but hardly polls any better than he does — it is likely that we will see Donald Trump return to the Oval Office next year. Will that end up being Biden’s legacy in office: returning the twice-impeached convicted felon to the halls of power?
Those of us who are frustrated by politics being consumed by the horse race may have a different takeaway. The stubborn Biden was, after all, the President who was able to put his foot down and actually withdraw America from the war in Afghanistan, ending 20 years of involvement in that country’s morass. His appointments across the federal government marked a shift away from neoliberalism — from installing Big Tech critic Lina Khan at the Federal Trade Commission to maintaining and even expanding many of Trump’s protectionist trade policies. By overseeing the passage of large-scale infrastructure and climate investment bills, he has helped rejuvenate American manufacturing.
Yet his legacy will also be defined by America’s continued entanglement with wars overseas. The war in Ukraine drags on with no apparent end in sight, taking the lives of tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians alike. But at least in that conflict, America can operate under the pretence that it is preventing a permanent Russian occupation of Eastern Ukraine.
With Israel’s war in Gaza, America’s allies in Jerusalem have made clear they have no endgame in sight and appear fine with a permanent occupation of Palestinian soil — something that will only serve to harden the growing international feeling that Israel’s future is as an apartheid state. To many young Americans, Biden’s refusal to end his financial and military support for Netanyahu’s operations makes him persona non grata.
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SubscribeDoes Joe Biden know that he has pulled out?
“On his terms” my ass!!
Does he even know what he signed? Like it was him being stubborn. Oh dear, what nonsense!
In any case, to all the Trekkies out there, the best meme EVER!
https://twitter.com/NoContextTrek/status/1815086332244291833/photo/1
But Starmer told us two days ago that he met Joe and he’s ‘moving at pace’, ‘on really good form’, ‘absolutely across the detail,’ ‘showing incredible leadership’.
Surely our new PM wasn’t making all that up. Unless he’s simply a terrible judge of character.
Might explain why he thought appointing Lammy as foreign secretary was a good idea
“But perhaps unburdened by the task of having to run for office in the coming months, the President will surprise us with what he can achieve with his precious little time left in the White House. Even if he is not the right candidate for the future, he can still make a difference in the present.”
This has to be the most deluded paragraph I have ever read on Unherd. This is exactly the type of gaslighting that got the Democrats into this mess. I can only assume this is some form of sarcasm from the author.
‘But perhaps unburdened….’
As Kamala Harris would say ‘”What can be, unburdened by what has been’
‘Even if he is not the right candidate for the future…..’
Doesn’t the future start now? As far as I can make out, August, September, October, and November are all in the future.
Whenever I hear her speak, I find myself wondering, “Is she stoned?”
https://youtu.be/BiYT9AsbMh0?t=69
Five or six paragraphs in this piece make up the top ten, it’s a classic.
The Centre for American Progress….
The current president and CEO of CAP is Patrick Gaspard, who succeeded Neera Tanden in 2021. Tanden previously served in the Obama and Clinton administrations and was a key figure in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns.;
Patrick Gaspard served as the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa from 2013 to 2016 under President Barack Obama. Before his ambassadorship, he was a senior official in the Obama White House, holding the position of Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs.
Notable donors to the CAP include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, George Soros…..
I guess Jilani is no longer in good standing with the party elite. I feel terrible for him.
I see the author is associated with the Center For American Largesse… those are people more divorced from reality than Biden. One could hardly call the Center’s writers “journalists” because the Center is in the business of marketing communications and fiction.
‘His effective removal by a coterie of party donors and elites…’
Yes, Biden was still loved by the people. He wasn’t bleeding support in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan after the little people watched the debate.
The people loved him, but those elites forced him out.
ROFLMAO
For the past 2 years the Democrats have been lying about Joe Biden. Now they’re going to start lying about Kamala Harris. I’ve just heard a few minutes of the Rest is Politics: Harris is a “gamechanger” apparently.
It’s been more than two years.
Zaid Jilani, qoutes:
I worked at the Center for American Progress, an officially nonpartisan think tank that informally aligns itself with the Democrats. Much of Obama’s first-term staff was drawn from the organization.
…
During a heated debate on social media, I happened to use the phrase “Israel Firster” to describe people who I felt were supporting the Israeli government’s positions to the detriment of the United States. After an internal uproar, I ended up leaving the organization.
…
Rallies supporting ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians should discard ambiguous and contentious sloganeering. Yes, the word intifada does not literally mean violence – in fact, most of the First Intifada or uprising against the Israeli occupation was nonviolent. But because Americans often associate the word with the Second Intifada – which featured a wave of suicide bombings and other violence against Israeli civilians – there is little point to American protesters chanting in favor of intifada in the streets.
…
With Israel’s war in Gaza, America’s allies in Jerusalem have made clear they have no endgame in sight and appear fine with a permanent occupation of Palestinian soil — something that will only serve to harden the growing international feeling that Israel’s future is as an apartheid state. To many young Americans, Biden’s refusal to end his financial and military support for Netanyahu’s operations makes him persona non grata.
…
Regardless of who the Democrats choose to replace him — his Vice President Kamala Harris is his favoured choice but hardly polls any better than he does — it is likely that we will see Donald Trump return to the Oval Office next year. Will that end up being Biden’s legacy in office: returning the twice-impeached convicted felon to the halls of power?
…
What are you doing here? Go Guardian!
.
I’m afraid UnHerd follows faster than expected the way of Areo Magazine from famous “Grievance studies” affair to “Queer Majority”
Quit shouting, it’s just about the most uncool thing. If you’re worth reading, people will read without using a bold font to try to make your comment stand out. Many may just be put off. It’s an eyesore.
You’re welcome.
Bold font is not about shouting, it’s for quote, not more. If you and others think differently, thank you, I’ll fix it now.
Maybe, Italic is better. What’s your opinion?
Use the blockquote facility, with italics:
You’re welcome, and thanks for changing from bold.
In other words, Biden was never in charge. The people who forced Biden out are in charge. Who are they?
Centrist Dad’s, please don’t do your usual acrobats.
Wow. There is a lot to unpack here.
“His effective removal by a coterie of party donors and elites — executed skillfully within the span of a few weeks — suggests that even the most determined men cannot withstand a combined party assault.”
These are the exact same people who put Biden in office. He wasn’t the preferred candidate in 2020 or 2024. They twisted and manipulated the party’s undemocratic nomination process to put him in power.
For four years they covered up the Weekend At Bernie’s presidency, until it became impossible to gaslight the public any longer.
Biden’s shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan was embarrassing, and triggered his plunge in the polls that never stopped. No one was fired for that crap show or held accountable.
Yet somehow the author thinks Biden can salvage something from his last four months in office. Meanwhile, on planet earth we’re all wondering why he should be allowed to serve even one more day.
Just as a matter of interest, who was the preferred candidate in 2020? Presumably not Bernie Sanders?
Is it not likely he was bribed to step down ?
What, with a box set of the Golden Girls or what?