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Joe Biden’s moral void The President failed upwards

Like father... (Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty)

Like father... (Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty)


December 7, 2024   5 mins

Weeks after being sworn into office, Joe Biden made a striking proclamation. With the drama of January 6 still fresh, the new President announced that his tenure would encompass the “restoration of democracy, of decency, of honour, of respect, the rule of law”. Central to this was the promise that Biden would never use executive powers to pardon his son.

Yet on Monday, with Democrats still reeling after their unimagined electoral loss against Trump, they woke to the astonishing news that Biden had broken his promise. But should anyone have been surprised by the volte-face? In many ways, this was just the final flourish in the disastrous failure that has been his entire presidency.

Biden was a political no-hoper even before he got to the White House. He only won the presidency thanks to two outsiders unbalancing the political system: Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. As the 2020 presidential election loomed, the Sanders campaign emerged even stronger and more organised than in 2016. And, for a short while, it seemed like the progressive outsider might genuinely run away with the nomination. At this point, facing both Trump in the White House, and an insurgent from inside their own party, Democrats closed ranks and essentially crowned Biden their champion.

Yet faced with the nightmare of Trump to their Right, and Bernie to their Left, Democrats started rewriting the past. Biden was the father of the nation, the successor to George Washington and Abe Lincoln; he is a visionary the likes of whom hasn’t been seen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt with the reforming zeal of Lyndon B. Johnson. Never mind that Biden’s extreme pettiness, vengefulness, and covetousness were extremely well-known on Capitol Hill as far back as the Nineties and that even Barack Obama once quipped that you should “never underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up”.

The political Left of the Democratic party — which hated and openly ridiculed Biden in 2020 — was passed a new hymn sheet. And then even Obama started singing from it. All of this was a lie, of course. But people couldn’t cope with the truth: America was burning.

The idea that Joe Biden was the man to put out the fire — that he would restore America to its former glory — was always a madness. All the same, it’s extraordinary to see how he has fanned those flames. The things he was elected to “fix” have simply got worse. Consider foreign affairs. It’s certainly true that the world is exhausted by the shambling corpse of the “rules-based” international order. But by his own action, Biden has made America’s diplomatic position worse by its action in Ukraine, the Middle East and over Nord Stream.

He’s also screwed the American economy. His inflation reduction act was supposed to combine muscular action on national security with concern for America’s working men and women, all in the form of re-shoring industry and greening the economy. But the IRA has proven to be yet another costly boondoggle, filled with roads and bridges to nowhere and subsidies that never seem to pay out. Like at the State Department, meanwhile, the fundamentals at the Fed make for bleak reading. Inflation is up, re-shoring is down, while the US military becomes ever more dangerously dependent on Chinese manufacturing.

Obama was right: never, ever, underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to fuck things up. But all these failures pale in comparison with a secondary much more subtle, almost spiritual failing of his presidency.

“Obama was right: never, ever, underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to fuck things up.”

Ever since 2016, the sickness eating away at the American body politic has been cast in openly moral terms. Donald Trump is a bad, evil person, and it is his personal failing that’s slowly corrupting the land. This was always a dangerous fantasy: far from being the cause of the country’s problems, Trump was merely its symptom. Yet between his vulgarity and his vindictiveness, it was easy for liberals to blame the former businessman’s personal conduct for the slow unravelling of the American Empire. The lawfare against him during his first term, and the attempts to keep him off the ballot after 2020, all assumed that the Democrats were simply morally superior.

As a parting gift, Joe Biden has finally crushed this shallow morality tale. The forgiveness he’s shown his son is arguably the farthest-reaching pardon in all American history. The closest parallel is the pardon Gerald Ford offered to Richard Nixon — but even that only spanned the years Nixon was in office, rather than the entire decade bequeathed to Hunter. No less important, Nixon was actually president during Watergate, and could potentially be excused for thinking that the illegal things he did were legitimate exercises of power. It’s clearly much harder to make that case for Hunter Biden, a private citizen condemned for drugs and guns. Even worse, the start date of the pardon — 2014 — coincides with the time that the Biden clan got really involved in very shady dealings inside Ukraine. The fact that he is immunising his son from corruption charges that he himself is deeply tied up in is partly an act of Joe Biden pardoning himself.

What the Biden clan has accomplished here is banana republic-style corruption, pure and simple. Moreover, after using lofty rhetoric about how democracy was on the ballot, Trump was an evil fascist, and the future of America itself was imperilled, we now know that Biden went deliberately out of his way to sabotage the Kamala Harris campaign — out of sheer bitterness. So, either Biden never believed any of the stories he was selling, or he wilfully sought to doom America out of sheer meanness. Whatever the case, the upshot is clear: the Biden hagiography won’t survive even half a year of him being out of office, and people will need to reckon with the ashes of its political culture. Perhaps, finally, they’ll grapple with the idea that their problems can’t be blamed on the powers that be. The failures are too systemic for that.

Unfortunately, root and branch reform now looks unlikely. The temptation to conjure fantasies and blame the moral failings of the enemy is too easy to resist. And it applies to both sides of the political divide. For just as America’s problems could not be fixed by attacking Trump or his supporters, the problems with the US military cannot possibly be solved by launching a crusade against “the woke”. Nor yet can the impending US sovereign debt crisis be prevented simply by skewering only the programmes that liberals are fond of.

Though it seems like Biden himself either did not believe in (or care about?) the rhetoric coming from himself and his party — that democracy was on the ballot, that the republican values of America were being destroyed, and that another Trump win could usher in a new era of political dysfunction — it’s not necessarily true that these were all just fantasies. The Trump years did see a massive loss of small “r” republican virtue in the US, though it’s very much up for debate whether Trump was the perpetrator or the victim of that process.

From 2016 to 2020, it’s quite easy to say he was the victim, but will that hold true for 2024 to 2028? With all the lawfare, the internecine fighting inside the US bureaucracy, and the general lack of trust and growth of polarisation, Republicans may be more interested in revenge than reconciliation. And revenge can be very, very seductive, especially when you’ve given up on actual reform: if you don’t believe that the US budget deficit can be closed, or the Empire can be saved, at least you can have some fun seeing your enemies suffer on TV.

The question for Democrats, then, is what they will do now that they’ve temporarily been shorn of their moral self-righteousness. But this applies to the Republicans, too. Will the incoming Trump administration be strong enough to resist the tempting morality tales that so bewitched the Bidens? Will the Republicans, now that they are faced with almost insurmountable structural problems, fall for the quick expedient of simply blaming them on the moral failings of the other side? We probably won’t have to wait very long for our answers.


Malcom Kyeyune is a freelance writer living in Uppsala, Sweden

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Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
5 days ago

I think there can be changes to the military right away. Woke is a big problem when it comes to recruitment and morale. The military measures morale every year and it has dropped three years in a row.

Toppling the military industrial complex is a much bigger problem. Same with cutting spending and reducing the bureaucracy.

Hopefully the trump team is up to the challenge.

Dave Canuck
Dave Canuck
4 days ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

My bet is the military budget increases in the next 4 years, the military industrial complex will thrive. The cuts will be in medicaire, social security and other programs. With more tax cuts, deficits will increase and the national debt will surge to close to 50 trillion by 2030. If Trump cuts too much spending, recession is around the corner.

AC Harper
AC Harper
5 days ago

Joe Biden’s moral void

Is it safe now to speak of BAS – the Biden Adulation Syndrome?

Liam F
Liam F
3 days ago
Reply to  AC Harper

Just plain BS will do.

Chris Whybrow
Chris Whybrow
5 days ago

Perhaps the head of a state should not have the power to pardon criminals at all.

AC Harper
AC Harper
4 days ago
Reply to  Chris Whybrow

Pardoning criminals or, in the UK, elevating people to the peerage are just different forms of patronage. If neither was permitted other ways of patronage would be found, perhaps less transparently.

Will K
Will K
4 days ago
Reply to  Chris Whybrow

There definitely is a need for more mercy in the US Justice system. But that power should not be self-serving, of course.

Katharine Eyre
Katharine Eyre
5 days ago

Currently staying with someone with a bad case of TDS. With regard to Biden’s pardoning of his son, the only thing they can see wrong in this is that Trump can now pardon those involved in the events of Jan 6th 2020.
Quite how you can still believe in the moral superiority of the Dems is quite beyond me.

Alex Lekas
Alex Lekas
4 days ago
Reply to  Katharine Eyre

The left has no issue with that self-view because they don’t just see alternative viewpoints as being different, they see them as illegitimate.

Michael Mcelwee
Michael Mcelwee
4 days ago
Reply to  Alex Lekas

I think his last point the right one. The Democrats have saddled the US with such problems as God couldn’t solve. And we have to place our hope in Mr. Trump, which, mind you, I’m happy to do, as if had a choice. If the Trump administration happens to accomplish a fourth of what it hopes to, the US will immeasurably better off.

Liam F
Liam F
4 days ago
Reply to  Katharine Eyre

Good luck, must make for delicate dinner conversation.

Carissa Pavlica
Carissa Pavlica
4 days ago

He only won the presidency because the media preyed on the American people with lies and the desire to push their own agenda onto the public.

Philip Tisdall
Philip Tisdall
4 days ago

True, but one-half of America voted for him because they wanted to believe those lies.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
4 days ago

Part of it was Covid. They could keep him out of public where he might say something.

Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden
4 days ago

A corrupt old man whose removal has nonetheless destroyed his party. Goes to show the Democrats have become a seedbed of corruption.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
4 days ago
Reply to  Tyler Durden

There’s nothing new or special about Biden’s corruption – or that of political elites in general. What’s new is their inability – for the first time in history – to control the narrative.

Michael Cazaly
Michael Cazaly
4 days ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

Yes quite right! God bless the Internet and the First Amendment without which the only narrative would be that of the MSM.

Vesselina Zaitzeva
Vesselina Zaitzeva
4 days ago

—“the problems with the US military cannot possibly be solved by launching a crusade against “the woke”—–
All problems will not be solved, that’s for sure.
Still, clearing the military from the poisonous woke ideology would be a big (and welcome) step forward.

Alex Lekas
Alex Lekas
4 days ago

Weeks after being sworn into office, Joe Biden made a striking proclamation.
And millions of gullible fools believed it. They believed that a career grifter was going to somehow evolve into a statesman. They believed that a man whose cognitive abilities were in question in 2020 was completely lucid and in charge. And most recently, they believed his claims that Hunter would not be pardoned, because no one is above the law, you know. Well, no one except the family bagman. Joe’s moral void has been among his most consistent features, much like being wrong on just about everything during his 50 years in the DC trough.
The question for Democrats, then, is what they will do now that they’ve temporarily been shorn of their moral self-righteousness. ——>This presumes a level of introspection and self-awareness that Dems have not shown themselves capable of. They’re busy blaming various isms and phobias for the disaster that was Kamala; they still fail to understand (as do many GOPers) that Trump winning has as much to do with DC’s rot as with Trump himself, and they still see anyone outside of their bubble as a terrible person.

Seb Dakin
Seb Dakin
3 days ago
Reply to  Alex Lekas

Interesting thing to ponder is just how close revelations about the Biden family’s ties to Ukraine must have been to coming to the surface. If all that was keeping them down was the fact that Biden was president, then with Trump on the way into office, ‘the big guy’ may have figured that regardless of the odium coming his way on account of this pardon, he had no choice.
Hunter can’t be plea-bargained now.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
4 days ago

Tbf what’s actually being described here is the narcissism of an entire generation for whom your behaviour doesn’t matter so long as you have the right opinions.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
4 days ago

the Biden hagiography won’t survive even half a year of him being out of office, and people will need to reckon with the ashes of its political culture.
You’ve got to be kidding. He’ll be Saint Joe after the Democrats and their running dog lackeys in the main-stream media and elite universities get through writing History Book.

mac mahmood
mac mahmood
4 days ago

If there was any doubt re Biden’s moral void, his enthusiastic backing for a genocide in Palestine should have dispelled it.

Santiago Excilio
Santiago Excilio
4 days ago
Reply to  mac mahmood

Oh pull the other one, it’s got keffiyeh’s on it . . .

Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
4 days ago
Reply to  mac mahmood

The term “genocide” is defined tightly and used in particular circumstances. When Israel fights Hamas, of which it has killed 20-25-000+, remember that Hamas hides behind, amongst, and within the civilian population in Gaza. These are inadvertent deaths, caused by the choice of battlefield, not by Israel’s choice. The fact that many have tragically died, does not make this a genocide.

R.I. Loquitur
R.I. Loquitur
3 days ago
Reply to  mac mahmood

Theres nearly half a billion Arab Muslims surrounding Israel. 20k or so dead is not close to a “genocide”.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
3 days ago
Reply to  mac mahmood

Speaking of moral void…mac mahood demonstrates a vast one….

Ryan K
Ryan K
4 days ago

Now I’d feel as as hostage in Sweden from what I’m reading….supremely unsafe. To be a Jew while breathing in Sweden. Jewish lives don’t matter. Nor Finland Nor Norway. Nor Netherlands….and so on. Looking forward to the next four years. Perhaps a return to safety on the streets. Even a smash and grab in my local NYC nabe on today’s radio news.

Steve Ridout
Steve Ridout
3 days ago

Ironically, Biden’s pardon of Hunter, may be the single most honest action of his career. He has clarified the nature of his own character, and has course-corrected the false narrative of his legacy.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
3 days ago

The author is wrong on the main point. Obama in his DC mansion the past two terms is behind it all. Running a shadow whitehouse/ mutiny against Trump, and running much of Biden like a sock puppet. The author also displays his arrogance and antipathy towards America: nothing about the illegal immigrant invasion of America.Nothing about the illegal spying by Obama and Biden against Trump and his team. All of his essay framed from the perspective that democrats can just tweak a few things and take back power.