Determining whether decisions impact “you or me” is one way to view the political hierarchy recently displayed by the man now occupying the White House.
He’s the “man behind Door No. 2,” based on his campaign of mystery from behind his basement door. Maybe his relatively “non-campaigning” was a blessing as those who know Joe know that waiting for him to tell the truth is like “waiting for Godot” in Samuel Beckett’s play of the same name.
Decades ago, Joe Biden established his character by lying, politely called plagiarizing, when substituting a British politician’s childhood for his own forced him to abandon his first presidential campaign.
In a strange way you have to give him credit for sticking to his character as during this campaign, he, again, lied about his background, this time saying he had a double major in college, an academic scholarship, a high standing in his law school class and met his wife Jill on a blind date when the clear evidence is they started their intimate relationship while she was married to the owner of the Stone Balloon bar in Newark, Del.
While it appears to be no reason, besides habit, to lie about such irrelevant things, he did have reason to lie about his involvement with his son Hunter’s business despite testimony from business partners, videos, photos and Hunter’s emails proving he not only knew, but participated in and profited from these activities with the Ukraine and China.
Indeed, Facebook, Google and Twitter believed these connections as they confirmed their agreement to block any stories about Hunter Biden during the 60 days prior to the election. But you really can’t blame ole Joe, any more than you can blame a pit bull for his actions once others put him in the pit.
Mr. Biden’s one major campaign theme was that he had in his pocket a better plan than Donald Trump for handling the virus. Alas, another lie as in the first days after inauguration he said it would have to run its course except at Guantanamo, which he prioritized. He did pull out of his pocket a version of the “name game” by issuing an order that federal memos are prohibited from using the phrase “China virus.”
This was despite the help by Pfizer announcing the Monday after the election that it had the vaccine in September but after discussing with executives at Facebook and Google, decided that to prevent helping Mr. Trump, they would wait until after the election to announce it. Same for Moderna. CNN said anything about the number who died during that time period?
It seems the drug industry was angry at Mr. Trump’s executive order imposing a Most Favored Nations requirement on them, meaning they could not charge U.S. citizens any more than they charged those in other countries. Will President Biden reverse this?
The day after inauguration, the owner of Amazon and the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, announced he would help with distribution. Both New York and California reduced restrictions on businesses despite significant increases in COVID. California refused to supply their data to the feds and the New York attorney general found significant under reporting of COVID deaths in nursing homes (fraud?).
President Biden protected his house, the White House, with a huge fence while stopping the construction of a fence, aka the Wall, that protects the houses of “you or me.”
He did, however, continue the “name game” with an order that federal memos can no longer use the phrase “illegal alien.” Mr. Trump was criticized for clearing a path through protestors to walk a block from White House to church; President Biden cleared the entire area of all protectors. Hear any media complaints?
Mr. Biden has stationed 5,000 National Guard troops around his house until sometime in March. How many did he support being assigned to the businesses and homes of “you or me” during the riots in Democratic-controlled cities, such as Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland? Applying the “you or me” theory, those Democrats reduced law enforcement and prosecuted no law breakers while increasing their own security at the expense of taxpayers.
In Minneapolis, it was the city council charging the city for their own private security. In Seattle, the occupancy by CHOP (the Capitol Hill Organized Protest) of Capitol Hill was not stopped until the day after some members dared to visit the home of the mayor. The police chief ordered troops to guard her house while they gave jurisdiction to my daughter’s former home on Capitol Hill to CHOP.
Portland is too bizarre to summarize, but it is worth mentioning that it was accusing Mr. Trump when he provided security for the 23 people trapped in the federal court house as Antifa tried to burn them alive. Indeed, this violence continued even during the latest impeachment hearings when the attacks of a police facility did not lead to a single arrest.
Consider the differences in the rioters hitting the capitol. No mention of the D.C. mayor rejecting Mr. Trump’s offer of National Guard before the riots. No mention of Speaker Nancy Pelosi failing, as head of the Capitol Police, to heed the warnings of the FBI of potential riots.
However, unlike the rioters in Democratic-controlled cities, these rioters actually threatened politicians, instead of “you or me,” so they had to be prosecuted. Politicians lost no compensation and the government will rebuild. How about all the “you or me” who lost their jobs and the means to support themselves in Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, et al?
Mr. Biden has prioritized, over a stimulus, orders for ICE to release everyone they hold in custody, an estimated 12,000 criminals a month; close privately run federal prisons when the lack of room means judges will be set free; and stop restrictions on admittance from terrorists countries. While he builds “Fort White House,” what about “you or me?”
This administration has already overwhelmed any of my attempts to keep up with the destruction, so I will conclude with a short doctor-to-doctor message to Dr. Jill Biden, who has an educational doctorate. I wish you well and am glad that you will not have to deal with the heating and cooling costs for Fort White House that will follow your husband’s “War on Fossil Fuels.”
Dr. B.E. Zepke
The author lives in Santa Barbara.
