Now, President Biden was Obama's sidekick, seemingly just along for the ride. Later, we learned that Biden ran a lucrative side hustle, enriching his family by extorting cash in exchange for doling out taxpayer funds to foreign countries.
Tucker: You don't see this everyday, in fact you never see it
GUEST COLUMN: Why I’m Taking a Break from Answering Media Questions To Focus on Mental Health and Mindfulness
My self-care sabbatical starts now. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
My fellow Americans,
It might surprise you to learn the past few days have been very challenging for me in terms of my mental and emotional well-being. I do my best to project strength and competence in public, but it's not always as easy as I make it look. Yes, I'm the president of the United States and commander in chief of the armed forces, but I'm also a human being.
Watching the heroic actions of female athletes such as Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles has inspired me to reevaluate the meaning of strength and to embrace the concept of self-care. That is why I have decided, for the first time in my 50-year career as a public servant, to put myself first, to focus on my mental health and work on my mindfulness. My self-care sabbatical starts now.
Until further notice, I will no longer be answering questions from the White House press corps. Because my recent efforts to decompress and tend to my heartspace at Camp David were so crudely interrupted, I have decided to spend a long weekend in Delaware, the safest space I've ever known. Alas, I can't even take the train anymore on account of my job, which my therapist says has been a major contributor to my depression. So believe me, when I hear the American people are suffering out there, I feel your pain.
This is not an attack on the media. But even if it was, what are they going to do about it, huh? They all voted for me, and they'll do it again. Maybe they'll tweet about it, the way they complain to the airlines like entitled children when their flight is delayed. Look, I know most journalists genuinely believe the work they do is vital to the functioning of our democracy. Honestly, folks, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Take it from me, someone who's been doing this for a long time. Reporters are constantly whinging about how hard it is to be a journalist who covers Donald Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic. As my cousin Mickey used to say: "Horse pucky!" They couldn't care less about the mental anguish they inflict on our athletes, politicians, and celebrities. They would crumble if the shoe was on the other foot—if they were the ones forced to stand up in front of a boisterous mob and be bombarded with ridiculous questions like "Where's Hunter? or "What's your plan for Afghanistan?"
Journalists are already complaining about my self-care journey: "Today would be a great day for journalists to be able to ask the president of the United States questions about Afghanistan." Obsessed much? Look, they're welcome to hop on a plane at anytime to go see for themselves. I just did an entire interview with George Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic operative who actually cares about my feelings. What more do they want?
Have they learned nothing from the courageous athletes and celebrities bringing self care to the forefront of the national conversation? To paraphrase the Olympic gymnast Simone Biles: "I say put mental health first. Because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy [being president] and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to. So it's OK sometimes to even sit out the big [foreign policy disasters] to focus on yourself."
So much wisdom, and at such a young age. I probably shouldn't say this, but I bet her hair smells fantastic. Maybe that's something I can focus on in the coming days to clear my mind of negativity. I'm also looking forward to assembling the GE ES44AC model train Dr. Jill got me for our anniversary. We'll speak again I'm sure before my term is up. In the meantime, just don't expect too much from me.
Joseph R. Biden, 78, is a Washington, D.C., resident. He is the father of Hunter Biden, a renowned artist, energy executive, and gentleman's club patron.
Joe Biden Plans Exit for Vacation in Delaware After Speech on Afghanistan Disaster
President Joe Biden will return to Delaware on Friday to resume his vacation, but first, he will deliver a speech about the disaster unfolding in Afghanistan.
The president is scheduled to deliver remarks at 1:00 p.m., specifically about the process of evacuating American citizens, SIV applicants, and “vulnerable Afghans,” the White House announced.
It is unclear whether the president will take questions after his speech, as he has quickly exited the room after delivering speeches this week.
The president struggled to answer basic questions about his failure in Afghanistan in an interview with ABC News, appearing stubborn about the decision and refusing to acknowledge that he misjudged the situation.
After his speech, the president will depart the White House for his home in Delaware.
The president has stubbornly tried to maintain a vacation schedule, either in Delaware or Camp David, despite the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan as the Taliban rapidly seized control of the country before Biden’s August 31st deadline.
Thousands of Americans remain in the country as they seek to reach the airport in Kabul to evacuate – the only territory in the country that is in the control of the United States.
Vice President Kamala Harris is also expected to attend the speech, after spending a week out of public view as the crisis in Afghanistan unfolded.
The vice president is scheduled to leave for her previously planned trip to Vietnam and Singapore on Friday evening.
The Biden administration has downplayed the severity of the situation in Afghanistan and deflected blame for the chaos. In an interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, President Joe Biden remarked on the Taliban's decision to "provide safe passage for Americans to get out," even as thousands of Americans remain stranded in the country and the Taliban has blocked routes to the U.S.-controlled airport in Kabul.
The administration has delivered unclear answers as to whether it will ensure all U.S. citizens are evacuated. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said she "didn't know of any government capable of reaching out to where everybody might be."
GOP Lawmakers Call on Biden To Resign in Wake of Afghan Debacle
Rep. Claudia Tenney: Biden 'has been isolated from his advisers and asleep at the wheel'
Republican lawmakers are calling for President Joe Biden to resign, citing the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan as evidence he is not fit to lead the United States.
The State Department and top Biden administration officials have faced widespread criticism for failing to plan for the Taliban’s near-immediate takeover of Afghanistan once U.S. forces pulled out of the country on Biden’s order. These failures have led Republican lawmakers to call for Biden’s resignation, a demand that is likely to grow louder as Afghanistan descends further into chaos under Taliban rule.
"In addition to a full congressional inquiry, which must happen immediately, today I am reiterating my call for President Biden to resign from office following his unilateral, reckless retreat from Afghanistan," Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Thursday.
Biden’s "mishandling of this crisis shatters all confidence in his ability to serve as our Commander-in-Chief, which is any president’s most sacred responsibility," Tenney said. "As American lives hang in the balance, our president has been isolated from his advisers and asleep at the wheel."
The lawmaker is pushing for a congressional panel to determine if Biden’s "disastrous handling of the crisis was the result of incompetence or some other cause."
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said late Wednesday that Biden "should not remain in office."
"He and his team are just not up to the task at hand and greater and even more consequential challenges will now be ahead as a result," Zeldin said. "He needs to be removed before further damage is done to American citizens and U.S. national security."
The Biden administration continues to struggle with emergency evacuation efforts in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, after the Taliban overran the city and took control of the airport. With 15,000 Americans still trapped in the country, there are mounting concerns the Taliban could try to attack U.S. citizens or potentially take them hostage to extract even more concessions from the administration.
A majority of American voters believe President Joe Biden is a weak leader, according to a poll conducted this week amid the collapse of the Afghan government to the Taliban.
Fifty-three percent of registered voters who responded to the Economist/YouGov poll said Biden is weak, with 47 percent calling him strong. Thirty-nine percent said they believe Biden is a "very weak" leader. The poll queried 1,500 U.S. citizens from Aug. 14-17 and had a 3 percent margin of error.
The poll covered a period that saw Afghanistan fall into chaos in the aftermath of Biden's withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. On Sunday, the Taliban captured Kabul and toppled the Afghan government, returning to power for the first time in 20 years. The United States and other Western countries rushed to evacuate their citizens and personnel while thousands of Afghans swarmed the Kabul airport in an attempt to escape. Some clung to aircraft and fell to their deaths as the planes took off.
Biden is underwater in a number of other metrics measured by the poll. A 44-percent plurality of voters said they are pessimistic about the next four years under Biden. Forty-nine percent of voters said they lack confidence in the president's ability to deal wisely with an international crisis, with only 39 percent expressing confidence. Biden campaigned in 2020 on a promise to restore American "credibility and influence" on the world stage.
A Reuters poll conducted Monday showed that Biden's approval rating has dropped to its lowest level yet.
Now, President Biden was Obama's sidekick, seemingly just along for the ride. Later, we learned that Biden ran a lucrative side hustle, enriching his family by extorting cash in exchange for doling out taxpayer funds to foreign countries.
Perhaps it's not dumb and dumber, but shrewd and sinister
Obama was the master of the straw man. Adroitly, he threw up faux perils to the Muslim community post-9/11, many years after it was established that no such danger existed. Instead of being the unifier, as per his campaign, Obama became the browbeater-in-chief, calling innocuous events racist as frequently as umpires yell "foul." Coupled with his bending and bowing to world despots and dictators tour, Americans, sufficiently fearful of being labeled xenophobic and racist, were cowed into avoiding straight talk about his anti-American policies. Blacks and whites became more polarized, as, for eight years under his presidency, America's progress and racial advances were denied.
Now, President Biden was Obama's sidekick, seemingly just along for the ride. Later, we learned that Biden ran a lucrative side hustle, enriching his family by extorting cash in exchange for doling out taxpayer funds to foreign countries.
After eight years of this character assassination and grift, a patriot arrived on the scene with the electrifying election of President Trump.
Recently, my nine-year-old nephew, Bode, asked: what's a patriot? "A person who loves his country," I responded. The difference was stark and all-encompassing.
Andrea Widburg, in her stellar post about Tucker Carlson's interview of Lara Logan, detailed all the successful pro-America policies that President Trump implemented and that his successor, President Biden, proceeded to disastrously reverse.
Unlike Obama's über-confident arrogance and silken tongue, Biden comes across as a stumbling, mumbling automaton. And those moments are probably unrehearsed and authentic. But there are also times when Biden coldly looks into the camera and, with flinty eyes, asserts that whatever anti-American policy he has implemented was justified. By golly, he did it, it was right, it was the only way, and to hell with you and your concern for the consequences.
While the mainstream media have turned and joined the conservative chorus of opprobrium, was it truly rank failure?
Or, as one recalls Hunter's laptop, the payoffs, the shakedowns, one asks: who benefits from the billions of dollars in cash and weaponry wantonly abandoned?
Image via Good Free Photos.
Biden’s Surrender Presidency
The seven months of the Biden presidency reveal a theme of surrender. Surrender is to give up possession of something to another or to give up to some influence or idea. President Biden has surrendered so much on so many levels. The only question is how much is due to his abject incompetence versus a deliberate attempt to surrender America, the country he swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend, to dark forces in the world.
Start with the latest surrender, far from America in the war-torn country of Afghanistan. Despite promises to the contrary, Biden and his foreign policy clown posse gave us a rerun of Saigon in 1975. After hiding under his bed for a week, the President explained his brilliant strategy by blaming his predecessor President Trump, and the Afghan military. Surprisingly his speechwriters failed to mention climate change, as another cause for the fall of Afghanistan.
YouTube screen grab
Biden basically surrendered, after 20 years and over a trillion dollars and countless American and Afghan lives sacrificed to the cause of bringing faculty lounge democracy to a largely illiterate band of thugs living in the 7th century. He blamed Trump for attempting to end a war that now Biden says he opposed all along, neglecting to mention how he presided over eight years of this war while serving as vice-president. Or that he and Obama’s administration released the masterminds of this current Taliban surge from Gitmo in exchange for deserter Bowe Bergdahl.
Trump boxed him in, says Biden. Yet Biden reversed all of Trump’s other policies upon taking office, opening the border, ending American energy independence, and greenlighting Iran’s nuclear program. If he wanted to counter Trump’s plan to exit Afghanistan after 20 wasted years he certainly could have. Biden defied his generals, who must have seen “white rage” in Kabul, and told Biden not to abruptly pull out the military.
But Joe knew better, living up to his reputation as a foreign policy dunce. Obama’s Secretary of Defense famously observed of Biden, that he has been wrong on nearly every foreign policy question over the past 40 years. What little foreign policy knowledge he had was decades ago when he was at least firing on all cylinders rather than now, in rapid cognitive decline, surrendering thought and reason to his advanced age.
Biden also surrendered 40,000 Americans and countless numbers of locals to the whims of the Taliban. Will they be released, held hostage, or beheaded on an international stage? What if they are killed on 9/11 at the surrendered US embassy? America’s humiliation will be complete.
He also surrendered a generation of Afghan girls and women, for two decades allowed to wear Western clothing, and attend school, hoping for a university degree and profession. Instead, Biden surrendered these women to covering all but their eyes, serving as Taliban brides and sex slaves.
Where are the Democrats and Hollywood harpies that were screaming about Justice Kavanaugh and supposed “rape trains” while Biden just unleashed the real thing on millions of Afghan women?
Biden also surrendered Bagram Airfield, the only reliable exit from Afghanistan, not last, once all Americans and our equipment were safely out of the country, but six weeks ago, completely backward to anyone with a whit of common sense. It’s not leaving Afghanistan that’s the problem, it’s the ham-handed backward way Biden did it
To those Americans stuck in Kabul, trying to get to the airport, the US State Department buffoons say good luck, “Please be advised that the US government cannot guarantee your safety as you make this trip.” They might as well tell the stranded Americans to surrender. That’s what the Biden administration did.
Also surrendered were billions of dollars worth of military equipment, now in the hands of the Taliban, with China likely scoping out any high-tech items to add to their arsenal. China and the Taliban? They don’t work together, or do they? The geniuses at Foggy Bottom missed it but the Australian news didn’t as they correctly observed, “Why China’s relationship with the Taliban poses an enormous risk.”
We left military bases, forts, and enough equipment to create a first-rate military force. One that may be used against American interests. This is worse than surrender. Will the Democrats call this “infrastructure spending”?
Have other countries noticed Biden’s capitulation? Iran, as Reuters recently reported, is ramping up uranium enrichment to “near weapons-grade.” If Iran goes nuclear, Biden, by reinstating the failed Iran-nuke deal has surrendered the Middle East and many allies to a bunch of theocratic thugs.
Biden also surrendered to China, as they observe America as a paper tiger, as Osama bin Ladin claimed. American soldiers are real tigers, but not the parade generals at the Pentagon and the woke foreign policy experts in the White House. After Biden surrendered Afghanistan, China is now holding “assault drills near Taiwan.”
What happens when it is no longer a drill but the real thing? Would America come to Taiwan’s defense against China? Hunter Biden’s billion-dollar investment from a Chinese bank suggests not. That was protection money China paid to the Biden Crime Family to look the other way. Will America help her ally? Or will Biden babble while Blinken blinks, and voila, Taiwan is now part of communist China?
Is Russia watching America surrender? Replace China with Russia and Taiwan with Ukraine and you will have your answer. Other countries are watching Biden’s surrender too. Do they want to hitch their fortunes and fates to a paper tiger who will cut and run when politically expedient? Or will they pay homage and allegiance to China for their protection? Just as store owners paid Tony Soprano protection money to avoid something bad happening to their shop.
Back in America, Biden has been surrendering America to myriad bad forces. He surrendered America’s energy independence to AOC and the climate warriors. It’s now to the point that he is begging OPEC to increase oil supplies that he curtailed by stopping fracking and the Keystone pipeline.
He surrendered the Southern border to throngs of who-know-who from who-knows-where, bringing COVID and other diseases, or criminals from emptied foreign prisons. How soon until Taliban fighters find their way to Mexico and then across the border into the US?
Biden surrendered the booming Trump economy, rebounding after the worst of COVID, and now declining. Inflation is a word now being muttered, although in hushed tones, by CNN newsreaders. The misery index is once again being calculated, after a long hibernation from the Jimmy Carter presidency. Joe looked at Jimmy’s failures and said “hold my beer” as he is doubling down on the worst of Carter.
Biden surrendered American cities to police defunding, replaced by BLM riots, leaving city residents in similar dire straits as poor Afghanis, promised hope and change from a succession of US presidents starting with George W Bush, culminating in a horribly executed cut and run.
Biden and his Democrat surrogates in the media have surrendered civility and common sense to wokeness where everything is racist and questioning authority, once a proud virtue of the left, is considered domestic terrorism.
It is clear that Biden and his Democrats don’t believe in American exceptionalism or greatness, preferring to share the stage with powerful dictatorships. Biden’s legacy will be American surrender, economically, politically, and morally.
The world is watching and calculating. Hard-earned trust is easily squandered, much harder to recover. The ramifications of Biden’s surrender will haunt America for decades.
As President Trump said in a recently released statement, “Who or what will Joe Biden surrender to next? Someone should ask him, if they can find him.”
Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer. He is on sabbatical from social media.
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