In the wake of President Biden’s withdrawal from the campaign, there has been a lot of talk and angst about the fact that his deteriorating condition was concealed — not only from the voting public but from a large chunk of the Democrat establishment as a matter of strategy.
Not only did Team Biden hide the seriousness of his physical and mental decline through isolation and limited scripted events, they lied when his aging issues were manifest in public. They not only denied the facts of Biden’s condition, but they also gave hyperbolic testimony of his super senior power in terms of intellect and energy.
Among the most emphatic of the liars was Vice President Harris. She repeatedly told the public, in no uncertain terms, that Biden was of sound body and mind – and that claims to the contrary were nothing more than political trash talk. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the same – noting that even the younger staff could not keep up with the President. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough declared Biden to be “sharp as a tack” and “better than ever.”
It was nothing less than a callous political conspiracy of self-interest to deceive the American voters. In a profession in which disinformation campaigns are a matter of course, this one was a whopper with ominous repercussions.
Unfortunately for Team Biden Democrats, his condition deteriorated to the point where the grand scheme could no longer be viable. The truth was coming into public view over the past year or so. The debate was the clincher … the game changer.
Despite a last minute effort to keep the charade empowered, they had to put Biden on the road to show what he could do. Unfortunately, he did show what he could do … or not do. The only possible strategy left to salvage any hope of winning in November was to dine on crow … concede the truth … and force Biden out. Old Joe had to go—and Harris was the palace pick to succeed him.
For Republicans, it is an “I told you so” moment. They had been pointing to Biden’s obvious physical and mental decline for months … years.
Biden is now a lame duck president. More lame than previous outgoing presidents. We will not be seeing much of him in the future. He will be put on light duty at the White House – spending more time at his home in Delaware. The top staff will be handling most of the perfunctory work of the presidency as it comes to an end. For the next few months, America will be without a fully functional president. That is not necessarily a crisis, just a fact.
While Biden’s competency, as a campaign issue, is a thing of the past, is there any enduring importance to be drawn from Harris’ key role in the conspiracy to conceal the truth about Biden? After all, it does speak to her personal integrity and her fealty to the American people – her devotion to the concept of transparency and an informed public.
While there are many major issues to be discussed and debated in the coming months, her role in the grand conspiracy is noteworthy. Despite the rhetoric to the contrary, Harris has shown that she is not a person who will put the interests of we the people … or America … ahead of her own personal and political interests.
She lied to us over and over – and thanks to her lies, America was weeks away from the possibility of electing a non-compos mentis president of the United States – from whom she would have inevitably inherited the presidency sometime before January 20, 2029.
Her lies about Biden may not be the biggest deal in the minds of voters – but it is not a small deal either. They could have been disastrous. No amount of whataboutism should eradicate Harris’ own ethical lapses. As a prosecutor, she should know that.
So, there ‘tis.