Daily Verse | Deuteronomy 21:17
That son is the first sign of his father’s strength.

Monday’s Reading: Deuteronomy 22-26

It’s the last day of February 2022. That was quick.

You may remember that during the presidential election of 2020 enthusiastic Trump supporters spoke of getting on board the “Trump Train.” It felt like we were barreling down the track with nothing but daylight between us and the White House. Four more years to build on the successes of the first four. Businesses were bringing their money and jobs home, we were building the wall, the stock market was on fire, China was outmaneuvered, NATO was ponying up, Lil’ Kim was behaving, and peace was breaking out in the Middle East.

But somewhere along the line, someone threw a switch and we slid to a dead stop on a siding and Brandon blew past us on the main rails while we watched in disbelief.

Just over a year later, we’re on a train barreling down the track with a crew requisitioned from the Locomotive School for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, not to mention the enthusiastic yahoos in the dining car taking bites and sips as they lift and lower their masks, toasting the demise of #OrangeManBad while simultaneously blaming him for the latest outrage happening here and around the world.

And those outrages come one right after another, defying even the low expectations we had of Brandon when he assumed his stolen post. Which brings me to the point of this broadside.

During the train wreck of Brandon’s Residency I’ve been pondering what one word best describes him. The word I’ve used most often is “incompetent.” It’s also the one I’ve seen used most often in other opinion pieces critical of his administration. But incompetence, which is accurate, still leaves me dissatisfied, as does its close cousin, “inept.”

Brandon is both inept and incompetent. But those words don’t fully sum up who he is.

I’ve also seen him described as a puppet or a cipher, both of which imply that he is simply being manipulated by a hidden hand. That’s certainly true, too. How many times have we heard him talking about how he’s been told to do this, or not to do that, or watched the press be shut down by his handlers even as they yell questions to him and he sits there smirking and picking his teeth?

There’s no doubt that Brandon is not an independent actor who’s in charge of himself.

He’s been called brainless, frail, corrupt, weak, narcissistic, an idiot, an empty suit, a failure, and out of touch. Whatever modicum of truth each possesses, none of them seem to encompass all that the guy is.

But I finally landed on one that I think gets at the core of who Brandon is and one that explains nearly everything else about him.

Fool.

When I say “fool” I don’t just mean the dictionary definition of “a person lacking in judgment or prudence,” although that is part of it and completely true of Brandon. Nor do I mean the kind of gibbering idiot known as a court jester whose job was to amuse and provoke the king. That was deliberate silliness and calculated nonsense.

What I mean by fool is a man without a moral center who is led left and right by his desires rather than by a set of principles informed by experience, tradition and common sense. In the book of Proverbs and elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures, the word fool means “one who is morally deficient.”

The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 1:7)

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple [fools] keep going and suffer for it. (Proverbs 27:12)

It comes down to this:

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)

To be morally deficient is to defy God and to ignore what He says is right and true and good. If you ignore what is right and true and good, what is wrong, false and evil will characterize your life. It’s bad for you personally, and it’s also bad for your family. It’s even worse if you’re leading a nation.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:21-23)

Joe Biden ignores God. In addition, he ignores political wisdom, cultural realities and common sense, and he seems to do it with malice, greed, pride and, sometimes, an empty stare.

Brandon is a fool. And “to be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool” (Octavia E. Butler, The Parable of the Talents). That’s perhaps the greatest travesty of the whole debacle.

See you in March.