Daily Broadside | What You See in Washington is a Mirage

Daily Verse | Jonah 3:10
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Greetings my friends, and happy Thursday. What’s another word for thesaurus?

In yesterday’s commentary I wrote about Angelo Codevilla, noting that he had died a few days ago and the blogosphere in which I travel was full of tributes to one of our “foremost public intellectuals.” (Here’s another by Michael Walsh and another by Julie Ponzi with his final article for American Greatness.)

One Codevilla quote from yesterday’s post stands out in particular, in which he unapologetically declares that “the United States of America is now a classic oligarchy.” America’s economic, cultural, and political establishment holds power over its citizens, rather than the citizens holding power over those establishments.

It occurred to me that the power being wielded by this group has given rise to the current feature of our political establishment: we have no functional president.

I’m not referring to what many believe was a stolen election in 2020 (including me). Joseph Robinette Biden is the White House’s current resident. But no one who’s paying any attention to what’s happening can seriously think that Biden is running the show.

He has the title, he has the trappings, and he represents our country on the world stage as America’s “president.” But that’s about it; he’s a symbol, a stand-in, a placeholder. He’s the folded napkin under the table leg to keep it from rocking. He has no moral authority, no history of success, no original ideas.

Worst of all, he is literally losing his mind. He can’t string together a sentence without slurring his words like a drunk. Did you see his horrible performance at the United Nations, trying to read a script prepared for him by his enablers?

And there there’s this: the White House staff interrupt UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson as they shout down reporters and shoo them out of the Oval Office.

Biden did not recognize any American reporters for questions during an Oval Office meeting with Johnson – and his aides cleared out journalists as they tried to query the president.

It’s a bizarre moment, but consistent with Biden often claiming, “they told me” he shouldn’t take questions, but then offers to take questions, leading the press and at least half of America asking, “Who the heck is running the country?!”

We have to assume that Biden is simply given his marching orders, delivers precisely what is necessary, then walks off into the protective arms of his aides and staffers.

The much, much more important question is, who are the junior commies who are putting words in Joe’s mouth? Who is the man behind the curtain that we should not see?

Imagine that there is no president and that policies, laws, guidance, international relations and more are being crafted by a group of unaccountable appointees representing the ruling class’s interests, and you wouldn’t be far off from the truth of the situation.

We don’t have a president—we have a pretender in office. And that realization should trouble us all.