New York Times columnist Bret Stephens called out four deceptions and four illusions of President Biden’s tenure in a piece published Wednesday that would “not serve his legacy well.”
The illusions Stephens included Biden’s assertion that the 2021 migration surge was “seasonal,” his position that it was “highly unlikely” the Taliban would take control of Afghanistan, his claim that inflation was just transitory, and lastly, “that he was the best Democratic candidate to defeat Donald Trump.”
Biden will exit the White House on Jan. 20 as President-elect Donald Trump will be officially inaugurated. The president told USA Today’s Susan Page that he still thinks he could have beaten Trump had he stayed in the race.
“That last illusion was pure hubris,” Stephens wrote. “But there was an arrogance to the first three, since he was loudly alerted (including by, well, me) on each point that he was making a fundamental mistake.”
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“The White House spent months in 2021 refusing to use the term ‘crisis’ for the border — it was, instead, a ‘challenge.’ Pentagon leaders warned the president that the Afghan government would soon collapse if the United States withdrew. Biden shrugged. Larry Summers was outspoken about the inflationary risks of Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package. Biden ignored that, too,” Stephens wrote.
Stephens historically has been conservative but was staunchly anti-Trump and supported Biden in 2020. He included the president’s assertion on the 2020 campaign trail that he would be a transitional president and his promise to be a “bipartisan and moderate figure in the White House,” on the list of deceptions.
“He, along with his entire administration, insisted he was mentally and physically fit to serve a second term. And he promised not to pardon his son Hunter if he were convicted of crimes,” the columnist added, noting the other two deceptions.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
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Stephens said Biden didn’t have a positive approval rating after the Afghanistan withdrawal and that his early missteps doomed his presidency.
“His grudging decision in July not to run came too late to qualify as statesmanship,” Stephens wrote.
Members of the media and Democrats lauded Biden as a hero after dropping out of the race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.
“And Hunter? A father’s love is admirable. A president’s lie is not. In one of his last major political acts in office, Joe Biden forgot who he was. But it seems as if that already happened years ago. History won’t be kind,” Stephens concluded, knocking the pardon of his son.
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The columnist also said the cover-up of Biden’s health by the people closest to him warranted a congressional investigation.
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