On the topic of infamous exits, it’s tough to surpass Joe Biden. The twilight of his presidential term has merely reinforced the message that his leadership was among the most catastrophic in recent American history. The paltry 34% approval rating he holds paints a vivid picture of his widespread unpopularity, the lowest in his term.
In a chilling demonstration of his flawed leadership, Biden recently commuted the sentences of thirty-seven out of forty federal death row inmates, swapping their death sentences for life imprisonment. This shocking decision included mercy for a man who, back in 1997 in Michigan, brutally extinguished the life of a 19-year-old woman who had named him her assailant.
The woman, weighed down by cinder blocks and with duct tape across her face, was discovered by fishermen at the bottom of Oxford Lake. This chilling discovery came days before the start of the suspect’s trial. The young victim left behind an 18-month-old daughter, Shannon, who vanished without a trace and remains missing to this day.
Biden didn’t stop there. Earlier this month, he commuted the sentences of a staggering 1,500 federal inmates which, for the record, is part of the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern American history. This ill-advised act of leniency included reducing the remaining time for a disgraced former Pennsylvania judge.
This particular judge had enacted a cynical kids-for-cash scheme, sending children to a private prison he had a hand in establishing, in exchange for receiving underhanded kickbacks. In addition, Biden’s sweeping act of clemency covered dozens of persons tried in Michigan’s federal courts, many of whom were involved in drug trafficking, health care fraud, and various embezzlement schemes.
Moreover, Biden began December with a perplexing contradiction. In what seemed like the biggest lie of his presidency, he declared that he would not pardon his son, Hunter Biden, for federal tax and gun convictions, only to do the exact opposite.
His declarations, both before and after the 2024 election, were crystal clear — he would not grant his son a pardon or commute his sentence. Yet, in a shocking turn of events on December 1, Biden gave a full and unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter.
This pardon covered a decade’s long tenure of Hunter’s dubious involvement with overseas companies, where he is suspected of profiting considerably. This maneuver scraped off the last remnants of dignity from an already tarnished Biden presidency, thereby cementing the belief in a dual system of justice prevalent in the country.
Beneath this calamitous term of Biden lies a troubling question: who was truly at the helm of our government? Reports highlighting how Biden’s aides and advisors managed his apparent limitations have surfaced, causing serious concern about the conduct of affairs during his tenure.
The reports indicate that interactions with senior Democrats ground to a halt, as did meaningful interactions with key secretaries. Legislative leaders were kept at bay, without crucial discussions with the president, exemplified by the disastrous withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
It indeed presented a paradoxical picture when senior advisors were frequently positioned in roles that many believed should have been filled by Biden himself. It all makes perfect sense if one considers the presidential debate between Trump and Biden, where his cognitive decline was, unfortunately, displayed to the world.
This raises critical questions regarding the entirety of his tenure. The fading image of the Biden presidency will likely be etched in history as one shrouded in deceit, corruption, and instability.
In the grand scheme of things, the Biden administration proved to be a dismal chapter when American leadership tripped, fell, and failed to rise for the challenge. Observers at home and across the globe watched in disbelief as a presidency, inaugurated with promises of hope and change, devolved into a symbol of American failure.
The disturbing revelations about the mismanagement of the Biden presidency have shaken the faith of Americans. Worse still, the worrisome condition of our nation under Biden’s watch has globally undermined American prestige, highlighting the tragic erosion of democratic norms within his administration.
The shocking chain of events under his presidency paints a grim picture of America’s political leadership, with Biden and his affiliate, Kamala Harris, dead center. Their tenure has been riddled with gross internal management mishaps, poor international policies, and a blatant disregard for the rule of law.
The imprint they leave on the presidency is ignoble and troublingly unforgettable, sadly encapsulating a period where our leadership not only fell short of the high standards set by previous presidents but also managed to sink to unprecedented lows in repugnant acts of favoritism and outright deception.