Who Is Actually Running Biden's Potemkin Presidency?

Back in the dark days of the Soviet Union (USSR), it was not unusual for foreign visitors, especially journalists and diplomats, to go home and tell everybody how clean everything was, how happy and well-fed the people all appeared to be and how all of them expressed undying love and devotion to the Communist Party.

They got those impressions because Soviet officials routinely took such visitors to "Potemkin Villages" — fake towns created specifically for the purpose of concealing from those visiting the USSR from outside of the Communist "paradise" the hellish reality of oppression, starvation and official brutality within it. The Soviets didn't invent the Potemkin Village but they routinely used them.

A December 22 news story in The Hill, a liberal media outlet that focuses on Congress, provides a huge hint that, despite the appearances and official claims to the contrary, Joe Biden isn't the man in charge of the White House, that his is a Potemkin Presidency.

The headline proclaims, "Biden Kept at Distance from McConnell in Border Talks." Then the lede of the news story says Biden "has kept a distance from Senate negotiations on a border deal critical to securing congressional aid to Ukraine, even as GOP lawmakers repeatedly called for him to enter the talks."

Catch the subtle difference there? The headline is passive, while the lede is active. The lede clearly suggests Biden himself is why he has not been involved in the much-ballyhooed negotiations between his administration, Senate Democrats, and Senate Republicans seeking an end-of-the-year deal on stopping the rising flood of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. at its Southern border with Mexico.

But the headline can be read as saying Biden is holding back from the talks at somebody else's insistence, that his is a passive role. Should it be read as passive? The hint comes a few paragraphs deeper into The Hill's copy:

"The border talks are a sensitive issue for a White House that is under pressure to show action at the border, but does not want to anger progressive Democrats demanding a cease-fire in Gaza who also fear a return of Trump-era asylum and deportation policies."

So, it's clear that Biden administration officials don't "want to anger progressive Democrats ..." by taking strong actions to close the Southern border and stop the massive influx of illegal immigrants. But the next graph provides some crucial specificity:

"And some Democratic senators are worried that if Biden got into a room with McConnell or other Senate GOP negotiators, he might end up cutting a deal on border and asylum policy that will enrage their party’s base."

So, it's not just left-wing Democratic Party activists who are worried that Biden might agree to such a deal, it's two or more Democratic senators. And they have solid grounds for such worries, according to one of them who told The Hill:

“'A totally legitimate concern is if you’re not reasonably close [to a deal], there’s no reason to put him in a room … He could be dragged anywhere,' said one Democratic senator who requested anonymity to talk about the leeriness fellow Democrats feel about making Biden the point person in the talks."

Wait a minute! America's commander-in-chief can "be dragged anywhere," according to a Democratic lawmaker who, intentionally or otherwise, lets slip the disturbing truth about the man Americans put in their Oval Office instead of Donald Trump?

And there's this: Further on in The Hill story, the Senate minority leader describes having great difficulty beginning in October in getting through the White House palace guards to speak directly with Biden. McConnell and Biden have a long history of getting together to make politically significant deals, so it's understandable that the former would be reaching out to the latter.

It appears from The Hill story that McConnell only made progress once he managed to get a telephone call through to White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients. And it was November 7 before McConnell was able to speak with Biden, according to The Hill:

“'President Biden and [Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen] called me yesterday,' McConnell told reporters the next day, Nov. 7. 'I did make it clear to both of them that we have to have a credible solution to the wide-open border in order to get a bill that includes all of the things I think are important across the Senate floor.'”

Learning from an unnamed Democratic lawmaker that America's most visible and powerful leader can be "dragged anywhere" comes only a few days after other media reported, quoting an unnamed Biden administration official, that China's dictator Xi Jinping all but warned Biden when Taiwan will be invaded.

That warning ought to get the attention of all Americans because it was Biden who declared on "60 Minutes" that the U.S. would defend Taiwan militarily should China invade the island nation, saying, "Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack."

One wonders if Biden's masters in the White House will allow him to tell the American people when World War III will be ignited by the Chinese invasion of Taiwan that Zi warned him about weeks ago during that San Francisco meeting.