In the early months of his presidency, Joe Biden issued a stern warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the fate of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. He said there would be consequences if Navalny were to die in prison.
“I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia,” Biden said. “What do you think happens when he’s saying it’s not about hurting Navalny, all the stuff he says to rationalize the treatment of Navalny, and then he dies in prison?… It’s about trust. It’s about their ability to influence other nations in a positive way.”
Of course, Navalny did die in prison. As for that stern warning from Biden? Well, clearly, Putin wasn't worried about what Biden would do, and who could blame him? Joe Biden may have claimed in the 2020 presidential campaign that Putin didn't want to see him elected president because he didn't want to go toe-to-toe with him. For sure, Putin hasn't yet gone toe-to-toe with Biden; he's just walked all over him, laughing at the feeble old man who plays the U.S. president on television.
When Biden made his threat, it was an ironic moment that we perhaps couldn't appreciate at the time. Why not? Because Joe Biden would proceed to use his administration to target his political enemies, including pro-life groups and activists, parents who speak out at school board meetings, and protesters who did nothing wrong during the Capitol riot. These, of course, were bad enough, but Biden wasn't content to just use his power to punish people who opposed his agenda or supported Donald Trump, he had to go after Donald Trump. Not only has his administration directly gone after Trump via the justice system, but it has also helped partisan prosecutors in their efforts against Trump. Make no mistake about it: these efforts aren't just about keeping Trump from returning to the White House, Biden and other Democrats would no doubt like to see die in prison, too.
Related: Report: House Democrats May Not Certify 2024 Election if Trump Wins
So, when Joe Biden expressed outrage at the death of Navalny, that was yet another ironic moment — though this time we knew it. For all of Biden's talk about protecting democracy, his administration has looked more like the Putin regime than past U.S. administrations that upheld traditionally American standards of justice. For the longest time, we could look at blatant examples of injustice worldwide and say "that could never happen in America," but not anymore.
It's no coincidence that same people who accuse Trump of wanting to jail his political enemies cite the 91 felony counts against him without the slightest hint of irony or self-awareness. We're just supposed to take these charges at face value, and ignore the fact that it's partisan prosecutors and the Biden administration behind them.
And yet, going after Trump wasn't the end of it. As Republicans continue their impeachment investigation into Joe Biden, and uncover things that Biden was hoping would never see the light of day, we've seen his Justice Department go to extraordinary lengths to protect him. The Biden Justice Department recently decided to out the confidential human source Alexander Smirnov, accuse him of lying, indict him, and imprison him. Smirnov, a longtime FBI informant, was the source behind accusations that Joe and Hunter Biden demanded a $10 million bribe from the head of Burisma. The timing couldn't be more suspect. Not only were these allegations made three years ago and went un-investigated, they've suddenly been "proven" false, just as Republicans are on the verge of impeaching Biden. Naturally, Democrats are falsely claiming that the indictment of Smirnov undermines the entire impeachment case against Biden. It doesn't, but it sure was a convenient argument to make.
When I think back to Joe Biden's scripted outrage about Navalny's imprisonment and death, the irony that Biden is taking a page out of Putin's book is not lost on me. It shouldn't be lost on anyone, frankly.
