Old Joe Biden and his handlers have, not unexpectedly, mishandled the Russian invasion of Ukraine as spectacularly as they’ve mishandled everything else, and it has become increasingly difficult for the Democratic Party’s propaganda arm, popularly known as the mainstream media, to put lipstick on the pig and pretend that Biden and the people who are really running things are remotely competent. Now Politico has taken the lead in formulating what could become the establishment media’s new line: Biden is a noble man who sacrificed his presidency for the freedom of Ukrainians, at great domestic cost. If Politico’s take catches on, Biden is on track to be celebrated on the Left as the most heroic failed president since Jimmy Carter.
The new image for Biden is buried far down in a lengthy article that signaled the Left’s abandonment of its efforts to pretend Old Joe is doing a remotely good job: “Putin was Playing Biden All Along.” It’s true, Putin was playing Biden, and he has moved on Ukraine because of the dementia-ridden faux-president’s obvious weakness and incompetence. But as far as Politico is concerned, Biden is not a doddering old fool who was played by a smarter, healthier, more ruthless adversary, but rather a tragic figure, a man who sacrificed his presidency for the cause of freedom, heedless of the grievous cost to his own political career.
It all started, according to Politico’s Nahal Toosi, because Biden inherited a mess and tried to straighten it out. It seems that “Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, had a contradictory approach to Russia: Trump constantly tried to gain favor with the Russian leader while his administration, spurred in part by Congress, imposed sanctions on Russia.”
Politico’s article was published on Feb. 24. On Feb. 22, the New York Post reported about a circulating story that Donald Trump, while he was president, gave Putin a stark ultimatum: “If you move against Ukraine while I’m president, I will hit Moscow.” To this, Putin responded, “No way,” whereupon Trump responded, “All those beautiful golden turrets will be blown up.”
Of course, it doesn’t behoove Politico to take notice of such a report, because it contradicts the Left’s discredited Russian collusion narrative and the still-live contention that Trump was Putin’s puppet. Instead of quoting this even in order to try to discredit it, Nahal Toosi opts to pile on more nonsense: “Trump and his aides also often dismissed or mistreated America’s allies in Europe, and Biden administration officials spent much of their first few months trying to repair ties with countries like Germany and France.”
Politico doesn’t dare remind the people who are deeply unfortunate enough to read it and take it seriously that Trump’s mistreatment of our allies in Europe consisted of demanding that they contribute their fair share to their own defense and not continue to require the American taxpayer to pony up for the security of Germany, France, Britain and the rest. Biden put them back on the dole, i.e, in Politico’s world, he repaired ties.
Related: Politico Suddenly Likes a Foul-Mouthed President
And now Old Joe was, according to Politico, going toe-to-toe with Putin, heedless of the cost to the 79-year-old dementia patient’s political future: “Biden’s efforts to stand up to Russia, including his levying of tough economic sanctions on the country, could nonetheless hurt him politically. Russia is a major oil and gas producer, and squeezing its economy through sanctions is likely to raise gas prices, a measure that hits American voters in their pocketbooks.”
In reality, there is little or no political cost to Biden in this. Gas prices have been skyrocketing ever since he took office and killed the Keystone Pipeline; now, as they continue to rise, he can blame Vladimir Putin. That’s actually a net gain for Old Joe, but Politico doesn’t deign to notice that. Instead, the article goes on to quote Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, canonizing Saint Joe Biden: “It’s a huge risk to prioritize [Ukraine] over domestic politics, and I really have to respect them for that. He’s making the right choice, but it’s probably going to cost him.”
The right choice? To act yet again with total indifference or worse to the actual interests of the people of the country he is supposed to be leading? The Left did this before, with Carter. He was supposedly too good for the presidency, too noble in mind for the rough and tumble of politics, too pure for our sullied world. This enabled the sanctimonious old anti-Semite to become the most pestiferous former president in American history. Old Joe will likely join him in being hailed as a sage ex-president, if he has a post-presidency at all. For Americans, his post-presidency can’t possibly come soon enough.
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