There was an omertà—a code of silence—that prohibited any public talk of Mr. Biden’s acuity, so most of the information was shared after the election of 2024, when officials and aides felt freer to talk.
Wall Street Journal (“Original Sin” review)
Thanks to Joe Biden, only 27% of Americans hold a favorable view of the Democrat Party (source: NBC News). Thanks to his original sin, a stench hovers over the party. Dig into any pol’s “favorability” and see the same recipe: competence + inclusion + trust. That’s why Democrats peaked with Clinton, imploded with Biden, and Schumer (25% favorability) and Jeffries (23% favorability) are minority leaders. What a long, strange trip it’s been.
A Legacy of Incompetence
Democrat competence ended with Bill Clinton, who reformed welfare, made government “work better on less money” and balanced the federal budget. He also passed a crime bill, deported or returned 12,271,000 illegal aliens, created 22.7 million new jobs, and actualized 4% GDP growth. He wasn’t perfect – allowing China into the WTO – but he was a centrist. And Democrats should have followed his model…
…because Obama and Biden combined to allow 13,500,000 illegal aliens into the US, abet Iran’s nuclear dream, invite Putin’s invasion of Crimea and Ukraine, and add $18 trillion to the national debt. And, after Bidenflation, Joe exited with only 19% of voters “satisfied with how he left the country” (source: Gallup). No joke, Biden left office with record-low approvals on handling key issues: 28% on the economy, 30% on immigration, and 32% on foreign policy (source: RCP polling average).
A Coalition of Extremists
Democrat hopes peaked when a “diverse coalition” elected a black man with a Muslim name, who proclaimed unity in his acceptance speech: “This is our chance to reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one.” All talk, because Obama’s economic and social policies alienated core voting blocs; which somewhat held for Biden in 2020, and fled Kamala Harris like a house afire.
Biden’s “unity” campaign belied how he’d later issue DEI orders aplenty, spy on Catholics, berate “racist” Republicans, and leave Harris with the fewest Democrat affiliations ever (source: Gallup). Not only did Harris win only 48% of the working class, 39% of Catholics, and 48% of young men, she shed Obama’s 2012 core voters in droves: Blacks (-22 points), Hispanics (-27 points), and working-class minorities (-32 points).
Biden-Harris positions (trans rights) and policies (green energy) so alienated the working class, she was the first Democrat in 20 years to lose the popular vote. Not only did Harris lose 31 states, she lost the party’s future. Compared to Obama-2012, Harris dropped 10 points with young city-dwellers, 25 points with young Blacks, and 37 points with young Hispanics (source: Catalist).
Habitual Liars
Hillary’s Russiagate and Joe’s Hunter Laptop Cover-up snowballed into the massive cover-up that unraveled throughout Biden’s presidency. The currency of democracy is trust, and Biden’s Big Lie leaves his party penniless and unwanted. 58% of voters now say “Biden was unfit to serve” and 56% say “presidential decisions were being made by White House staff” (source: RMG Research). Yikes!
In fact, Joe Biden was never fit for office. His ghost writer saw “senescence” in 2017, campaign aides saw “bad moments” in 2020, and he thought dissing Trump’s “lack of transparency” regarding medical records in a debate was a good idea. Is it even possible to be that mendacious? Yes, and Biden claimed he “would not pardon” Hunter (and did), Pritzker claimed “ICE raided a Chicago school” (when it did not), and Rep. McIver…Governor Walz…Judge Dugan…you get the drift.
The “Animal House” Party
Biden was supposed to be the bridge between Trump and a new generation of Democrat leaders, but centrists Ruy Teixeira and James Carville see a hollowed-out party bullied by aggrieved blacks, non-binaries, and preachy women. It’s a party so irrelevant it has resorted to futile and stupid gestures like gate-crashing prisons and fire-bombing Teslas. How does that party beat J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio?
It doesn’t – not after the press outs every sordid Biden detail, Congress puts Ron Klain and Steve Richetti (“the Politburo”) under oath, a Special Counsel investigates Annie Tomasini and Ashley Williams (“the Autopen”), the Original Sins mini-series airs on TV, and Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg are asked by Democrat rivals what did you know and when did you know it?
Not after hopeful blue-state governors are indicted for violating (actual) federal laws, the lunatic-left de-platforms Josh Shapiro, and rudderless Democrats settle on “AOC For President.”
Was Biden the last straw? Maybe not, but he sure left his party gasping for air.