The Biden Presidency Thus Far: It’s Been an Unmitigated Disaster

In the interest of full disclosure, I am forced to admit that I was not overly optimistic about the future of this country under the leadership of Joe Biden. Beginning with his first day in office and continuing on to his fiasco in Afghanistan, my concerns have been borne out in spades. In addition, many Americans are questioning just who it is exactly that is running this country. 

There is some speculation that White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is running the country. Others believe that it is Kamala Harris who is in charge. Others still are of the opinion that former president Barack Obama has his hands on the reins. I would say that there is little or no chance that either Kamala Harris or Barack Obama are pulling the strings.

Starting on day one of his presidency, Joe Biden has exhibited the worst judgement of any president in my lifetime. In the following paragraphs I will give several examples of decisions made either by Joe Biden personally or by members of his administration that were not only incorrect, but were made without the best interest of this country or its citizens in mind. It is my position that many, if not all, of the policy decisions made by the president (or whoever is in charge of our government) are the exact opposite of what should have been done.

One example of this was that on day one of his presidency Joe Biden signed Executive Orders (EOs) that resulted in the elimination of at least 130K high-paying construction jobs and high-paying oil worker jobs. Specifically, I’m talking about his cancelling of the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline. This project created 10K high-paying steel worker jobs and other construction jobs. Also, when completed, this pipeline would have transported 800K barrels of Canadian crude oil per day to American refineries in Texas. As it stands now, Canada is shipping 200K barrels per day by tractor trailer and railcar.

Even Joe Biden’s Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, disagrees with this decision and has said as much to the press. According to Ms. Granholm, it is much safer to transport crude oil via a pipeline than by over-the-road tractor trailer and railcar. It is also much more cost effective and emits less greenhouse gases than shipping over the road or by rail. 

Also on day one President Biden cancelled the sale of new oil and gas leases on federal land. This halt on new government leases did not apply to existing leases that were still in effect. US oil production has decreased from its peak during the Trump Administration of just under 14M barrels per day to the current level of roughly 11M barrels per day. This shortfall has caused energy prices, especially gasoline, to explode. The price of gas in my area has increased by roughly $1.10 per gallon over the last year. Most of this increase has taken place since Joe Biden took office.

To be fair, the Supreme Court has overruled President Biden’s EO banning the sale of new oil and gas leases on federal land. This should, at least in part, mitigate the shortage of crude oil here in the US.

This brings us to moronic decision number three. In order to make up for the current shortfall in crude oil production and alleviate the rise in gas prices, the greatest president of all time (just ask him and he'll tell you that) is pleading with OPEC Plus to increase its exports of crude oil to the US. In just the last few days, OPEC Plus has declined to increase its exports to the US. Why would OPEC Plus even consider increasing exports? They are already getting top dollar for their oil, and the market is still going up. Plus, they have the bonus of having Joe Biden pleading with them to export more oil. Keep up the great work, Joe.

The decision by President Biden to cancel the sale of oil and gas leases on federal land was wrong on several different levels. First of all, pumping our own domestic crude creates thousands of high-paying American jobs. Creating jobs has been a priority for all  presidents—but not Joe Biden. In his mind it is not in the best interest of this country to keep our own oil workers on the job. Why Joe Biden has this opinion… I have absolutely no reasonable answer.

Secondly, we would be buying oil from countries such as Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and other countries who don’t like us or our way of life. That said, why would we want to enrich our enemies? Here again, I have no reasonable explanation for this.

Reason number three for pumping our own crude oil is our balance of payments with other countries. When the US exports goods and services to other countries, that brings money into the US. When we import goods and services, we send money out of the US. Thus, it becomes rather obvious that the US is much better off pumping its own oil and gas rather than importing it. So the question remains: Why are we doing this, Mr. President?

Over the last several months we have all become aware of the significant price increases in food, energy, and housing. We have not seen the last of these price increases, especially with regard to energy. As winter approaches and the temperatures begin to drop, the American public will be forced to suffer through additional increases in the price of energy when heating their homes. This will be especially costly in the northern half of the country where it is not uncommon for temperatures to fall significantly below zero. Like anything else, when the demand for a commodity increases, the price of that commodity will also increase.

These prices increases in all areas of the economy will only be exacerbated by the ridiculous amounts of spending that are being proposed by the Biden Administration. This spending will result in trillions of additional dollars flooding into our economy and creating additional demand for goods and services. As I have written in previous posts, cash equals demand. The more cash in the marketplace, the more demand for goods and services. The higher the demand for these goods and services, the higher the price will go. These price increases will be the result of a shortage of supply and the glut of cash in the marketplace. The glut of cash will result in the devaluation of the dollar and a corresponding reduction in its buying power. This is referred to as inflation.

It is my understanding that approximately $500B of the $4.7 T in “infrastructure spending” proposed by President Biden will actually be spent on roads, bridges, and other physical infrastructure. The balance is earmarked for what Democrats are calling “human infrastructure.” This “human infrastructure” would include items such as free pre-school, free community college for everyone, increased child care tax credit, and, among other things, increased Medicare benefits. This massive $3.5T spending bill is nothing more than a Democrat ploy to buy votes for the elections of 2022 and the 2024. If current polls are any indication, this Democrat plan will fail miserably.

Another horrendous decision made by President Biden is the “open borders” policy which has allowed in excess of 2M illegal immigrants into the country. These people are coming here from at least 88 different countries. These people are, for the most part, uneducated, unskilled, and unvetted. They need only agree to report to ICE and receive a court date to request asylum. Of course, as has been widely reported over the past several years, about 90% of these people never appear for their court date.

This policy is in place for one reason and for one reason only. That is to let as many of these illegals into the country as possible and eventually grant them citizenship with the right to vote. It is the general belief among Democrats that the vast majority of these illegals will vote Democrat. Depending on how many of these illegals are let into the country, Democrats candidates may receive enough additional votes to sway a sufficient number of elections in the House, the Senate, and the White House to put both the legislative branch and the executive branch of our government under Democrat party control in perpetuity. If this scenario were to occur, the Democrats would eventually get control of all the federal courts—including the Supreme Court. At that point, America can put its head between its legs and kiss its ass good-bye.

As if allowing millions upon millions of uneducated, unskilled, and mostly unvetted migrants into our country over the last fifteen or twenty years wasn’t bad enough, it was recently leaked by a whistleblower that the percentage of illegals testing positive for Covid has increased by a factor of 900% over the last fifteen months. The percentage of all illegals entering our country with Covid-19 is now between 16% and 20% depending on which port of entry we are talking about.

Many of these illegals are being put on commercial aircraft and flown out of Laughlin Air Force Base to cities and towns all over the US. In many cases, local government administrations are not even being notified that these people, many of whom are infected with Covid or some other communicable disease, are being brought into their municipalities and left there by the federal government. This is obviously a serious health risk to the citizens of these communities. These illegals have little or no regard for the US citizens that they will come in contact with and possibly infect. If you’re wondering why there’s a resurgence of Covid cases in the US, this is one of the reasons. What wonderful additions these people will be to our country. It’s an open question as to how many Americans will contract Covid from these illegals and actually die.

One of the main responsibilities of the president is to keep the country and its citizens safe. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary to have a well-armed and well-trained military. The president has come up short in this area as well. His proposed budget to fund the Defense Department for FY 2022 was increased by only 1.6%. Congress later added to this increase by an additional 3.5%. With the rate of inflation estimated to be at least 5.4% and rising, it would seem that the adjusted rate of increase in the Defense budget is barely at a break-even with last year.

At the same time that China is continuing to upgrade and enhance its military capability, the US is barely maintaining its present ability to defend this country and those of our allies.

Just to be clear, the Chinese are not spending this money for the purpose of showing off their military hardware during some patriotic military parade. These upgrades are being made in preparation for armed confrontation. It is well known, for example, that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims most, if not all, of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory. Eventually, the time will come when the Chinese are going to test the resolve of these countries and that of the US and its allies. If we are not up to the task of defending these countries they will be taken over one by one. This type of scenario has been referred to as “The Domino Theory” at least as far back as the Vietnam War—and possibly as far back as the Korean Conflict.

Not properly funding our military to the extent necessary is an invitation to our enemies, specifically the Chinese and the Russians, to intimidate and harass countries such as Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and Ukraine. Our allies in the Middle East would also be subject to this intimidation at the hands of the Iranians. The longer this intimidation is allowed to go on, the larger the chance of an armed conflict.

The best way to avoid this type of conflict is for the US to maintain a modern, well-manned, well-trained, and well-disciplined military (emphasis on well-disciplined). Funding for our military was actually cut slightly when inflation is taken into account. It is my fear that this will become the norm during the Biden presidency. A military that is not properly funded, manned, and trained is an ineffective military. That said, if the US and its allies were unable to respond forcefully against the above-named aggressors when they attempt by force to take over one or more of our allies, the US would be viewed as nothing more than a paper tiger. If this were to happen the entire free world would be at risk.

Make no mistake these aggressor countries are not playing bean bag. They have the manpower and the financial resources to build and maintain a military capability that is second to none and that is exactly what they are doing. If the US military is not at 100% 100% of the time, would it be able to engage in armed conflict in more than one arena simultaneously? I don’t have the answer to that question. What I do have is a scenario where the Chinese would attack Taiwan and the Russians would commence an all out attack against Ukraine. Up until now, the Russians have been content to amass troops and equipment on their common border with Ukraine. That situation could change at any time.

There are also two other areas where military conflict is a real possibility. These are the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East. The two aggressor countries are North Korea and, of course, Iran. These two countries are closely allied with either China or Russia. 

Over the last 70 years, since the ceasefire was signed at the 38th parallel on the Korean Peninsula, there have been numerous borderline skirmishes. Both sides have troops and equipment stationed there at the ready. All that is needed is that one spark to ignite the situation. If North Korea were to also mount an attack against South Korea, this would be a third crisis that the US would need to address simultaneously. Would the US military be able to respond to all these crises at one time? I don’t have the answer to that, but we may soon find out.

Iran seems to be the mischievous child who is in constant need of attention. It is their desire to be a major player in the Middle East, and I suppose, to a limited extent, they are. However, I do not see them making a major move towards either Israel or any of our Muslim allies in the region unilaterally. Thus far, they have been content to lob a few missiles into Syria and also at Saudi Arabia. They are also funding the Houthie rebels in Yemen and harassing American Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf. These hit-and-run acts of harassment are just that, and nothing more. I can tell you with a very high degree confidence that if the Commanding Officer of any US Navy vessel thought his ship was in danger at any time by the Iranian Navy, I would bet the farm that he would blow that Iranian ship out of the water and not give it a second thought.

Would the US and its allies be able to respond to all these crises at once? I don’t really know. But given what just occurred in Afghanistan under the leadership of President Biden, I have serious doubts.

The way I see it, the only thing stopping Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran from gobbling up these countries is the threat of the US and our NATO allies getting involved. This threat is now questionable under the leadership of Joe Biden.

The chaotic debacle which describes our withdrawal from Afghanistan is 100% the responsibility of President Biden. He is the Commander in Chief, and it was he who gave the order to withdraw our troops before making sure that all Americans were evacuated from the country first. There are still at least 100 US citizens, including some very young children, that are still stranded in Afghanistan. Some estimates range as high as 500.

President Biden reneged on his promise to evacuate all American citizens from Afghanistan before completing our withdrawal. He also reneged on our countries promise to protect those Afghans who assisted the US during our twenty-year involvement in that country. He left them cold with virtually no way out and no way to protect their families.

In addition to not evacuating all the Americans and the Afghans who stuck their necks out and helped the US, he also neglected to remove the military hardware and equipment that was given to the Afghan military. I have found several different numbers as to the value of this equipment. My understanding is that the $83B is the value of what the US invested over the years—and that $24B is what was left when we pulled out. 

Is there so much wealth floating around the United States that our president is comfortable abandoning a minimum of $24B worth of military arms and equipment? A partial list of what was left would include thousands of small arms and ammo, Humvees, and Black Hawk helicopters. Has this country become so arrogantly wealthy that it has become acceptable to just walk away from a minimum of $24B worth of military hardware—as if it were chump change? Is this how our president manages the tax money entrusted to him by the hard-working taxpayers of this country? Not only is it wasteful, but it is also disrespectful.

President Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan is being called one of the worst policy decisions ever made by a sitting president. As I said above, it’s all on President Biden. He, and he alone, is responsible for this disaster. Even though everyone knows he doesn’t mean it, he has stated that, “The buck stops here.” He is also responsible for the deaths of 13 American servicemen. Sleep well, Mr. President, if you’re able.

This fiasco has humiliated the US in the eyes of the entire world. We may never regain the respect of our allies and, more importantly, our enemies. This single poorly planned and poorly executed operation will embolden our enemies. It will also make our allies think twice about whether to trust the word of the United States. I would bet real money right now that those Afghans who helped the US over the last twenty years are probably having second thoughts about their decision to help the US. That is, if they’re still alive.

The fact is that President Biden was aware that the fight between the Afghan Army and the Taliban was not going well. He became aware of this in early or mid-July. The Afghan Army had  the numbers, the weapons, and the training—and they were still losing. This very topic was discussed during a phone call between President Biden and President Ghani of Afghanistan. The conversation shows, in no uncertain terms, that our president was aware of this situation well in advance of August 15th when the evacuation began—and he sat on it. Instead of beginning the evacuation weeks earlier in July, he waited until mid-August to begin. We are all aware of the results. Hundreds of Americans as well as thousands of Afghans were left stranded in Afghanistan—and 13 dead American servicemen. This was unconscionable.

It has been the policy and the tradition of the US military to never leave anyone behind. Joe Biden did exactly that. By doing so, he humiliated himself and the office of the president. He also humiliated the US military and the United States as well. 

In an effort to be kind, I will characterize the first eight months of Joe Biden’s presidency as less than stellar. In my view, with the exception of approving $60M in military aid to Ukraine, he has not made one rational, intelligent decision on any of the major issues that have confronted this country since he took office. The question that needs to be answered is this: why is he not making better decisions?

Joe Biden is not a stupid man. Although he was almost thrown out of law school for plagiarism, the review board decided to give him a second chance. They allowed him to complete his studies and graduate. People who are able to earn a law degree and pass the bar exam are not stupid people. That said, the problem must be elsewhere.

The other possibility is that he is losing the ability to think and reason clearly. This has been a topic of discussion since well before the election. During the campaign, his frequent gaffes and episodes of rambling were chalked up by the media as “that’s just Joe.” The truth is that we have all seen and heard examples of this, and I believe that we are now well beyond misspeaking and innocent mistakes. 

The more serious problem at this point is that his staff is well-aware of his cognitive shortcomings, and, thus far, they have been reluctant to come forward and make it public. This is a real danger to the country. By keeping silent, they are putting the national security of the United States at risk. This is being done for the sole purpose of retaining political power.

If Russia were to launch another cyberattack against the US, what would the response from President Biden be? His response to the last cyberattack which targeted our fuel pipeline on the east coast was to sit down with Vladimir Putin and give him a list of US industries that were off limits to Russian cyberattacks. There was no mention of what the consequences would be if a new attack were to take place. Also, what of the industries that were not off limits according to Joe Biden’s list? Is it then OK for the Russians to cyber attack those industries? Are they now fair game? It would seem to me that if they’re not on that list, the answer to that question is yes.

It has been reported over the last several days that President Biden has been discussing giving financial aid to the Taliban. The president is calling this giveaway “financial aid.” I am calling it protection money. The problem is that even if we were to pay the Taliban to not launch terrorist attacks against the US, that would still leave ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and any other terrorist group who is looking for an easy score to contend with. Paying people off not to attack you is flat-out dumb for the simple reason that there is no guarantee this protection money will stop the Taliban from attacking the US.

Another reason why this would never work is this: suppose after four or five years the Taliban notifies the US that they will not honor the agreement after a certain date. At that point, they will need more money. Their reasoning is that they need more money to live. They all have large families now and they just don’t have enough money to get by. Many of these fighters have seven or eight wives and dozens of kids and it has become just impossible to make ends meet. It has therefore become necessary for the US to pay more money. How’s that for a logical argument?

The above paragraph was written in jest, but it’s really not that far removed from reality. How long will this go on? When will it become time for the US to pay again? The very idea of paying these people for protection, which in my opinion is exactly what it is, should sicken every American citizen, but it probably won’t.

One would think that, being in the US Senate for roughly 36 years, Joe Biden would have acquired at least some skill in the art of negotiation. It would seem that this is not the case. The president gave away any leverage he had and got nothing in return. He left hundreds of American citizens, not to mention thousands of Afghan allies, stranded in Afghanistan. The president gave it all away when he pulled US troops out of the country before evacuating all US citizens and our Afghan allies. He now wants to add insult to injury by paying protection money to the Taliban. Mr. President, haven’t you humiliated this country enough already?

Whether you like Trump or hate him, he was an experienced negotiator. For decades, he put deals together that made it possible for him to build income properties at prices that, over the years, made him a multi-billionaire. 

This negotiating skills that Trump was able to acquire during the many years he spent in business was one of the reasons that he was able to get Chairman Kim to the table. Although he was unable to walk away with the ultimate deal of nuclear disarmament of North Korea, he was able to get Chairman Kim to agree to end testing of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. More importantly, he was able to build a relationship with Kim, which I believe still exists to this day. The relationship is important because the day may come when the former president will be in a position to negotiate again with Mr. Kim. This is what an experienced negotiator can accomplish. Joe Biden is not an experienced negotiator. 

In a previous post, I wrote that it was my belief that the US was in the early stages of its decline. The massive spending of the last eighteen months, coupled with the $11T in proposed spending currently before Congress, does not bode well for our currency to maintain its value in the near future. 

The proposed tax increases on business and individuals could result in an economic slowdown and the loss of a significant number of jobs. These tax increases could turn hard-working taxpayers into wards of the state.

Our military is becoming “woke,” which means that discipline is out the window. Our defense budget—which should be increased every year just to keep up with the Chinese and the Russians—is barely at the break-even point.

Our southern border, for all intents and purposes, has been obliterated by HHS Secretary Mayorkas. Hundreds of thousands of illegals from all over the globe are being allowed to enter our country. These people are invading our country for the purpose of finding “a better life”—at the expense of the US taxpayer. Included in this mass of humanity are drug smugglers, human traffickers, murderers, rapists, and terrorists. It’s as if we don’t have enough of our own homegrown criminals so President Biden has decided to import more.

Approximately 20% of these illegals are testing positive for Covid-19 and other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. These people are being released by the US government into cities and towns across the country spreading these diseases to unsuspecting Americans. In addition to being a national health risk, some of those being let into the country are also a National Security risk if ever there was one.

Our cities have become war zones: Murders and other violent crimes are up by double digits in some categories, and triple digits in others. Murders, for example, are up by 300%. Children as young as two years old are among the victims. Local municipalities are tying the hands of local law enforcement. Activist DAs are letting criminals out of prison with little or no bail, under the guise of social justice. It’s just a thought, but maybe these DAs should be more concerned about the rights of the victims and less concerned about the rights of the criminals.

The minds of our children are being poisoned by radical left-wing ideologues posing as teachers. They are being taught the benefits of socialism and how much more equitable that economic system is than capitalism. When you consider the fact that there has never been a successful socialist country in the history of this planet, I have to wonder what is the point of teaching this nonsense to our children.

These same radicals, with the consent of the school administration, are also indoctrinating our children with a racist curriculum called Critical Race Theory. This ideology is nothing more than a racist narrative that divides our children by skin color instead of bringing them together. What these schools should be teaching is that we are all Americans with the same goals and dreams. They should also be made aware that everyone has the same rights, privileges, and opportunities and that the US Constitution applies equally to every citizen. Some people may have to work a little harder to achieve their goals, but the same opportunities are available for anyone to take advantage of.

We are losing our country. Our beliefs, our culture, our customs, and our society are all disappearing. These attributes are the essence of what America is. They define what it means to be an American. It is these attributes that make America a cohesive group of citizens and not a random gathering of foreigners who just happen to inhabit the same geographic area. It is this sense of belonging that moves young men and women to join our military and defend the freedoms and the way of life that we all love.

The rights that are guaranteed by our constitution are in jeopardy. Our right to free speech is challenged almost on a daily basis by the “cancel culture.” The mainstream media has become so biased that what they report as the news of the day is nothing more than left-wing propaganda. Our elected officials lie, straight faced, so often that it has now become the norm rather than the exception. It is done with absolutely no shame—so don’t hold your breath waiting for a retraction.

Our right to own a firearm is challenged by left-wing politicians almost daily. Many of these same politicians have hired personal security guards at taxpayers’ expense. We have no private security protection. How come? We have only local police departments, who, as in the case of our larger cities, have been partially defunded. Is it any wonder that crime is up substantially in many of those cities? The police officers in our major cities have become so demoralized that many of them have either retired or moved on to other law enforcement agencies where the presence is appreciated. In many cases, the big cities that they left are now very short of personnel and are actually unable to adequately perform their primary duty of keeping the public safe. This being the case, the only other means of personal protection that is now available to us is to obtain a “right to carry” permit. This is not the way Americans should have to live.

Finally, I’m going to close this post with some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that we have no one else to blame for this sh-t show in the oval office than ourselves. We have elected this incompetent, addled old man who is told what to do by his staffers or his “handlers.” He is not allowed to answer questions from reporters, and, if he tries, his mic is shut off. One has to wonder who exactly has been given the authority to decide when to shut off the microphone of the President of the United States.? One also has to wonder who gave this person the authority to do this. Is this person also running the country? Joe Biden is supposed to be the leader of the free world—but just who is leading him?

Take a moment and consider the damage that has been done in just the first eight months of the Biden Administration. Now consider the absolute devastation that could occur over the next three years. The possibilities are endless—and they are all bad. 

Should some illness afflict the president during the remainder of his term, the line of succession does not give rise to optimism. Next in line is Kamala Harris, who has shown the American public that she is nothing more than an airhead who cackles when faced with a difficult question or a tough situation. Anyone who believes that the US is not at serious risk with these two very unimpressive individuals leading the country should take a few minutes and seriously consider everything that has occurred over the last eight months.

The good news is that there is a better than average chance that Republicans will take back both houses of Congress in 2022. If that happens, Joe Biden’s reign of terror will end. He will become a lame duck president with little or no authority except to issue executive orders. There is also a very significant chance that he will be impeached. That is not a guarantee that he will be removed from office, but the possibility exists. 

The other good news is simply that Joe Biden may wind up being the greatest gift that the Democrats ever gave to the Republican Party. His performance thus far has been atrocious. He has hurt this country financially, militarily, politically, and socially. He has also offended our closest allies, some of which belong to NATO. The reality of this situation is this: The more damage that he and the Democrats do, the larger the gift becomes. Unfortunately, the country has to survive the next three years for Republicans to take advantage of this gift.

It is my hope that the Republican Party will be able to minimize any further damage to the country caused by this administration. Americans seem to have a short memory when it comes to politics. That, coupled with the propaganda machine of the biased left-wing media, could present a challenge to the voters. If the last election was an indicator, they will be faced with an onslaught of BS and propaganda, the likes of which this country has never seen. It seems to get worse every election cycle. The performance of this president and almost his entire political party have been a dumpster fire. It remains to be seen whether the American public will be able to see through all the smoke and mirrors of the mainstream media or be kept in the dark like mushrooms. 

Addendum:

The following information appeared in an article published in The Statesville Record & Landmark, located in North Carolina: 131 sex crimes were committed in just the State of North Carolina during the month of August 2021 by illegal immigrants. That was One Crime Category, in One Month, in just One State where only 3.2% of the US population reside. Now, is there anyone who has read this post that is of the opinion that the US doesn’t have an immigration problem?