Unprecedented Times
Let’s be very clear. We live in unprecedented times. Not since John Adams left the White House in March of 1801 (or James Buchanan in 1861), has our Nation faced such an extraordinary shift in attitude. If we don’t acknowledge that fact, then we are hiding our heads in the sand. For many of us, the fate of the American experiment seems in peril.
President Joe Biden had an exceptional Presidency. He brought the Nation out of a pandemic, not only the health crisis, but the economic disaster that accompanied it. From what surely could have been a depression on the scale of the 1930’s, Biden guided us to a “soft landing”. By all of today’s economic metrics: unemployment rate, inflation rate, the stock markets (the Dow Jones broke 45,000 yesterday, 25% higher than when Biden took office) the Biden Presidency was a huge success.
There was economic pain along the way. And Biden, and then Kamala Harris, paid the electoral price for that pain. But the long-term impact of the Biden Administration is clear everywhere you go, at least here in Central Ohio. The interstate highways are being modernized, the high-tech manufacturing plants are going up, and the whole region is “humming” with economic activity. Whatever the incoming President does, those huge infrastructure improvements will continue. Trump won’t close the Intel plant, and he won’t tear the I-70/I-71 interchange project down. I don’t think he’ll throw that “baby out with the bathwater”.
Justice Delayed
The one great flaw of the Biden Administration was they failed to hold some Americans legally accountable for their actions. It took more than two years, and a high profile Congressional hearing, to even begin to investigate what happened on January 6th, and the conspiracy to violate our laws in the months leading up to it.
We know why there was a delay. Biden, and his chosen Attorney General, Merrick Garland, both are traditional American leaders. They followed the long precedent of not “questioning” past Administrations, but just moving forward. (The most recent example: President Obama’s decision not to prosecute Bush officials for the “torture” memos).
But we do live in unprecedented times: and by following precedent, Biden failed to address the current problem central to our democracy. For all of the amazing things Biden accomplished, this is the prime failure of his Presidency. I hope the Republic survives it.
Retribution
Joe Biden now has a last opportunity in his last few weeks remaining with ultimate power. And, he has ample evidence about what is going to happen. There is a reason that Donald Trump tried to appoint Matt Gaetz to lead the Department of Justice. Gaetz’s replacement, Pam Bondi of Florida, though politically more palatable, is just as dedicated to Trump, and just as much an election denier. Add to that, the outrageous attempt to put Kash Patel in as Director of the FBI, and the course of the Trump Administration is clear: retribution. Trump said so himself.
America has discovered the MAGA axiom: they complain most about what they themselves are planning to do. Their fear of Democrats “weaponizing” the Justice Department is just a mirror reflecting their intent. The Gaetz, Bondi, Patel selections make that clear. Mr. Patel has even given us a Nixonian style “enemies list”, sixty names of both Democrats and out-of-favor Republicans who should be prosecuted. Trump is acting on his avowed desire for “retribution”. His choices for leadership simply proves that intention.
Door’s Open
This week, President Biden pardoned his own son from Federal crimes. There was an uproar, among both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans barked and growled: Biden took their “bone away”. And Democrats (and others) worried that Biden had somehow “opened the door” to a vast array of pardons from Trump as he enters the White House.
That’s coming. Those prosecuted and imprisoned for January 6th are coming out. The Capitol Police officers who risked their lives for our Republic are going to face one more indignity. Those who attacked them will be lionized, not jailed. Congress will be affronted as well. Peter Navarro, from fresh the Federal Penitentiary, is back as a White House advisor.
So Biden should stop worrying about keeping precedence in this unprecedented time. He has the opportunity to protect folks; Liz Cheney, Adam Kinsinger, Dr. Fauci, to name a few, who courageously did their duty in spite of MAGA outrage. And for those who say that the Courts will ultimately protect those folks from injustice anyway, don’t count on the US Supreme Court to hold. The “six” have already granted the President almost universal immunity from the law. There’s no reason to believe that they would, all of sudden, stand for justice.
As Biden walks out the door on January 20th, he should drop a list of pardons as long as his arms. He has this last opportunity to protect those who tried to protect our Nation. It’s his duty, his last chance, to make that right.
Pardon them all.
