Biden’s vacant White House

OPINION:

“The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history,” said President John F. Kennedy on April 20, 1961. “Only the strong, only the industrious, only the determined, only the courageous, only the visionary who determine the real nature of our struggle can possibly survive.”

On that fateful April day, Kennedy honored his commitment to speak to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Many presidents would have ducked it. Three days prior, with Kennedy’s authorization and the CIA’s guidance, thousands of Cuban Americans launched a disastrous landing at what we know as the Bay of Pigs. While Kennedy spoke, the final act of this sad drama was still unfolding.

Today, can anyone imagine President Biden facing a roomful of skeptical editors and owning up to his disastrous blunders. Honesty has never been part of Mr. Biden’s nature. For years, America tolerated his lies because he and they seemed inconsequential. 

America should have been more alarmed when Mr. Biden launched his presidential campaign in April 2019 with a lie, claiming that the racism of former President Donald Trump motivated him to run. Mr. Biden spoke specifically of Mr. Trump’s comments on a 2017 clash in Charlottesville, Virginia, and twisted them grossly out of context. “We are in the battle for the soul of this nation,” said Mr. Biden, warning that if Mr. Trump were reelected, “He will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are, and I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

On the world stage, Mr. Trump had established the nation’s character. Not unlike President Theodore Roosevelt, Mr. Trump projected strength. He backed North Korea down, checkmated China and froze Russia in place. For all his misgivings about Mr. Trump, leftist comedian Trevor Noah joked uneasily last week that the Saudis would never have defied Mr. Trump the way they did Mr. Biden.

Mr. Biden set himself up for the fall. On day one of his administration, he shut down the Keystone pipeline. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had to watch in wonder as the world’s energy-independent superpower rendered itself as vulnerable to his energy whims as its weak sisters in the European Union.

Mr. Putin had to watch in wonder too as the world’s mightiest military focused not on improving its fighting strength but on making life more comfortable for transgender recruits, hectoring the existing troops with divisive critical race theory and terminating those troops who refused to be vaccinated.

In transforming the military as he did, Mr. Biden drove away from the strong, the industrious, the determined and the courageous. If a compliant American media chose not to notice, the rest of the world did, including many of the world’s bad actors, Mr. Putin prominent among them. 

In either case, the failure was due to American vacillation and confusion. The difference is that Kennedy faced up to his mistakes and learned from them. He got rid of the people who led the nation astray. Mr. Biden has fired no one. He has not, will not, and cannot face up to his mistakes.

The big lie about his administration, which the media has perpetrated, is that Mr. Biden is sufficiently competent mentally to lead a world in crisis. It was obvious to anyone looking during the 2020 campaign that he was nowhere close to being competent. He was shielded, and today we are paying the price for the mendacity. 

Mr. Biden’s condition — and it is that a “condition” — will only grow worse. Were there a vice-president waiting in the wings with even a hint of wisdom or intelligence, the Democrats would be preparing a graceful exit for the one man bland enough to stop former President Donald Trump. But in Kamala Harris, chosen only based on race and gender, they have a vice president who embarrasses even them. 

Those who have chosen to remain silent include congressional Republican leaders. I get it. They are playing the long game. They think that if they remain calm and cooperative, Americans will see them as the sane party and reward them with control of both House and Senate. All of it to them is just a game of power and control.

Eighteen months after the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy was given another chance to show his skills as a leader. The stakes were as high as they could be. A miscalculation could have led to nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis. This time, Kennedy did things right. He showed enough public backbone to impress the Soviets and enough wisdom for them to seek a back channel deal amenable to both parties. 

“For I am convinced that we in this country and in the free world possess the necessary resource, and the skill, and the added strength that comes from a belief in the freedom of man,” said Kennedy during his speech to the newspaper editors.

I think we as a people still possess that skill and strength. I am just not sure the occupants of the White House do.

• Dr. Mark Christian is the president of the Truth & Freedom Foundation, an educational platform dedicated to America’s founding principles. Dr. Christian is a medical doctor and a sought-after speaker on the ongoing war on American values coordinated by the socialist left and the Islamists. His new book, “The Apostate: My Search for Truth” (Fidelis Publishing), releases March 8.