What about Joe Biden's flaws?

An article The Hill published got me to thinking. The article, Jon Stewart is about to learn a hard truth about the state of media and culture, asserted that 9 years ago when Stewart left the Daily Show comedy program, America operated with “a vastly different media and cultural environment,” while “Stewart is a political comedy star from an era that has completely disappeared, ever since large portions of the American media became hopelessly addicted to the drug that is Donald Trump.” The core argument was that polarized Americans can no longer tolerate flawed bothsidesism or false equivalence in media content they consume. 

I watched Stewart’s new debut on the Daily Show. It seemed to me to be quite good and reasonable, considering it is comedy, not news. As far as I can recall, Stewart more or less did a couple of weeks ago what he used to do 9 years ago. He whacked both Biden and DJT repeatedly. The Hill described his treatment of the left like this:

He’d go after the hypocrisy of the left, seeming to relish making his audience uncomfortable at times. Stewart was occasionally masterful at exposing the ridiculous contortions we perform to defend powerful figures we support, and he did so not by attacking the people but by attacking the powerful. .... He set the table on 2024 by describing in detail the threat of Trump, but also spent significant time calling out the obvious cognitive decline and mental fitness of President Biden — including those Democratic defenders who are spinning a false storyline after the damning special counsel report. .... Jon Stewart is about to learn a hard truth about the current media and cultural environment — his brand isn’t welcome anymore.

The Hill then goes on to cite liberal sources, Rolling Stone and Slate, who called Stewart out for betraying their side and flawed bothsidesism. I didn’t see it that way, but opinions will vary. 

However, The Hill seemed to make a good point about sometimes slanted reporting by the left about Biden’s flaws. Sometimes, e.g., the Hur report, the non-radical right media gets snookered and allows unreasonable smearing of Biden. But sometimes it does a crappy job about important things.

Is Stewart’s brand really not welcome any more for most Americans? Maybe so. But that doesn’t make it necessarily bad, it just makes it not popular any more. Time will tell if Steward fall flat or does well.

What about Joe’s issues?

There are things other than his age and mental state to be deeply concerned about with Biden. By now, we all know more than enough about DJT’s serious issues. But what about Joe? Some things about him are not well reported. Two serious matters come to mind.

Ukraine

One is what appears to me to be a gigantic mistake by Biden early in the Russian war on Ukraine. There appeared to be an opportunity for peace talks, but the US and UK opposed peace talks at that time. Even if the talks never led to a meaningful peace, it would have been far better to try to get a deal than simply being arrogant assholes and blowing the opportunity off. That failure to at least try for a peace deal is all Biden’s fault. 

Now, it is too late for talks, other than terms of Ukrainian surrender to Russia. In 1994, the US promised to defend Ukrainian territory to get nukes out. The Ukrainians kept their end of the deal. But now, the US (Republicans in congress) has betrayed Ukraine by refusing to provide military aid. The US has left the Ukrainian people to Russian slaughter. American promises of support to allies isn’t worth spit. In view of how things are turning out, Biden’s failure stands out. Even if we still do sends arms, which may or may not happen, the deaths and damage to Ukraine cannot be undone. We can never know if there would have been a peace agreement early on or not because the Biden would not even bother to try. 

A WaPo opinion commented:

At [the annual Munich Security Conference] two years ago, Zelensky pleaded for international support just days before Russia’s full-scale invasion. At that time, Harris and other U.S. officials promised never to let Ukraine down. This year, Zelensky is even more desperate, in part owing to Washington dysfunction. Ammunition shortages caused by delays in U.S. assistance are already costing lives on the battlefield. Russia is taking advantage by ramping up attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.  

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has declared he won’t take up the Senate bill, and is under pressure from his MAGA members to not pass any Ukraine aid at all.

Israel-Palestine

Regarding US involvement in the endless Israel-Palestine misery, Biden has been a gigantic failure. At this point, the US supports genocide of the Palestinian people by continuing to block peace efforts in the UN. That failure is squarely on Biden. The next Biden failure is scheduled for today or tomorrow at the UN. Al Jazeera reports:

The United States has said it will block another resolution that will soon be presented at the United Nations urging a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Algeria has proposed a new resolution be put to a vote on Tuesday at the UN Security Council (UNSC) that seeks an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, while also demanding an “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.  

“Should it come up for a vote as drafted, it will not be adopted,” said US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield in a statement on Saturday.

The envoy said the resolution could “run counter” to the goals that Washington says can be achieved through diplomacy in talks between Israel and Hamas that Qatar and Egypt are also mediating.

The situation cannot be much simpler or clear than that. The US is blocking peace efforts. Notice the US lie that the UN resolution could run counter to diplomacy. Netanyahu has made it clear that his goal in Gaza is blood and vengeance, not diplomacy or a ceasefire. The US supports Israeli genocide but cynically tries to hide that support behind a faux shield of diplomacy. 

The other deep stain on Biden in Israel-Palestine is his opposition to funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, even though it is the only viable way to get humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. The concern is links between Hamas and a number of UNRWA employees. Over 1 million Palestinians now face starvation and Israeli bombing of civilians with no place to go or hide. The Wall Street Journal reported that Biden commented: A military operation in Rafah shouldn’t proceed without “a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than one million people.” 

Shouldn’t proceed? That is like telling Israel to go ahead and attack. 

The WaPo opined about the UNRWA situation: 

Biden’s ‘catastrophic’ cutoff of Palestinian aid is more than inhumane 

Many in Washington were rightly shocked last week by allegations that 12 U.N. employees in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. But the Biden administration’s knee-jerk reaction to suspend vital food and health aid to Palestinians across the region will only deepen their suffering, undermine U.S. long-term goals and push more burden onto already struggling allies. It’s an inhumane and strategically stupid policy.

There is no credible plan for public safety in Gaza. No one in the Middle East wants the Palestinian people, including Egypt and Jordan. There is simply no place to hide. And Biden policy supports Israel obliterating them while they starve to death.

Thoughts on the profound American political mess

Is this post more harmful than helpful viewed in the overall flow of human events and history? If democracy and the rule of law fall to the authoritarian TTKP (Trump Tyranny & Kleptocracy Party, formerly the Republican Party), one can envision human history entering a prolonged dark period of corrupt global authoritarianism, misery and oppression. But how can one possibly support Biden and the Dem Party in view of their horrors and failures? The Europeans are unable to significantly help the Ukraine or stop Israeli genocide. If the US falls, they fall too (Trump has already openly encouraged the collapse of Europe into corrupt tyranny).

What happened to America? Or has America always been this brutal, immoral and screwed up, e.g., The US Civil War, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq? The US government told us over and over about how great we were doing in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Those were cynical, blatant lies. Is the US a rogue nation, vetoing peace proposals and supporting dictators in pursuit of undefined, probably unattainable, diplomacy or other goals? 

Is American democracy even worth defending in view of the deep stains on it? Or, is the alternative corrupt authoritarianism even worse and to be opposed, even if it means defending what is deeply stained?