Truly Venal

The word “venal” (quick definition, “open to corrupt influence and especially bribery”) was not used much in modern-day political thought until Richard Nixon came along. As the Watergate scandal enveloped him, Nixon’s enemies in the media trotted this term out repeatedly to describe what was behind Nixon’s motives and, more broadly, the man himself. I’m not going to sway anyone to believe differently at this point about whether or not Nixon met the definition, but from reading about him extensively I can be confident of three things he cared about, besides his family: (1) political power; (2) his legacy and place in history, and (3) the trappings of power (he was one of the few if not the only president who had multiple “alternate” White House residences built for his use). But no matter how hard his leftist enemies in Congress, the media, etc. tried to pin bribery charges on him, nothing in that realm stuck to him because it simply wasn’t there. Ultimately, the visit of three powerful Congressional Republicans urging Nixon to resign was sufficient to convince him to step down, the first president in American history to do so.

With Joe Biden, however, there’s ample evidence of him and family members being open to corrupting influence including bribery. Representative James Comer’s efforts have uncovered significant corroborating evidence to this effect; unfortunately, the impeachment inquiry is going nowhere because Republicans in the House don’t have the stomach (or the votes) to carry it further. As Biden continues to fight for his political life, he’s showing the world the self-serving, grifting politician that he’s always been, dementia-addled or not. For Biden, the country has always come in a poor second place (if that) to his political ambitions. To illustrate, let’s look at what’s been said about his withdrawal from the 1988 presidential race – the one where he was caught plagiarizing Neil Kinnock, a British parliamentarian. In this instance, as described in a recent National Review article by Philip Klein, Biden was torn between his massive ego refusing to believe he must quit and his capacity, if he didn’t quit, to carry on a campaign while simultaneously destroying Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the end, Biden apparently quit only because he was convinced that he had to focus on ruining Bork’s nomination so as to have that scalp on his belt the next time he chose to run for higher office. By helping to destroy the reputation of an eminently qualified candidate for the highest court in order to ensure his defeat, Biden earned the everlasting contempt of many conservatives, myself included.

What Biden’s reluctant withdrawal back in 1987 illustrates, way before his senior afflictions came into play, was not only his ambition but the concomitant belief that the presidency was his destiny. Once this is understood, it’s easy to see the whys and wherefores of what happened during the 2020 campaign, when a struggling Biden was suddenly anointed after the South Carolina primary. Clearly, there was a quid pro quo involved in Biden getting the nomination – that being, he would willingly adopt an agenda that was considerably to the left of how he’d always presented himself and even voted in the Senate. And as he quickly signed the multiple executive orders erasing so much of the good the Trump administration accomplished, it should have been clear that Biden was installed (and I use that term irrespective of judging the election results) to govern with a far-left agenda in mind.

The irony of what’s unfolding today is that Biden’s handlers have apparently bitten off more than they could chew regarding their ability to take away from Biden what they gave him in the first place. Biden’s stubborn refusal to listen to fellow Democrats – even including far-left actor and cheerleader George Clooney - calling on him to step down is not just a function of his age-related failing capabilities. Rather, it’s simply Biden being the same Biden he’s always been during a self-serving 50-year career in Washington, DC. The symptoms of dementia only accentuate the existing stubbornness and pride that work against any effort to ease Biden out. 

It will be interesting to see how the Dems extricate themselves from this mess of their creation in the coming weeks. Expect many twists and turns along the way and keep an ample supply of popcorn ready!