Why are we not surprised? No one could truly be surprised by President Joe Biden's actions when he announced the granting of a pardon to his son, Hunter Biden.
What father in a similar position would not do the same? But Joe Biden is more than a father. He is the president of the United States. Different?
Some elements of the transaction were of deep concern, however. First, the president pardoned Hunter Biden for a period from 2014. This should include all crimes he was convicted of and any possible crimes going back to that date. Maybe this is "overkill," protection for others, or simply another example of the president's poor judgment.
Will other members of the Biden family also receive pardons for potential crimes not identified?
This action looks pretty suspicious as it goes back to 2014, when Hunter was first placed on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, which was highly controversial.
Unrelated or perhaps somehow related, President-elect Donald Trump has already, months before his actual swearing-in ceremony, made significant strides in addressing the war in Ukraine and two other major concerns of voters besides peace: prosperity and border security.
The economy "feels" better. We have record early sales for Christmas merchants, gas prices are on the decline, and the stock market is hitting daily records.
The presidents of the countries bordering us to the North and South - Mexico and Canada - have been put on notice of the new "sheriff" in town. America's blue or Democratic areas (cities, states, regions), have also been put on notice. Trump will close the borders and deport illegal immigrants, starting with those who are most dangerous to society.
Europe and the Middle East have "gotten the memo" about America's change in leadership. We will be back soon as the dominant force in the world. We have demanded that Hamas release the remaining hostages in Gaza. There will be consequences to pay if Hamas refuses to do so, according to Trump.
Secondly, per the world stage, the Ukraine war that should have never been waged if American deterrence had been stronger is coming to an end, and soon. Trump had promised that by "day one" of his administration. Well, that, too, seems to be well on course to becoming a reality.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed in principle to give up land Russia has already taken in exchange for a security line being drawn to protect the rest of Ukraine. In an ideal world, Ukraine would receive a quick NATO admission to ensure that a Russian incursion does not happen again. Thus, an attack on one nation in NATO is like an attack on all of NATO. This would be a compromise if Russia agrees to stop its war of aggression. That will end the war and secure the region from future conflicts. Much work is still needed, however.
It is over the Ukraine issue that we saw the true picture of Biden as president. As we know, there have been numerous other examples of his untruthfulness, which have manifested themselves and have bitten Biden in the rear.
For example, during one of Biden's many runs for president back in 1988, he had to withdraw over a series of lies and fraudulent acts. He stole the speech of a British politician and used it as his own. He embellished his academic credentials, claiming he was far better a student than he actually was. Decades later, as president, he refused to admit the failure of the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, which killed 13 Americans.
But the one that irked me the most was his flat-out denial of claiming that harsh sanctions would deter Russia from invading Ukraine. Once Russia predictably invaded, he refused to concede his failure. Instead, he adamantly rebutted criticism by claiming he never said Russia would be deterred from acting. Two years later, the sanctions have continued to fail.
We knew of his bad judgment from other incidents. After all, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said prior to the 2020 election that Biden had been on the wrong side of every major foreign affairs decision throughout his career.
Here are two examples: Biden was against the use of force in the first Persian Gulf War in 1991, which I voted for as a Congressman (Biden voted against it as a senator). Biden objected to attacking the compound in Pakistan, which intelligence sources believed Osama Bin Laden was using as his home. We know that Biden was wrong on both counts. It was the correct move by President Barack Obama despite Biden's reservations. U.S. forces ended up killing Bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11. The first Persian Gulf War ended in the days when we were fighting one of the largest military forces at the time, Iraq, who had invaded Kuwait.
So Biden pardoning his son is par for the course. Mr. Biden, why lie to Americans for months about "not pardoning" Hunter when everyone knew you would? A mere comment such as, "I will address that matter at another date" would have sufficed. It would not fall into the "lying to Americans" category.
It reminded me of the scene in The Godfather when Michael Corleone was asked by his distraught wife if he had anything to do with the numerous murders of his associates, including his brother-in-law. Michael looked at his wife Kate and seemed to nod "yes" while mouthing the word "no."
Michael knew he had not fooled his wife, and his wife knew she was being lied to, but that was when Godfather 1 ended. For all his efforts in support of America over his 50+ years of government service, Biden, too, would be mainly remembered by one of his last official acts as president—the pardon.
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