Departing President Joe Biden offered a farewell brag this week to his State Department about how his tenure had improved America’s stature abroad. In his now accustomed weird mix of whispering and fiery shouting, Biden apparently felt he had to lie or mislead about almost every one of his “achievements.”
Yet to the extent that anything improved abroad on his watch—the weakening of Iran or the near destruction of Hamas and Hezbollah—it was due despite, not because of, Biden.
Biden, bowing to election year political pressure, did all he could to restrain and block Israeli retaliations to the Oct. 7 massacres. Only after he was repeatedly proven wrong does he now shamelessly take credit for what Israel ironically achieved by ignoring his own threats directed at Israel.
Biden is correct only that Iran is “weaker than it’s been in decades.” But Tehran was aided, not hurt, by Biden’s nonstop efforts to lift sanctions, to allow Iran to make billions in oil revenues, to pay the theocracy billions of dollars in hostage ransom, and to beg the mullahs to reenter the ill-starred Iran deal. Everything Biden did makes it much harder for Israel to survive.
So, Iran is now weakened only because Israel ignored Biden’s nonstop ankle-biting and finger-shaking not to retaliate to Iranian aggression. Instead, the Netanyahu government systematically destroyed Iranian air defenses after killing most of Iran’s foreign terrorist operatives.
Biden referenced the end of the Assad regime in Syria, but it imploded not due to any effort by Biden. It was overwhelmed instead only after the Israeli decimation of Hezbollah and humiliation of Iran—coupled with the election victory of Donald Trump—that encouraged Assad’s enemies to attack a now isolated and weakened regime.
Biden is also taking credit for rumors that Hamas might release its hostages, who have been held in a subterranean labyrinth since Oct. 7.
But why, with less than a week left in his tenure, did Biden believe Hamas might begin releasing the hostages when even his own secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has criticized the administration for spending 16 months pressuring Israel, which only emboldened Hamas’ stonewalling?
Much more likely, the election of Trump and his threat to unleash terrible retribution on Hamas (and implicitly on Iran) had prompted the terrorists’ tardy willingness to negotiate a release.
Of the horrific scramble from Afghanistan—the greatest humiliation of the U.S. military in a half-century that cost the lives of 13 Marines—Biden boasted: “[I am] the first president in decades who’s not leaving a war in Afghanistan to his successor.”
Think of his warped logic: Biden does not leave a war to his successor only because he fled in humiliation and lost it.
Biden also took credit for saving Ukraine from Russia. But he conveniently omitted why Russia invaded in the first place.
Had Biden not destroyed American deterrence by fleeing Kabul and leaving behind billions of dollars in abandoned U.S. military equipment, had he not claimed, prior to the Russian invasion, that his reaction to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s likely aggression would hinge on whether it was “a minor incursion,” then the Russians might never have invaded at all.
Putin grabbed Crimea and the Donbas in 2014 during the Obama-Biden administration. He later sought to swallow the entire country with an attack on Kyiv in 2022 on Biden’s watch.
However, Putin stayed within his borders only during one of the last four administrations—Trump’s.
Biden crowed that he accomplished all these misadventures without the use of force—”We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
But Biden did more than any other recent president to weaken the U.S. military. Under his tenure, the Pentagon suffered a real reduction in its budget. And it never quite recovered from the Afghanistan debacle.
Annually, the military now comes up 40,000 recruits short due to Biden’s draconian vaccination requirements, its new woke mandates, and its constant false accusations of “white rage” and “white privilege” in the ranks—libels that prompted a Pentagon internal investigation that found no such racism.
China was never more bellicose than during Biden’s presidency. It serially threatened Taiwan, used cyber warfare to bully the U.S., brazenly expropriated U.S. military technology, and without worry sent a spy balloon to traverse the U.S. with impunity.
Biden’s open border saw more than 10 million illegal entries, among them thousands of Chinese nationals. Meanwhile, Chinese investors were freed to systematically buy up thousands of acres of America’s farmland adjacent to sensitive U.S. military bases and installations.
Add it all up, and Biden would have done better to have just kept quiet and departed his failed presidency in shame.
Victor Davis Hanson, a senior contributor for The Daily Signal, is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and author of the book “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.”
Reprinted with Permission from Daily Signal – By Victor Davis Hanson
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Oh well, the fantasies of the Biden administration continue. The rest of the world and this nation know the true facts and still are smarting from the torrent of lies coming out of this administration’s vocal piece. Damage control begins in a few days.
Well said! Biden didn’t even bother to crow about his most notable accomplishments or perhaps he is actually hoping that we didn’t notice. Biden and his incredibly incompetent administration have clearly accomplished what many of us thought was impossible. They have stolen dual titles for Biden’s term in office from previous administrations. Biden will very likely go down as both the most corrupt and the most incompetent President in US history.
So long and farewell to the demented old circus monkey and his entire island of misfit toys.
The biggest disgrace in American politics overshadowing his useless former co-brothers Barak and Mikey. Au revoir Pinocchio Biden and make-believe Dr.
It’s certainly no surprise that JB has been living in an alternate universe for a long time. I hope Dr. Jill checks him into a top quality nursing home on January 21.
If a screw up can be graded as an achievement then he is an over achiever.
Biden would be a classic insane asylum dweller/. In his 50 years of sucking off the taxpayer payroll he never made a good decision for America. Tells me the voters of Delaware are really stupid!
Biden thinks he did a good job proves he really is delusional. Go climb back into Jeff Dunhams trunk, Walter!
Who really wrote Biden’s “Farewell Address”? Why would anyone think he wrote that speech? OH, there was not any truth in the listed “accomplishments” he mentioned—so is the author as delusional as Biden?
Sume question who is the puppeteer?
Well, well, well the TRUTH is finally coming to fruition. Blustering Biden Screwed Up! The Dems Screwed Up! Yet, they have had the audacity to accuse Trump and his supporters of all the sh&# Biden and Dems have been doing for years. If we sit tight long enough…. There’s a saying I’ve heard hundreds of times (BUT it does NOT pertain to law enforcement, servicemen and servicewomen, etc., whatsoever) “Suspicious people are guilty people”, which has been and is definitely applicable to Biden, Clintons, and many more Dems. I hear rumblings that some wise Democrats are looking to get on the Republican train. C’mon board! There’s plenty of room!
Joe Biden is a classic democrat. He destroys everything he touches and blames somebody else for the disaster. He did more damage to this country and our world wide reputation in 4 years that any president has ever done. In spite of their corrupt courts and judges, we have adults back in charge and we can only pray Trump can undo what they have done. Notice how the democrats are apoplectic about making sure the Republicans don’t do to them what they did to Trump. I personally think they should. That is the way it always goes though, democrats can do stuff but Republicans better not dare to do the same thing . . .
The only accomplishment Biden made was not crapping his pants while making a speech this past year.
Four years of lies the worst President ever, a reflection of what socialism will bring to America. We most never allow election fraud to occur again. Trump 2024 and beyond to save America MAGA.
Biden’s legacy is one of unmitigated failure. All he did was weaken our nation and brought about the most overt form of censorship in U.S. history. Is it any wonder Trump won in a landslide? Biden just needs to go to Shady Pines and be done with it.
Does anyone think that this disaster really believes that he made AMERICA better.If he does he is really mentally worse than the”grinches”in charge let on.There is nothing that joey did that made our country better,totally the opposite.
This crook can’t leave soon enough. People need to treat elections more than a popularity contest because if you chose a wolf you’ll get his friends
Traitor Joe’s departure can’t get here soon enough.
Harris should have invoked the 25th amendment. But since she needed his arm to lean on for she knew even less how to run the country than he did. Ruining it she was good at. DIDNT do anything as border czar or space cadet. Her staff quit week after week. But she was a good fund raiser for Joe and Jill. Biden was the worst of the worst ans president, and not only that he was evil. The hatred he holds for MAGA and Trump is palpable and has drifted over to his base. The 37% who still support him have the same satanic anger. My family members still won’t tolerate me in the family. Am I upset? No because in the next 4 years more truth will come out about Jan 6, Afghanistan debacle, the migrants and where these unaccompanied children are how many have been sold into slavery and or pedophilia. We will find out how much Biden made in bribes and going after Trump and MAGA people. Soros wallet was always open. Next to bribes, plagiarism, fixing elections, mandates, executive orders Biden destroyed the economy, made every citizen poorer, destroyed social security, the military, and left America in debt to the tune of 37 trillion dollars. Quite a legacy Joe. May you have a retirement where your conscious lets you realize what you have done to this country. That would be better than prison.
Biden is such a “statesman” that he failed to see that curbing the aggressiveness of hostile, barbaric, middle-eastern nations required somewhat more than his own incoherent requests.
I dare anyone to find in this buffoon’s 50 year “service” in federal government ANYTHING of positive consequences to the American public. (Personal and family results excluded)
“War is Peace”
“Freedom is Slavery”
The Big Guy continues in the Orwellian tradition.
America would have been far better off if Joe Biden would have just died as a child.
On day one when when Biden took office he signed the first order to open the borders just to spite Trump. And then all the orders he signed was to be able to have all the immigrants to vote democratic so he could turn America into a communist state and have control over every citizen in America ????????. On leaving office he is signing even more orders to spite the American people ???????? hoping the prisoners will do more damage to the people and kill with rampant corruption out of spite to the American people for voting against Him and his demonic regime!!!!!
To everyone that actually voted for Joke Biden, you are complicit in the decay and partial destruction of America. You have damaged this country, maybe beyond full repair. Americans have been turned into a second world country, on its way to a third world country. Our cities are crime filled cesspools. Our welfare system is giving taxpayer dollars to illegal aliens by the millions. American are being raped, robbed, murdered AND lit on fire by illegals. Criminals are not being prosecuted, or even arrested many times. Terrorists have waltzed through our open border along with the other illegals. We’ve had Chinese spy balloons permitted to traverse the entire length of the US, simply so Biden could pay them for something he owes them to hide his corruption. We have been humiliated on the world stage and our inflation rate is killing the average American. Not to mention, the debacle that was the Afghanistan withdrawal and simply “giving” our enemies billions of dollars in American firearms and other higher end weapons. Just given to them to be used against Americans and our allies at later times. The list goes on and on and on and on and onnnnnnn…………………………….. YOU, the American that voted for Joke Biden, along with the corrupt media that allowed it all to happen, are responsible for the cesspool, that is modern America.
Joke Biden has been doing it for a long time………..LYING!!! “HE SIMPLY LIES BECAUSE HE KNOWS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA WILL NOT CALL HIM OUT ON IT!!!!!!!!!”
He has gone through 4 years of the media covering up for him. Between Hunter and Ukraine, and Hunter and the “laptop”, and his family connections to China, along with Biden himself threatening to hold back loans to Ukraine while he was the sitting VP, and committing EXTORTION to get the Ukrainian prosecutor removed from investigating his son, Biden is a blatant criminal and has had no repercussions. He never will face repercussions because he has already been ruled out as medically incompetent. The dems knew what they were doing all along. It’s up to everyone else to make sure the truth is recorded in history.
Joe Biden didnt nothing of worthwhile consequence during his ONE term presidency his foreign policy was one of confusion and blunders. From Afghanistan to Russia invading Ukraine to the disaster in our alley Israel. I just have to quote Obama, “Never underestimate Joe’s ability to F**k things Up” and that’s exactly what he did both with domestic and foreign policy. They try to convince us that he has 50 YEARS! of Experience as a public servant. That’s a joke this guy has used his years of “Service” as a means to enrich himself and his family. His corruption is potentially treasonous especially since he became the VP and President. Joe Biden is an Evil corrupt man , history will not be kind to him,., nor should it be.
Just one lie after another by a Washington Dem he has done nothing and that goes for his VP pick both have the lowest rating of any president and his VP they have done nothing to make this country better in fact they have made this country worse with high inflation and letting millions of people come into this country from Mexico about time for him to go.
Biden is weakest and most worthless President ever … and Carter was his role model. thefederalist.com/2025/01/03/former-iran-hostage-remembers-the-weak-jimmy-carter-corporate-media-wants-you-to-forget/
Can you say…”Walter Mitty”????
then there is maga extremist tricia cotham who pretended to be a democrat and ran as a democrat and served years as a democrat who suddenly started bashing democrats and switched parties and turned into extreme maga gop and then had a new gop district gerrymandered just for her, she went from talking about the about she had an abortion many times to the legislature to saying she never had an abolition, and her behavior is cloaked in fundamentalist religion, now her main priorities are anti abortion, pro gun, and anti gay
nancy mace and joni ernst will constantly tell you how they got raped, but both campaigned and voted for a rapist and want rapists in every part of the government, so who’s lying
trump, the biggest liar in history, makes a social media platform called truth social where nobody is allowed to tell the truth, and if you do you’re banned
rfk jr won’t directly ban vaccines, he said so, even though he tried to directly ban the covid vax in 2021 and has said no vaccine is any good
but he will indirectly ban vaccines instead, maybe he will allow them for age 200 and up or put a trillion dollar tax on them
trump has said he’d be an adolf hitler and he’s an adolf hitler and will govern like an adolf hitler, the magats wanted an adolf hitler