Lady Biden

A betrayal of the highest order

“O, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower,
But be the serpent under ‘t. He that’s coming
Must be provide for: and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch,
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.”

-Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5

One of Shakespeare’s most significant achievements is Macbeth. In the play, the title character is a military general who vanquished a formidable enemy on the battlefield and received a prophecy that he is destined to become King of Scotland. Before returning home, he sends a letter to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her the great news about the prophecy and that he happens to be returning home with the current King of Scotland in tow…how convenient! Upon hearing the news, Lady Macbeth has an urge to speed up the prophecy and urges her husband, against his better judgment, to murder the king while he stays with them at the castle. Long story short, Macbeth, at the insistence of his wife, does kill the king, and from there, things unwind for our protagonist. He has a mental breakdown, kills his best friend, attempts to murder his best friend's son, and murders the entire family of Macduff (a nobleman who was against his ascension to the throne), who ultimately avenges his family to take the throne for himself as a noble ruler. Things don’t go well for Lady Macbeth either, as she also loses her mind and commits suicide.

Ultimately, Macbeth is a play about a powerful husband who is led astray by his more ambitious wife to commit horrific deeds, leading to their demise.

What makes Macbeth such a shocking story is that his demise is brought about by the person who should be his closest confidant and the most thoughtful about what is best for him. This leads me to our current political situation.

At this point, I think it is difficult for anyone to argue that President Biden isn’t in a state of severe mental decline. From the various speaking gaffes (some almost endearing to others which are terrifying and could have serious consequences), to his looking lost at times, to having cards that spell out his every public movement...something is going on, as it does with many near octogenarians. The big questions are when it started, and how rapidly will he decline?

We know this was occurring during the 2020 election, as he repeatedly forgot simple talking points. However, he could get away with it and win because the election happened during Covid, which inherently limited public appearances and the election was ultimately a referendum on Trump.

To be fair, Biden, who has been in the public eye since 1973, has always been prone to sticking his foot in his talking hole, but typically because he uttered the wrong thing at the wrong time or for being impolitic…not because he appeared to not know what was happening.

Tom Elliott @tomselliott

Supercut: Biden stumbles his way through the final Democratic debate

All that having been said, it is understandable why the Democratic political class wanted him as their guy; he had the best chance of beating Trump. Nearly all the other candidates had bites at the apple, with the press attempting to stand them up as alternatives. Still, the most electable candidate was Biden, and the electorate knew it. For a group of people who put winning elections above all else, it makes sense that all side issues be damned; they needed to win. However, where were the people who should have been looking out for Biden the man, not just Biden the candidate?

Hunter and James Biden (his son and brother, respectively) had been enriching themselves on Joe’s name for decades, so they were not going to kill the golden goose. That leaves one person in his life who should have been looking out for his best interests, his wife of 45 years, Jill.

There have been several instances of Jill leading Joe away in awkward circumstances during his presidency…like here and here. However, as mentioned, his mental decline was evident during the campaign. Where was she to say, “let my husband keep his dignity and not have him decline in front of the entire world?” Well, because that’s not Jill’s M.O.

Why did she go for a Ph.D. at age 55, immediately before becoming the Second Lady of the United States, and had already taught at Delaware Technical & Community College for over 15 years? Well, as Joe himself explained in 2008, “She said, ‘I was so sick of the mail coming to Sen. and Mrs. Biden. I wanted to get mail addressed to Dr. and Sen. Biden.’ That’s the real reason she got her doctorate.”

To put it another way - she was self-conscious and wanted a title to help prop her up in the public eye, so she took the easiest road and received what is considered by many people in academia, a lesser degree, a Doctorate of Education. 

Well, I am sure her doctorate was insightful and well written, right? This is from the second page of her thesis (found here):

Three quarters of the class will be Caucasian; one quarter of the class will be African American; one seat will hold a Latino; and the remaining seats will be filled with students of Asian descent or non-resident aliens.

Or how about from page five

The focus of the college is to develop curricula that match career opportunities in industry, government, and business.

I won’t bore you with every nonsensical point, meandering paragraph, or typo from the thesis…you get the point. Then, there is her insistence on being called “Doctor” in public settings, which she claims is because Mrs. Biden is “…Joe’s mom’s name, not mine”. I have never once called a non-MD doctor, and many people agree that her protestation on this point is cringe.

Even her biography reeks of someone desperate for attention while feigning otherwise. Like forcing Joe to propose to her five times over two years. Or this:

…being Joe’s wife would mean a life in the spotlight that I had never wanted. I was a college student when we’d first met, and I liked living under the radar. Joe lived with constant public visibility.

I don’t believe anyone who is a natural introvert could survive the life of being a Senator, Vice-President, and finally a President’s wife. I just don’t buy it.

To further the point, in a Washington Post profile written about Mrs. Biden’s memoir, Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself, the writer explained:

[Jill] Biden’s book was released within days of her husband’s announcement that he is again running for the presidency. This is unfortunate timing for the author, as it makes it too easy for cynics to dismiss the memoir as just another campaign tract without bothering to read it. Granted, she has included passages obvious in their advocacy for candidate Joe Biden, but he is her husband, and she loves him. She makes clear that she has repeatedly thought he should be president.

I simply can’t imagine this was written with as little self-awareness as it seems. Yes, one would need to be an utter cynic to think an autobiography about a woman, published at the same time her husband announces a presidential run, might have been put out there to help his chances of winning. Tsk, tsk, tsk…

Then in the same article, the wall-flower Mrs. Biden explains that Joe “…was initially hesitant when Obama asked him to be vetted for vice president. [she] pushed him to do it ‘as the chance of a lifetime.’“

Here is my shocked face…

The overarching point is that she cares deeply about what people think about her and will cut any corners, tell any half-truths, or ignore any malady to improve the public perception of her. This includes ignoring her husband's early-stage dementia to get her promotion to First Lady.

For shame Lady Biden.