Adrift: Can the Republic Survive Four More Years?

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

One day after President Biden announced his intentions to seek a second term in the White House, I think of the potential future under his leadership given the 80-year-old’s performance. Considering the policies implemented during his first term, one can only assume the country will endure similar policies if he is reelected. Despite the promises of reconciliation, during his inauguration, President Biden proved to be second only to Barak Obama as the most divisive president in modern American history.??

To assess what lies ahead, it’s useful to consider the effects of the policies implemented during Biden’s first term.?This article is limited to impacts on U.S. foreign policy and national security as a results of the administrations decisions.?

Afghanistan Withdrawal: The impact of this single event has cascaded across the globe, not only was the disastrous withdrawal felt in southwest Asia, but across Europe, Mid-East, East Asia, Latin America, and Africa.?Due to the poor planning and hasty retreat, Biden abandoned hundreds of Americans and thousands of allied Afghans.?Beyond the human cost, the administration left behind approximately $7 billion dollars in American military hardware.[i]?While National Security Council spokesmen, John Kirby, insists the withdrawal was a success, suggesting that there was much to be proud of for the American public and he did not feel the withdrawal was chaos.?Unfortunately, like other disasters and the effects of those disasters, the administration asks us to suspend the reality seen with our own eyes.??Regrettably, the reality shared by both our allies and foes reviled the truth, a chaotic disgrace.[ii]

Chinese Hegemony: The Biden administration’s response to China dominating American’s commercial supply chain impacting everything from baby food formula, to rare earth materials has been anemic.??China’s increasing influence of American partners and allied countries, has been swift, Beijing has become progressively bellicose towards territorial sovereignty directly challenging U.S. dominion.?All while the Biden administration allowed a Chinese high-altitude spy balloon to traverse the continental United States, spying vacuuming data from key American installations.?The Chinese were defiant when they were caught off-guard with no apologies, but rather indignation.?In response, to hide their cowardness, the Pentagon and the administration simply lied about the extent that China had surveilled military sites.?Continuing the insults, during a meeting in Alaska, Chinese officials, undeterred, began to accuse their counterparts of American toxicity and ethnocentric values. Beijing was somehow suggesting a false equivalence with genocidal ethnic cleansing of an entire ethnic group, the Uyghurs, and the violent socialist movement of Black Lives Matters. Less we forget COVID, the Chinese refuse to share any information about the origins of COVID-19 and have in many cases disappeared many of the scientists working at the suspect Wuhan laboratory.

Russian Roulette: Like earlier examples of Biden’s calamitous policies, greater damage was not revealed by the original national security emergency, unforeseen events occur during every administration, but rather, how the Biden administration’s response exacerbated the crisis. For example, the Russian cyberattacks in 2021, the administration weakly pleaded with the Russians to limit their attacks to “non-critical infrastructure”, even providing the Kremlin a list of critical targets.[iii]?Asked about an American response to a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden responded that the reaction would depend on whether the Russians conducted a “minor incursion.”?Now that the war has lingered on far beyond the estimates of the “experts” and the Russians are becoming increasing desperate for a successful conclusion, the administration must consider realistically further Kremlin escalation and Putin’s potential authorization of tactical nuclear weapons.?

Middle East: The greatest potential threat, from a seemingly endless list of threats, is Iranian’s growing nuclear ambitions and very likely potential of an Israel military strike on Iran to prevent such capability.?The Biden administration has embarrassingly pursued Iran to restart the JCOPA agreement though the Iranians were never interested in the agreement nor apparently restrained by it.?All the while, the Iranians were expanding Shia militias across Iraq and Syria where these forces have attacked American forces over 70 times since Biden’s inauguration. Iran has accelerated seizures of tanker ships in international waters with five since Biden’s inauguration, the most recent from Kuwait heading to Houston, Texas. Conversely, two of our longest allies in the region Saudi Arabian and Israel, have been sidelined and the leaders insulted by President Biden calling Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, a “Pariah.” In Israel, going as far as intervening in internal politics against Benjamin Netanyahu, by supporting his political challenger.?The administration’s actions are not only irrational but dangerous with real consequences for the United States and the world’s stability.[iv]

Boarder Insecurity: Nearly 70 non-U.S. citizens on the FBI’s terror watch list have been caught trying to illegally cross the country’s southern border since October — a disturbing trend that appears set to easily beat last year’s alarming figure. Since the Biden inauguration, there have been 6 million illegal immigrants entering the U.S.[v] ??This figure includes 1.2 million confirmed “Gotaways”, those who specifically avoided being caught or registering with CBP.?In the next few weeks with the expiration of Title 42, COVID restrictions on immigration, many more illegals will be flooding the southern border.?All at a time when Americans are already suffering from fentanyl deaths 100,000 family members annually, equaling an airline crash in the United States every single day[vi].

China and Russia view America’s and the broader West’s rules-based international system as a threat they describe as imperialism. Despite the rhetoric, China, Russia, Iran, and Mexican coyotes recognize the difference between Biden’s words and actions. They pay attention mainly to what the US does — not to what Biden says. Russia and China specifically regard U.S. strategic containment as laughable, the military buildup as irrelevant, and shrinking alliance as reflective of the American shrinking influence.?Our influence is fading, fifteen nations have applied for BRICS membership, the non-alignment organization lead by Russia and China, said to be the fastest growing economies, to counter American and Western influence and economic standards.[vii] Drastic changes are required from the White House to the Department of Defense quickly to right the ship. We need leaders resolved to further the American dream, protect our way of life, support democracy, defend the constitution, and promote liberty as so many leaders from our past have provided example.

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The views expressed here are the authors and do not reflect views of the U.S. Government or the Department of Defense.?All Rights Reserved.?

Author: J. David Pinkston

[i] Gaudiano, Nicole; Griffiths, Brent; “Joe Biden’s Biggest Successes and Failures in his Second Year in Office, Business Insider, 22 January, 2023

[ii] Stepman, Jarret; “Failures of Biden’s Presidency in Year”, The Daily Signal, 24 January, 2023

[iii] Ratnam, Gopal; “Biden’s cyber warning to Russia may have to be backed by action”, Roll Call, 22 June, 2021

[iv] Hanson, Victor, D., “Biden 10 Step Plan for Global Chaos, The Daily Signal, ?March 2023

[v] Kovach, Ron, “5.5 Million Illegal Aliens Have Crossed our Borders Since Biden Took Office--How is Secretary Mayorkas Still Employed?”, The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR),?www.fairus.org, 25 October 2022

[vi] Keane, Isabel; “Border Agents Arrest 16 People on FBI’s Terror Watchlist at Mexico Crossing”, The New York Post

19 March, 2023

[vii] Bishara, Marwan; “The flaws and fantasies of the new Biden doctrine”, Al Jazeera,

14 Oct 2022