Shortly after the 2020 presidential election I read with great dismay an Op-Ed by a Marine infantry officer turned novelist who had run into other former Marines at a get-together in New York City. According to the author, each of the Marines with whom he spoke – all Iraq and Afghanistan combat vets – thought Mr. Biden would win the election.
Why did this congregation of former Marine officers believe this?
Because, they thought, Mr. Biden was the superior leader.
Fast-forward nine months and what struck me as mere dismay back in November 2020 has congealed into a foreboding sense of dread for our country.
As I write, helicopters are frantically ferrying Americans out of our embassy in Kabul and there are mob scenes at the international airport as people try to escape the Taliban. We will watch in real-time the implosion of a country where we poured immeasurable blood and treasure for the past 20-years and all of that effort and work will be gone by next weekend.
The worst part is that this state of affairs will not improve. In fact, it will soon get worse.
And it will get worse specifically because Mr. Biden is not a leader. His demonstrable inability to lead is about to sweep our country into a dangerous current of world events with which he will be unable to cope.
Although the op-ed appeared in The New York Times and was aimed at that publication’s readership who probably had no more familiarity with the U.S. military than Memorial Day re-runs of Saving Private Ryan, the author and men he described were seasoned combat vets. They had fired shots in anger and each of them had carried the tremendous and sacred burden of leading other men in combat. Given their training and martial pedigree, I thought they would be among the best able to separate real leadership from the inescapable and useless political blather from the talking heads.
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But for whatever reason, they weren’t.
There is no dispute that Mr. Trump was a deeply flawed politician and man. But despite all his imperfections he had the singular gift of focus and was unusually clear-eyed about the nature of power politics. He also had an innate, almost animalistic understanding of the need for the application of force. Most importantly, his opponents on the world stage understood this. (See e.g., Iran and Qasem Soleimani.) Sharp minds sometimes lurk behind sharp tongues.
What evidence convinced the Marine officers that Mr. Biden was a more competent leader than Mr. Trump? When I read the op-ed I concluded that either they were aware of something I wasn’t (and was more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this point,) or they weren’t seeing the world clearly.
Mr. Biden’s frailty, indecision, and lack of mental acuity is obvious to anyone who has a television. No subtitles or translation are necessary to see and understand who the man is. He has revealed himself to be a politician with a half-understanding of the world that is worse than none.
The Taliban have taken measure of Mr. Biden (and Mrs. Harris) and surely know and accept that there will be short-term conflict with the United States as they resurrect the Afghan Caliphate and return their country to the seventh century. But they also know there is no one in American leadership willing to fight to protect what remains of America’s interests. Mr. Biden will not. Mrs. Harris even less so.
The Chinese Communists must be watching our rapidly unfolding humiliation in Afghanistan and wondering whether now is the time to “re-assimilate” the rogue province of Taiwan into the greater People’s Republic. Like the Taliban, the Chinese leaders see that Mr. Biden, our Commander in Chief, has created an unsalvageable situation and is struggling to respond to events instead of shaping them. On the heels of such a public and abject failure of leadership, will Mr. Biden order the Seventh Fleet to steam into the Taiwan Strait and meet the Chinese if they launch an invasion? It is hard to believe on his track record that he will.
And which of America’s generals will counsel otherwise? Our military’s leadership is currently consumed with Critical Race Theory and preaching anti-racism to our troops. They appear more focused on preserving their places in the Washington D.C. firmament than on defeating our country’s enemies.
The American media has studiously avoided commentary on it, but rest assured the world has not missed the complete lack of leadership from Mr. Biden. Our nation’s enemies have taken measure of the man and can see, just as everyone else can, his glassy, semi-confused stare and consistent inability to form cogent thoughts. He has no mental resources left. Compliant and supportive reporters shade the problem of Mr. Biden’s diminished capacity behind questions about his favorite flavor of ice cream. The press may delude themselves into believing this is what “civility” looks like after four years of Mr. Trump and his boorishness, but our nation’s enemies undoubtedly see it for what it truly is – weakness.
And if Mr. Biden and our country’s top leaders continue to project weakness to the world, we will continue to invite more aggression from our enemies.
Which brings me back to the Marine officers. They were all leaders. How could they not see this coming?
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Patrick “Kit” Bobko is the author of “Nine Secrets for Getting Elected: The Official Manual for Candidates from City Hall to the Statehouse and Beyond” available on Amazon and a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and an Air Force Veteran.
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