Did The Supreme Court Just Throw Biden A Lifeline? Joe Thinks So
In his remarks following the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, President Joe Biden pretended to be mortified by it. But there’s a reason Biden seemed so energetic and focused Monday night. The Court might just have done him and his reelection campaign a huge favor. At least, Biden thinks so.
In his very brief remarks, Biden called the ruling a “dangerous precedent.” He said it “continues to the Court’s attack on a wide range of long-established legal principles.” He quoted Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s inflammatory opinion which said “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.” I concur, Biden said.
His performance was a striking contrast from last Thursday’s disaster.
But Biden was actually celebrating this decision because it gave his campaign a shot in the arm it desperately needed. He now has a whole new way to scare voters about Trump.
Biden argued that because the president will “no longer be constrained by the law,” the only limits on executive actions “will be self-imposed by the president alone.”
Biden, in an obvious attempt to equate himself with George Washington, said it was a display of the first president’s character that he believed presidential power was not absolute and that power resides with the people.
“Now, over 200 years later, today’s Supreme Court decision, once again will depend on the character of the men and women who hold that presidency that are going to define the limits of the power of the presidency because the law will no longer do it.”
Do you get where he’s going with this?
Well, his very next line was: “I know I will respect the limits of the presidential power, as I have for three and a half years. But any president, including Donald Trump, will now be free to ignore the law.”
Do voters really want, he asked, to “once again entrust the presidency to Donald Trump, knowing he will be more emboldened to do whatever he pleases?”
The only thing missing from Biden’s talk was that clip from Star Wars where Emperor Palpatine shouts “Unlimited power!!”
It’s all bull, of course. The Supreme Court didn’t do away with the separation of powers. It didn’t grant the president new authorities. It didn’t say he can do whatever he wants. It didn’t grant presidents immunity for activities outside their official, constitutionally allowed duties.
It simply articulated what had been understood for the entirety of our nation’s history – that presidents should never be criminally prosecuted for what they did in their official duties, because to say otherwise would let lawfare off the chain and absolutely cripple future presidents.
If the Court had said, sure, go ahead and charge the president with a crime for giving a speech we don’t like, or for a policy that we claim hurt people, it would be a disaster.
What Biden also failed to mention was that the only reason the Court had to put this in writing was precisely because of what he and his fellow Democrats are trying to do in their obsession to stop Trump – namely, criminalize his actions as president.
As an aside, the idea that Biden will “respect the limits of the presidential power” is a joke. This is a guy who has repeatedly bypassed the Supreme Court when it tried to rein him in – and bragged about it.
But, Biden can count on the mainstream press to carry his message for him. We won’t be the least bit surprised to hear pundits start arguing that Biden’s infirmities are a great asset, because he’s too disabled to abuse the supposed “unlimited” power the Supreme Court granted him.
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