Paragraph 1:Paragraph 1: – Biden withdraws from reelection; Democrats look to Harris as potential nominee; Republicans demand his resignation. Paragraph 2: – Speculation on Biden’s final six months in office has yet to gain traction. Paragraph 3: – Biden’s lack of re-election concerns could provide him with opportunities to act without consequence. Paragraph 4: – Biden’s remaining options include pardoning his son, selling pardons, or implementing significant policy changes. Paragraph 5: – Biden could potentially call for a ceasefire in Gaza, push for peace talks in Ukraine, rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, or normalize relations with Cuba. Paragraph 6: – Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan suggested a desire for a legacy as a “peacemaker.” Paragraph 7: – Biden now has multiple opportunities to pursue peace initiatives if that is his true goal. Author Bio: – Thomas L. Knapp is the director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism.
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Thomas L. Knapp
After Joe Biden withdrew from a seemingly doomed reelection campaign on Sunday, Democrats immediately refocused on choosing and supporting a new candidate (at this point, Vice President Kamala Harris appears well on her way to securing the nomination), while Republicans embraced the cry: “If he can’t run, he can’t serve, and he must resign or be removed.”
I don’t see much speculation yet from either camp on the equally interesting topic of what Joe Biden’s final six months in office might look like.
There is a seemingly incorrect but very apt Western saying that the Chinese word for “crisis” embodies the written characters representing “danger” and “opportunity.”
The “dangerous” part of the Biden equation is easy to see: To the extent that his Democratic successor is blamed for his mistakes, everything he does could potentially damage that successor’s prospects in November.
But what if Biden doesn’t believe Harris (or any other potential nominee) can win the election? What if he thinks he’s a real “lame duck”?
If that’s the case, then he doesn’t have to worry (word that rhymes with “duck”), right? He can do whatever he wants without too many consequences.
The overwhelming power of the imperial presidency in the 21st century, combined with the extremely remote chance that a Democratic cabinet would invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him, or that a divided Senate would convict him after impeachment, allows him to do things with confidence that he could not have done if he were concerned about his re-election (or the election of his chosen successor).
On the trivial side, he could pardon his son Hunter, who was recently convicted of (completely unconstitutional) federal weapons charges. He could probably sell pardons and other executive favors to the highest bidders without worrying too much about what that would look like.
He could also do more important things.
For example, he could put a stop to this during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week: no immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, no more American weapons (and the usual welfare checks could get lost in the mail too).
He could pick up the phone and say something similar to Ukrainian politician Volodymyr Zelensky: Start real peace talks with Moscow, or the arms shipments will stop.
He could recommit the United States fully and unconditionally to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the “Iran nuclear deal.”
He could lift the US embargo on Cuba and fully normalize diplomatic relations with the regime.
Of course, he could also go the other way, dragging the US into all-out wars with one or more adversaries. But based on his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan rather than renege on his predecessor’s deal with the Taliban, I suspect there is a “peace president” trapped inside the body of America’s current “war president.”
The withdrawal from Afghanistan made me think at the time that he intended to be a one-term president with a legacy as a “peacemaker.”
Now he has multiple chances to become exactly that, if that’s what he wants.
Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is the director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in northcentral Florida.
