For years, Joe Biden has been portrayed as a beacon of decency. This is largely because of a narrative in the press that extolled the president’s supposed capacity to empathize with those who suffer. He’s even been dubbed the “empathizer-in-chief” at times.
The reality is a very different one. A U.S. Marine survived the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. Tyler Vargas lost his arm in the evacuation of Kabul and spoke about his meeting with Biden. He also said that his mother was “furious” at the lack of concern shown by the president.
Some Gold Star parents who were created during the bombings told similar stories. They noted that Biden spent time with them talking about his son and falsely insinuating that he had died in combat. There was also the time when the president was seen checking his watch at Dover AFB during the dignified transfer of the bodies of those killed.
All those examples are centered around one single situation. In addition to what happened in Afghanistan, I would also like to mention Biden’s behavior when he visited Maui after the deadly wildfires there, or his jokes about ice cream during a press conference on the mass shooting that occurred in Nashville. And this is just in the past year.
Biden is not empathetic, as his own biographer has confirmed.
Biden biographer @FranklinFoer, on Biden: “For a man vaunted for his empathy, he could be detached, even icy, when confronted with the prospect of human suffering.” https://t.co/WywAn9IoL8
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) August 29, 2023
The biographer, in a long, meandering essay meant to excuse Biden’s shortcomings, throws the president under the bus. Whether he does so knowingly or unwittingly, it confirms what we have all seen for many years. The president never cared about the pain his policies could cause. The president made a stubborn decision to gain PR just before 9/11. He didn’t end up getting the photo-op that he wanted. It cost 13 American soldiers and hundreds of Afghans their lives to deny him that selfish, shallow pursuit.
Maybe as we approach the election season of 2024, the myth that Biden is empathetic will finally be put to an end. He only cares for himself. This is something that the president has repeatedly shown. It’s time that people started treating him like this.
