Last week, much of the legacy media fawned over Joe Biden’s announcement that U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11.
“It is time to end America’s longest war,” Biden said.
Whether you agree with this proposal or not, this wasn’t — despite what the media led people to believe — an original idea. In fact, Biden’s “announcement” was actually an extension of the May 1 deadline set by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
That’s because Joe Biden is, it seems, incapable of originality. Instead, he has chiseled out a long-term existence in American politics which relies almost entirely on ideological plagiarism and the ability to move in whatever direction the political winds are blowing.
Biden’s habit of plagiarism started decades ago. Not only did he admit that he’d plagiarized parts of a 1965 paper he “wrote” while at Syracuse University Law School, his first presidential run in 1987 imploded when the New York Times pointed out that Biden had lifted parts of his statements during a debate from a speech by British Labour Party leader Neal Kinnock.
Over time, Biden’s plagiarism has become more subtle. Now, he focuses on policy plagiarism, repackaging the positions and achievements of others as his own. Luckily for the president, the legacy media is happy to enable his deceit.
The prime example of this strategy is Biden’s self-celebration regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Despite arguably engaging in anti-vaccine propaganda when Trump was in office, Biden has now pivoted to claim credit for achievements of the Trump administration. Biden even abuses basic math to set pre-achieved goals which he can later claim to have “beaten,” triggering a cyclic process of further self-adulation.
Then, there is the necessary partner to this theater of political nonsense: a willingness to flip-flop as necessary. Only by becoming a masterful political chameleon — again, with the media’s willing assistance — has Biden been able to survive in the same political party for almost 50 years.
This is the same Biden who has taken both sides on issues like China, abortion, and whether law enforcement is worthwhile. This is the same Biden who can claim that homosexuals are “security risks,” and later lead the party which claims to embrace the LGBT community. This is why Joe Biden can be demonstrably wrong on nearly every issue of foreign policy for the entirety of his career, stand alongside Barack Obama as the Middle East is set ablaze, and then later stand as the “solution” to the problem of global conflict.
Despite what the media tells you, the fact is that Joe Biden has never had an original thought. Not once in his long, long career. Instead, he tries to push the bad ideas of some, while taking credit for the good ideas of others.
Luckily for Biden, his chosen line of work isn’t one which rewards originality, and certainly not one which rewards honesty, consistency, or success.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.