OPINION:
For three weeks, the United States of America, the supposed sole remaining global superpower, has operated in a bizarre state of suspended animation.
Certainly, the world has continued spinning (out of control, I might add). However, few seem interested in the fact that President Biden was effectively pushed out of running for reelection by his fellow elites in the Democratic Party and has since that time been kept mostly out of the public eye.
Meanwhile, his vice president, Kamala Harris, who has succeeded him as the presumptive Democratic Party presidential candidate, is anywhere but in Washington.
So, while technically Mr. Biden remains the president, he seems to be mostly checked out of the job. Of course, he’d been mostly absent since the start of his shambolic presidency. But now that the path to reelection has been taken from him, Mr. Biden seems content to coast to the final days of his time in office.
Is this what the American people deserve: A derelict president with no real successor?
If Mr. Biden was deemed too mentally incompetent to run for reelection (as he clearly was deemed by his party) following his disastrous display in the June debate with former President Donald Trump, and since the Justice Department Special Prosecutor Robert Hur declined to press charges against Mr. Biden for improperly storing classified documents (as Mr. Hur did), then what is Mr. Biden doing remaining in office?
The 25th Amendment of the United States Constitution exists for this very reason. The Democratic Party has already decided Mr. Biden cannot stand for reelection. They are clearly deferring to Ms. Harris. The vice president can call a meeting of the Cabinet and invoke the 25th Amendment because Mr. Biden is mentally compromised. Indeed, it should be a requirement that Ms. Harris assumes office in the presidency at this moment.
Ms. Harris doesn’t want to because she’s too busy campaigning. What’s more, Ms. Harris doesn’t want to have to be on the hook for any disasters that undoubtedly will erupt between now and Election Day if she had to assume power at that time. Further, I’m sure whatever deal the Biden syndicate made with the DNC elites likely included a promise not to end Mr. Biden’s presidency in such a way.
All this makes sense from the Democratic Party’s perspective. What is most mind-boggling is the utter absence of any semblance of leadership from elected Republicans in Washington. Constitutionally, House Speaker Mike Johnson is third-in-line for the presidency. As a politician, a leaderless Washington is a pristine opportunity for him.
Yet, Mr. Johnson is nowhere to be found. In fact, almost no Republican in a leadership position in Washington appears interested in lighting up the nation’s capital during the election.
The country deserves leadership. It is craving it. The Democrats, despite holding the White House and the U.S. Senate, are uninterested in leading — even though they insist upon maintaining their sinecures. The Democrats may very well win this year’s election. But the GOP does not need to make it easy for them. The Democrats certainly haven’t made it easy for the Republicans.
America’s elected leaders — notably the Republicans in the House — should be making much greater noise against the apparent caretaker president who is doing anything but minding the store. The world teeters on the brink of a world war, the economy may or may not be crashing soon, and Americans are at each other’s throats in ways not seen in decades.
A president is desperately needed right now.
Just who is advising Mr. Johnson and the rest of the prominent Republican leadership to essentially lay low? And why? There may never be another opportunity to exercise power despite being in the minority than now. Mr. Johnson and his fellow Republican leaders should be kicking down the doors of every news program, reminding audiences that we have no president and our vice president is persona non grata. The House Republicans should immediately begin pushing legislation on some of the most important issues for the GOP.
Who cares if it’ll go nowhere?
The House GOP can help the Trump campaign by demonstrating to the American people that they’re interested — and capable — of governing, whereas the Democrats this election cycle are utterly blinkered. Republicans should be pushing through legislation designed to combat inflation, they should have laws ready to roll effectively securing our border, and they should be continuing to pressure the Biden-Harris administration on an assortment of issues that have been allowed to go by the wayside.
Not only should Republicans be demanding that Ms. Harris invoke the 25th amendment, they should also be expanding their investigation of Hunter Biden. After all, it has been proven that he accepted payment from Romanian oligarch Gabriel Popoviciu to “influence U.S. policy.” It is entirely unacceptable that the Republicans have abandoned this course.
The bottom line is that the GOP leadership needs a backbone transplant, and it needs one now. Mr. Johnson has been hiding in his basement for far too long. He needs to pick a side and start fighting for it. Otherwise, the Democrats will get away with another set of scandals at the expense of the American people.
• Brandon J. Weichert is a national security analyst at The National Interest..
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