Joe Biden returns to America to talk about World War Three — and to brag about how brave he is

I’m astonished by Joe Biden’s speech last night.

The world is on the brink of a world war, it really feels that way to me. America’s role in the world is being challenged in ways it hasn’t been in two generations.

I saw this tweet today by a thoughtful tech entrepreneur and thinker, Balaji Srinivasan.

LOSING THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN

Let’s be real: US political leaders since the Gulf War are perhaps the worst leaders in the history of the world.

In 1991, they inherited a hyperpower that wins everywhere without fighting. But by 2021 they produced a declining power that fights… https://t.co/AqjkhUh7b8

— Balaji (@balajis) October 20, 2023

He loves America, he’s very successful, he’s a bit of a philosopher. And this hit me hard about the state of the world and America in particular, but doesn’t this apply to Canada, too?

Let’s be honest, US political leaders since the Gulf War are perhaps the worst leaders in the history of the world. In 1991, they inherited a hyperpower that wins everywhere without fighting. But by 2021 they produced a declining power that fights everywhere without winning. It’s thirty years of unmitigated domestic and international failure, from San Francisco to Syria, from financial crisis to coronavirus.

With every inherited advantage, US leaders nevertheless produced historical collapses in life expectancy, manufacturing capacity, patriotic loyalty, and involvement in the community. They also delivered rises in drug overdoses, out-of-wedlock births, and homeless encampments.

I couldn’t help but think of the Roman Empire collapsing. I mean, there are millions of migrants crossing the border with no impediment. Most are just economic migrants of course. But how many are Iranian agents, like Hamas? Just walking in? Do you doubt some of them are? I hope and pray that we don’t one day have a violent event in America by people who sneaked across the border. Rome was destroyed from within as much as from without.

There are times when eloquence helps. To give people a boost to their spirits, to show them a plan, to help them understand things, to show the way to follow. Reagan was famous for that, and remember he was a president during the Cold War, when there were real risks. He took over an economy in recession, when gas prices were skyrocketing, when the Soviets were on the march around the world. But he matched philosophy and eloquence with principles and a strategy and he rebuilt America, took it through its best decade in memory. But words have to have ideas behind them to be meaningful.

So what did Joe Biden say yesterday? 

It was so weak. On my show, I'll explain why. 

Biden's speech was immediately forgettable. It was just another transactional Washington speech — a budget speech, really. It was noteworthy for what it lacked, not what it had. No demand that Hamas release the hostages or face annihilation; no demand that Iran abandon its schemes. How could Biden say that, after giving each of them money?

America is the best country that is, that has ever been. But that can be lost. The Roman Empire did fall. Nothing is forever.

Biden is presiding over the decline of America. And I fear he is presiding over the fall of the wonderful, great modern era of freedom, peace and prosperity.

I hope I’m wrong — what do you think?