While President Joe Biden’s deteriorating health has given new meaning the concept of a “lame duck presidency”—the period between a president’s election defeat and the inauguration of a new leader—the Biden administration continues to make bold, sometimes controversial decisions on the global stage.
Under the leadership of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other U.S. bureaucrats, the administration has escalated the war in Russia, opened a new front in Syria, approved weapons sales to Taiwan, and imposed fresh economic sanctions on Chinese technology firms. As a final act, Biden has also officially pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was embroiled in corruption scandals tied to his time in Ukraine and his associations with financial backers of Ukrainian President Zelensky. Perhaps most concerning is that the Biden administration still has two months before officially handing over the reins to Donald Trump.
While the online community often joked that Biden might start World War III before leaving office, his recent actions have turned that joke into a nervous reality. It appears the strategy is to entrench the U.S. in global conflicts to such an extent that a potential Trump presidency would have no choice but to follow through or risk losing face and influence. Another goal seems to be advancing as many policy objectives as possible with minimal oversight, ensuring that certain initiatives continue without interruption once power changes hands.
The result is that U.S. policy, which has traditionally been steady despite the country’s fluctuating leadership, now resembles a chaotic and unpredictable series of actions that could rival the most despotic, autocratic regimes. In a final gesture, by pardoning his son for crimes committed over the past decade, Joe Biden may have crossed a line, embracing dynastic politics in a way that mirrors the world’s most autocratic leaders.