Many names have surfaced in the rampant national speculation over who is really running the Biden administration.
Some say Kamala Harris, Susan Rice, or even Obama himself (from his offices a mile away) might be behind the radical pivot leftward.
But the British newspaper The Times suggested that President Joe Biden‘s chief-of-staff, Ron Klain, could be the true puppet-master.
As Biden’s apparent dementia and other ailments limit his ability to lead, Klain’s trusted ties to the 78-year-old political stalwart during his more lucid days could have presented a powerful opportunity for him to take hold of the reins.
“The two men have been virtually inseparable,” said the Times.
According to one insider: “Even when Ron was off the staff, if Biden was doing one of the Sunday television shows he would have a pre-call with Ron about what he should say.”
Klain previously served as chief-of-staff for former vice president Al Gore, and again in the same capacity for Biden during the Obama administration.
The Times referred to him as “the ultimate enabler” due to his own deep roots in the Capitol Hill sausage-factory.
“Everybody who is anybody in Washington knows Klain, although few people outside the Beltway … have heard of him,” said the article.
“He is a powerful, confident operator who knows the business of government inside out,” it continued. “Trusted to exercise power and take decisions, he keeps his boss informed while lifting the burden of office from him.”
BAD NEW DEAL
Reports floated in recent weeks that, flouting his early calls for “unity,” Biden had made the decision to go big with a massive leftist push that few had asked for.
Instead of seeking consensus, he has his sights set on becoming a transformative president, similar to the four-term Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who laid the framework for his New Deal policies very early in his presidency.
While the bureaucratic safety-net FDR established helped buoy those suffering during the decade-long Great Depression, it set a dangerous precedent for government borrowing and overreach involving social-welfare programs.
Likewise, Biden’s proposed $6 trillion and counting in new spending will ensure he leaves a lasting legacy for generations to come through debt and inflation.
“For those who find the scale of Biden’s colossal $6 trillion spending plans hard to square with the moderate politician who has been knocking around Washington for half a century, look no further than ‘President Klain’,” said the Times. “He is determined to secure Biden’s place in the pantheon of presidents, with Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, who built the American welfare state.”
Another similarity with Roosevelt is he was largely shielded from criticism by a propagandist media.
Klain appears to have succeeded in doing the same as Biden’s lead handler, helping to spin stories, stave off scrutiny and convince the Resolute Desk’s current occupant that all is rosy across the land.
Amid a severe border crisis, ongoing racial strife, a sputtering recovery from last year’s pandemic-driven health and financial fiascos, and a litany of other worries on the domestic front, the national mood may be far from what Biden thinks it to be.
Yet, his inner circle has persuaded him, among other things, that he enjoys broad bipartisan support.
With help from a complicit and obsequious mainstream press, the White House also has attempted to gaslight the public with similar claims.
In a recent example on Twitter, Klain hyped up one of the lowest early public ‘approval’ ratings of any president (Trump being a notable exception) in recent memory.
“Among his latest tweets was a Reuters/Ipsos poll showing 55 per cent of Americans approved of Biden’s job performance, as opposed to 38 per cent who disapproved,” wrote the Times.
Klain “also highlighted a Washington Post article headlined: ‘No wonder the president has a bounce in his step,'” it added.
TROUBLE AHEAD
Fake news coverage and dishonest polls aside, one of the early bellwethers that things are not as copacetic as the White House suggests was a special runoff election in Texas‘s 6th Congressional District, which covers a region just south of Dallas.
The race last weekend to replace the late Rep. Ron Wright, R-Texas, drew considerable Democrat attention as the party continues its efforts to turn urban and suburban parts of the Lone Star State a solid blue.
House Democrats also must cushion their own margin—hovering around five votes, with several vacancies waiting to be filled—if they hope to protect their majority.
Among 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats and two unaffiliated third-party candidates in the Texas race, the leading Democrat contender failed to secure enough votes to be eligible for a runoff next month.
Should a red wave put Republicans in control of Congress after next year’s election, Biden could pay a steep price for overspending his political capital.
The Times warned that Klain was likely wrong on assuming Americans won’t hold the dotard commander-in-chief accountable once the sticker-shock of inflation sets in.
“A lot is riding on the success of Biden’s stimulus and infrastructure plans, not least the fortunes of the Democratic Party in the midterm elections next year,” it said.
“So far his policies are proving popular, although he is on the defensive over immigration and ‘woke’ cultural wars,” it continued. “But plenty of moderate Democrats are concerned that he is betting the farm on progressive policies in a divided nation for which the party has no mandate.”
To Biden and his trusted yes-man, however, the focus seems to be on crafting an agenda for their second term, when the then-82-year-old leftist leader will really raise the stakes, hinted one insider.
“Having achieved his life’s ambition by reaching the White House, Biden’s goal is to remain in office as long as possible—two terms, preferably,” said the Times. “This means he is ‘pacing himself’ in the job.”
