Gadfly: Prez’s ‘Backdoor Bribery’ Schemes
“It will probably not shock you to learn that the promise not to tell Hunter Biden who bought his paintings was broken,” quips National Review’s Jim Geraghty — with reports that one buyer was Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, whom Joe Biden appointed to the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, a “prestige” gig. That’s one crack in the “‘absolute wall between personal and private’ interests” Joe promised. Here’s another: “The administration’s position is no longer that President Biden never discussed Hunter’s businesses with his son,” after revelations Joe did just that. “Either way, you have people getting presidentially appointed jobs putting vast sums of money into the pockets of the president’s son. This is backdoor bribery, and the American people can understand it.”
Crime watch: Shoplifting Inc.
When it comes to crime, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) “and much of the rest of the Left would have us believe our society is no better than the fictional one portrayed in ‘Les Miserables,’” grumbles the Washington Examiner’s Kaylee McGhee White. “Theft rates have exploded in America’s cities over the past few years, forcing many stores to install additional security features to protect merchandise.” “Smash and grab” robberies have become so prevalent, the “Department of Homeland Security is considering establishing a new unit just to investigate such crimes.” “Retail theft is rarely a single act of desperation,” as Ocasio-Cortez and the left would have us believe. The failure to “recognize this will continue to cost America’s businesses, and consumers, dearly.”
From the right: Is Biden ‘Undumpable’?
If the Democratic National Committee, Democratic congressmen and the mainstream media “were eager to dump” President Biden, argues Paul Gottfried at American Greatness, “they would have done so by now. They would not be noisily countering the charges of corruption as new evidence of Biden’s misdeeds comes to light.” But Biden “is still running even or ahead of likely Republican opponents; given the ideological polarity in the US, these poll results are likely to continue.” And “like John Fetterman, Biden is ridiculously easy for the Left to manipulate. He can also be easily blackmailed.” “Despite his cognitive limits, Joe is sufficiently sentient to understand his own vulnerability. He will therefore continue obeying his political masters, who have stood behind him while keeping his enemies in check.”
Country star: We Won’t Back Down for Cancel Culture
“The latest ‘cancel culture’ attack has struck directly through the heart of country music as the mob has come for one of our most popular current stars, Jason Aldean,” rages singer-songwriter Lee Greenwood at Fox News. “Make no mistake, this isn’t just about Jason” — “this is about all of us in country music.” “I myself was ‘canceled’ from the National Endowment of the Arts by President Joe Biden just one year into his administration,” though “I had served presidents on both sides for over a decade” — probably because Donald Trump plays “my song ‘God Bless the USA’” at his rallies. But “freedom of speech and creative expression are essential to a free country — it’s the American way of life. Canceling artists is anti-American, it’s insidious and if it gains a foothold, it will take another generation to weed it out.”
Conservative: The GOP Must Impeach Joe
There’s a strong “predicate” for impeaching President Biden, insists The Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood. A “highly credible” FBI informant documents a $10 million quid pro quo for Joe getting a Ukrainian prosecutor fired. “Coupled with corroboration from IRS and FBI whistleblowers, former Biden family business partners, and even Joe and Hunter Biden, the scheme represents perhaps the biggest scandal involving a U.S. president in American history.” And though a conviction in the Democratic-controlled Senate is unlikely, “that didn’t stop House Democrats from impeaching President [Donald] Trump twice.” An impeachment would expose “Biden family corruption” and show Republicans are willing to “fight fire with fire.” “Failure to mount any sort of political resistance” would be “an act of cowardice” and a “death blow” to the “American experiment.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
This story originally appeared on NYPost
