Johannesburg - President Joe Biden has fashioned his administration as clean, suave and law-abiding. In the same vein, he has grabbed every opportunity to project his predecessor, Donald Trump, as a law unto himself who has scant regard for governance systems and processes.
The recent saga around former President Trump’s very public spat – nay, confrontation – with the justice department over classified documents he hoarded at his Mar-a-Lago private residence in Florida caused Biden to pour scorn over the former president’s conduct.
Biden’s projection of his administration as the opposite of everything that Trump represents is credited for the Democrats’ spectacular win of the Senate in the last mid-terms. But, then again, Biden should have known, or shouldn’t he? He who lives in a glass house does not throw stones.
Biden’s well-documented scathing criticism of Trump’s handling of the classified documents saga is now coming back with some vengeance to haunt him. In a matter of days, Biden’s political future is suddenly as jittery as was unimaginable a mere fortnight ago. In his own damning words, Biden confirmed that the documents were found inside a “locked garage” at his home.
In a veiled reference to Trump, he said for his part he was co-operating with the Department of Justice in their investigation.
Sensational revelations over the discovery of classified documents at his Washington office during his tenure as vice-president to Barack Obama have shaken the politics of the world’s biggest economy and superpower, a key player in world politics.
The scandal is vitally important for several reasons. American society is deeply divided like never before in recent memory. The divisions, clearly marked by affiliation to the Republican or Democratic parties, are not only ideological.
They permeate the social fabric of society. The Donald Trump personality cult figure also looms large over the otherwise historically cordial political contestations. A tycoon-turned-politician, Trump has made a mockery of the establishment since defeating former Obama Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presidential race in 2017.
The stark similarity between Biden and Trump has been laid bare this week by revelations of the illegal hoarding of classified documents – read “state secrets” – at Biden’s private places in the wake of similar claims against his predecessor.
Trump was generally vilified by the mainstream media for his refusal to hand over the classified documents to the National Archives. Revelations of classified documents at Trump’s private home were hugely lambasted, and Trump was publicly pilloried by the mainstream media, aided by a chorus of Democrat henchmen and -women led by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But now, the inevitable embarrassment Biden is attempting to manage through every power at his disposal is quickly spiralling into a major political crisis in 2023. As it spreads like wildfire, the Biden scandal threatens to undermine the case for Trump to be charged for the same misdemeanour that the sitting president now stands accused.
On Thursday, as the White House was confirming that secret documents dating from Biden’s time as Obama’s deputy were discovered in two locations at his Wilmington, Delaware, home, the Republicans were seizing the moment to argue that Trump has been treated quite unfairly in the aftermath of the launch of the investigation by a special counsel into his behaviour.
By the end of the same day, Attorney-General Merrick Garland announced at a media briefing – under obvious public pressure – that, owing to “extraordinary circumstances”, he had appointed a special counsel to investigate President Biden’s handling of the classified documents at his private locations. Garland introduced the special counsel as Robert Hur, who was appointed by Trump.
He is currently serving as a litigation partner at a Washing DC law firm, and has previously served as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney-General. Sceptics are already raising doubts about a Trump appointee investigating Trump’s political opponent. This prompted Hur to immediately pledge to be “fair and impartial”.
Whether this will allay any lingering fears remains to be seen. As they say, the jury is out. The jubilant Trump supporters see the latest developments as presenting some kind of equilibrium. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, Trump supporters argue.
Republican House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio was among the pro-Trump operatives, if you may, to immediately launch a broadside against Biden and his party. He told the perceived pro-Trump network Fox News that the authorities’ handling of the same matter affecting two different individuals resembled a case of different strokes for different folks.
He argued: “The double standard is obvious.” He further asked: “Where’s the raid?” He was referring to the Hollywood-style raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last year when scores of FBI personnel encircled the place amid huge media coverage that had been invited to bear witness.
Already, Biden’s well-oiled public relations machinery is spreading a narrative that seeks to lessen the perceived extent of guilt on the part of the president compared with Trump.
For example, they have gone numerical, putting the different numbers on the totality of classified documents found at the places of both Trump and Biden. They juxtaposed a small figure of 10 for the number of documents found at Biden’s home in contrast to the 325 documents seized at Trump’s private residence.
They also hastened to highlight that, whereas Trump refused to co-operate with the authorities, Biden was voluntarily co-operating with Justice Department officials. Here already the battle in the public court of opinion is geared toward clearing Biden based on his co-operating with the DOJ. As for Trump, his detractors are parading him guilty as charged. But, then again, the American electorate is deeply divided and belligerent in their beliefs. No amount of spin doctoring will sway them from strongly held positions.
As for the DOJ, all eyes are on them. To explain why they had kept the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s private place a top-secret demand answers, and quickly. Officials among the Conservatives are already arguing that the authorities had kept the public in the dark due to the midterm elections that took place last November – the same month that Biden’s misdemeanour was discovered.
Had the discovery been communicated as it happened (in other words, before the elections), chances are the Democrats under Biden would have lost the US Senate. This would have meant the Republicans, under a looming spell of Trump, would have won both chambers of the US Congress following their triumph in the House of Representatives. The conspiracy theories will proliferate, and so will the rumour-mongering.
Biden is scheduled to announce that he is standing to run for re-election in the 2024 presidential elections. Trump has already nailed his colours to the mast. It could well be Round 2 between the septuagenarian Trump and the octogenarian Biden. Interesting times they would be true if it were so. Biden’s overseas forays into US foreign policy enemy territories around the world could be adversely impacted by any scandal that brings him down.
Trump and his allies in the Republican Party are happily stirring up the political uproar over Biden’s deepening troubles. The 2024 elections are just around the corner. Some in Biden’s Democratic Party have attempted to dissuade him from running for a second term. This fresh scandal will give them immeasurable ammunition and embolden their calls.
The scandal is ammunition that could prove politically devastating for a president who is staggering as a boxer hit hard in the ring. Whichever way one looks at the situation as it unfolds, Biden’s back is against the wall. Predictably, like a clan of hyenas, Biden’s opponents will in the coming days, weeks and months attack their prey mercilessly. It’s high noon for Biden.
Like a wounded tiger, Trump is leading a “streak” of his allies to ensure that Biden and the Democrats will lose power in the 2024 presidential elections. Such an outcome will have an immeasurable bearing on geopolitics. The world had better get ready.