As 2024 comes to close, it’s a good time to consider some of the lies from outgoing President Joe Biden and his Democratic support team. Of course, many politicians exaggerate or intentionally mislead the public, and some flat out lie. While Biden pushes more than his share of inconsequential lies, some of them coming from him and his administration have been so blatant and obviously false that they deserve special attention.
The following is my list of their worst lies. What would you add?
“Biden is just fine, thank you.” Although the coverup of Biden’s decline went on for at least four years, it got particularly aggressive in 2024. It had to if Democrats were going to counter the growing chatter that Biden’s physical and mental acuity were deteriorating quickly. The June presidential debate made denialism impossible.
The Wall Street Journal recently published a lengthy article, based on conversations with nearly 50 people close to the president, detailing how Biden’s handlers tried to hide his decline. Nearly everyone around him was in on the scam.
Biden’s handlers limited presidential visits because he lost focus quickly. Aides were close by to ensure he didn’t wander off after a public speech. And they had to remind him repeatedly about things he was to do and say. Yet those around him assured the public that the leader of a nation facing multiple domestic and foreign challenges was well, engaged and as sharp as ever.
I think historians will look back on the cover-up as one of the most egregious political scandals of the modern era.
“The exploding federal debt is not a problem.” Only last June, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reassured the public that the federal debt ($34.7 trillion at the time) was not a major concern. She told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, “If the debt is stabilized relative to the size of the economy, we’re in a reasonable place.”
But the debt was not stabilized, because her boss, President Biden, has continued pushing taxpayer dollars out the door: for student loan forgiveness, green energy projects and many others. As a result, the federal debt is now $36.3 trillion, and the only reason it isn’t higher is the courts have quashed some of Biden’s spending spree.
Now that Democrats have lost the presidential election, Yellen is worried about the debt. She recently told the Wall Street Journal, “Well, I am concerned about fiscal sustainability, and I am sorry that we haven’t made more progress. I believe that the deficit needs to be brought down, especially now that we’re in an environment of higher interest rates.”
In fact, interest rates were higher when she wasn’t concerned about the federal debt than they are today when she is concerned.
Had Biden (or Kamala Harris) won the election, Yellen would still be reassuring the public and the media the debt wasn’t a problem, because the plan was to spend even more. Instead, she’s trying to salvage her tattered professional reputation, because if the country goes over the fiscal cliff, people will know who to blame.
“I will not pardon him.” That was President Biden’s June 13 response to a direct question as to whether he would issue a presidential pardon for his son Hunter. Both Joe and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated the assertion several times. And many Democrats publicly claimed they believed it — but hardly anyone else did.
Famed journalist Bob Woodward told late-night TV host Stephen Colbert before the pardon, “I don’t believe that. I think he will pardon his son.”
Anyone, any administration, that will go to the efforts Team Biden did to deceive the public about the president’s physical and mental decline won’t have a problem telling them one more lie.
The pardon was almost certainly coming whether Biden won or lost the election, because even though Joe repeatedly asserted that he had no knowledge of or connection with Hunter’s multiple shady business dealings, it became very clear that he did.
For example, NBC highlighted a report released by Republican staff on the House Ways and Means Committee that revealed, “Joe Biden exchanged emails with his son Hunter’s business associate 54 times while he was serving as vice president, and some of the messages were sent around the time the elder Biden was traveling to Ukraine and his son was working for a Ukrainian gas company…”
By issuing an unusually broad pardon for his son covering any and all potential federal crimes dating back to 2014, Joe may have discretely pardoned himself.
These are some of Biden’s most blatant lies — lies that could have broad political, financial and international implications. And they required Biden’s closest aides and supporters to perpetuate them and the mainstream media to largely ignore them. One thing we can be sure of going into 2025, President-elect Donald Trump won’t get the same velvet-glove treatment from the media.
Merrill Matthews is a public policy and political analyst and the co-author of “On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff.”
