Joe Biden gave a rare Oval Office address Thursday night that began with a clear condemnation of Hamas terror, but quickly shifted focus to cynical politicking and narrative setting, even while Americans are still being held hostage.
Here are a few essential takeaways:
1. The Address Was About Ukraine, Not Israel
I spent over a year trying to get inside Joe Biden’s brain while researching for my New York Times bestselling book, Breaking Biden, and in that time, I learned a few of his moves. One of them is that he tries to shift the political focus to something more favorable for him when his back is against the wall.
That’s what he tried to do tonight.
The dominant news cycle right now – radical Islamic terror directed at Israel – is a terrible one for Joe. As I noted in an article earlier this week, Joe Biden has harmed Israel in numerous ways over his presidency and vice presidency while simultaneously enabling terrorists and their funders. He is also clearly perceived as a weak target by our adversaries around the world; so, the longer the media is focused on Israel, Jews, Hamas rockets, decapitated babies, and American hostages, the worse Joe is going to look. His political instincts told him to try to switch gears.
He did that in his speech tonight. It was not only clumsy, it was offensive.
Actually, it was an attempted hoodwinking. The world thought the speech would be about Israel. And he did talk about Israel. But the speech was really about Ukraine.
He tried to connected Israel and Ukraine in order to suggest to Americans that if you support Israel’s war for its own survival, you must also support limitless taxpayer resources being sent to Ukraine – after those funds make a pit stop in the bank accounts of U.S. defense contractors, of course.
He ended up saying nothing newsworthy about Israel or Hamas, yet he revived the Ukraine funding discussion.
Yes, duplicitous Joe used dead Jews as an excuse to give a speech about Ukraine funding — from the Oval Office, no less.
2. Earth To Joe: Ukraine And Israel Are Not the Same
My colleague Joel Pollak beat me to the punch on this one:
Israel is not Ukraine. Israel is a much closer ally. It is a democracy, and has been for far longer than Ukraine. Its intelligence assists U.S. counter-terror operations; its technology, like the Iron Dome, keeps American troops safe.
Israel has taken bullets — or, rather, Scud missiles — for the U.S., allowing Iraq to attack it during the Gulf War without retaliating, because the U.S. needed to keep Arab allies in its wartime coalition. And millions of Americans — Christian and Jewish — love Israel, visiting in the millions.
The last point is crucial. Israel has been exemplary stewards of the Holy Land, a place where Jews and Christians alike make pilgrimages by the millions. This is fortunate for America, itself a Judeo-Christian nation. If Israel is wiped off the map—the stated objective of those who are at war against it right now—then the Holy Land will be in jeopardy.
I would also add that Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and Israel is not. That counts!
3. Joe’s False Construct: Tying Israel’s Survival to Ukraine Spending
Joe wants his Ukraine agenda to continue to get funding. His base really likes sending stuff to Ukraine. And he needs his base happy if he wants to get reelected.
His ultimate goal appears to be to tie funding for Israel to funding for Ukraine in subsequent spending packages.
This is a false construct, and Americans should reject it.
The thought that helping Israel stave off extinction is conditional on sending another bag of goodies to grifters in Ukraine isn’t just totally bogus, it is, again, offensive. If we’re going to tie anything to Israel funds, it should be other issues of urgent national security importance like solidifying our border; but we know Joe doesn’t actually want a secure border.
4. Joe Wants More Cash for the Military-Industrial Complex
As I document in Breaking Biden, Joe Biden and his cabinet are in league with the military-industrial complex, none more so than his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. Blinken, whom I refer to as the “Secretary of Boeing,” was the managing director of the Penn Biden Center (home of Joe’s infamous classified documents) and co-founded WestExec Advisors, a boutique D.C. consultancy focused on “advising companies on geopolitical risk and emerging opportunities.” He also helped orchestrate the “Russian disinfo” hoax letter that got the Hunter Biden “Laptop from Hell” censored before the 2020 election, along with 50 of his Deep State buddies.
Blinken is one example of many in Biden’s administration. Joe loves to fund the defense industry because that’s where past and future cabinet officials go to bag cash between stints running our government.
In his Oval Office address, Joe Biden specifically called for “missiles for air defense, batters made in Arizona,” and “artillery shells made in 12 countries [sic] in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and so much more.” He then went on to suggest that it is patriotic to funnel unlimited amounts of your tax dollars to the ever-expanding security state.
The same security state that bankrolls people like Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who famously sat on the board of Raytheon. The list goes on.
Using the death of Israelis and Americans, especially children, to shake the can for the defense industry was not mereley a little too on the nose, it was grotesque.
5. Joe Is Thinking About a Two-State Solution and Islamophobia
The fact that he is even bringing up the “two state solution” debate right now, days after babies were murdered in their homes by Hamas, and while Americans are still hostage, is seemingly wildly out of touch. Sadly, it’s probably not. These comments were likely a sop to the pro-Hamas faction of our society (a group of people who seemingly control many of our major newsrooms).
In what was another low point for the night, Joe scolded Americans for Islamophobia from two decades ago, despite the fact that radical Muslims targeted Jews for torture, rape, and murder just this month. “I know many of you in the Muslim American community are outraged saying to yourself ‘here we go again’ with Islamophobia and distress we saw after 9/11,” Joe said.
The timing would seem a bit off, unless you see it as a dog whistle to extremists in his political base.
Can we at least try to free the hostages before we get a lecture on why we need to be careful not to hurt people’s hypothetical feelings?
Despite his constant haranguing about unity, Joe Biden rarely misses an opportunity to divide so long as he believes it advances his political position.
Breaking Biden: Exposing the Hidden Forces and Secret Money Machine Behind Joe Biden, His Family, and His Administration is available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook read by the author.
Alex Marlow is the Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart News and a New York Times bestselling author. His new book Breaking Biden is available now. You can follow Alex on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @AlexMarlow.
