It took me a while to come around to Joe Biden as president, honestly. I think he’s a bit of a centrist for my tastes. I’m sure by now that you guys have picked up on the fact that I lean a little harder to the left than the mainstream Democrats do, and I’ve even gone so far as to say they’ve lost a few elections because they tried too hard to appeal to Republican voters.

Today’s Republicans — that is to say, folks that voted for Trump — couldn’t be swayed by a Democrat even if they were Republican in all but name, like Joe Manchin or Tim Kaine, or as it’s turning out, John Fetterman.

But between the way he handled the last of the pandemic and how he handled the disastrous inflation and gas price crisis brought on by Trump policies from his first term, Joe Biden won me over in his final days as a politician.

Now he’s doing something I thought he’d be too kind, too nice to do. He’s cornering Donald Trump at a vulnerable time, and cutting him off at the knees as far as being able to do all the awful things he wants to do.

Political consultant Matthew Dowd was a guest on MSNBC Reports Thursday morning, and he told host Richard Lu exactly what he thought of the way Biden was wrapping up his presidency. Lu asked Dowd what he thought Trump might do that would be of “lasting effect” during the waning days of his term.

“I think he’s what he’s trying to do is trying to corner Donald Trump and sort of box him in so he can…” began Dowd. “I think the Biden administration and the president is trying to prevent Donald Trump from doing as much damage as he possibly could do.”

“Which he could do a lot after becoming president. But I think Joe Biden is trying to box him in on this,” he went on. “And speaking specifically to the [37 death sentence] commutations [to life in prison] — which, of course, Donald Trump doesn’t understand, the difference between a commutation and a pardon. Donald Trump in that tweet said they were pardoned, they weren’t pardoned, they’re still gonna serve– they’re gonna still be in jail on this.”

It’s an interesting thought to imagine that Joe is playing political chess with Trump, mainly because Trump is more of a checkers guy. Steven Cheung, Trump’s ridiculously offensive spokesperson, called Biden’s decision to commute the sentences “abhorrent.”

“These are among the worst killers in the world and this abhorrent decision by Joe Biden is a slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones,” Cheung said. But in truth, the Trump camp would say that about any decision that Joe Biden makes. And Dowd had a point when he was explaining what was behind Biden’s decision:

“I think it comes a lot from the president’s Christianity and outlook on the world… Me personally, as a Christian, I’m opposed to the death penalty.” So was Jesus, according to the Bible.

Biden’s own statement was even more to the point:

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss. But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”

As far as I’m concerned, what’s abhorrent is the behavior of Trump and everyone who works for him. It’s not like Trump is concerned with justice. If he were, he might look into whether or not his former nominee for Attorney General, Matt Gaetz, disclosed he was a drug addict when he filled out a federal form to buy a gun.

That’s what Trump prosecuted Joe Biden’s son for. In fact, everything else that Trump and his team of evil lawyers and his goons in Congress went after Hunter Biden for turned out to be a big fat lie. It was all proven false. But they still acted as if Hunter was taking money directly from the Supreme Leader of Jerkistan and giving him state secrets in return.

It’s all politics for Donald Trump, unfortunately. But Joe Biden has been doing politics for more than five decades. If he wants to put Trump in a box, he’s going to do it.

Watch the clip here:

Has Biden been plotting against Donnie the whole time? It looks like it, and it looks fine to me. pic.twitter.com/z7uqp4h0iE

— Drewbear (@infuzi0n) December 27, 2024