Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

"Whether Joe Biden decides to run for reelection in 2024 or not, the central achievement of his presidency is already clear. He is the person who moved decisively to stop Donald Trump — first at the ballot box and now through his administration’s steady, unblinking application of the rule of law.

If Biden and his team can succeed in that mission over the next two years, I would bet that he will do what any chief executive around his age does, which is to think carefully about finding a successor who can carry on his policies and preserve his accomplishments.

Some presidents struggle in office to frame their legacy. But for Biden, it’s easy. His core mission from the beginning was to prevent Trump from destroying American democracy.

For all his ups and downs, Biden has been consistent in framing that goal. When he entered the 2020 presidential race in April 2019, he said bluntly: “We are in the battle for the soul of this nation.” If Trump won another term, he warned, “He will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are, and I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

Biden was right, and he set his course to stop Trump. He recognized that only a centrist Democrat could win enough independent votes to displace the incumbent, and he held fast to that position despite withering fire from the left. The political class often echoed Trump’s line that Biden was too old and inarticulate to be president. Biden’s wry retort, way back in December 2018: “I am a gaffe machine, but, my God, what a wonderful thing compared to a guy who can’t tell the truth.”

Biden’s victory at the polls in November 2020 was a hinge moment in U.S. history. Trump, as we now realize with shocking clarity, was willing to do anything to cling to office. But he failed, thanks partly to principled Republicans who refused to join a coup — and thanks even more to Biden, who ran a disciplined campaign as a centrist who would restore normal order.

Biden’s inaugural speech on Jan. 20, 2021, focused on this basic mission. “Democracy has prevailed,” he said. He used the word “unity” eight times in the speech. And he seemed to understand his place in the American story, replacing Trump’s “carnage” with something decent. “We answered the call of history,” he said toward the end of the speech. “We met the moment.”

Biden at first hoped that Trump would accept defeat and go away. He avoided mentioning him by name for most of his first 18 months, referring to him as “the former president.” He must have hoped that Trump, starved of publicity to feed his ego, would shrivel to normal ex-presidential size. But Trump couldn’t adjust to reality. His stationery bore the presidential seal, he treated super-secret government documents as his personal property, and he insisted that he had never lost the election at all.

Ignoring Trump wasn’t going to work. It only made him clamber for attention more loudly and recklessly. And Trump’s supporters amplified the danger. So during a Sept. 1 speech in Philadelphia, Biden changed tone. He stated bluntly the idea that brought him into the presidential campaign back in 2019: “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
Biden’s language was tougher, but the message was the same one he delivered in his inauguration speech. If Trump’s extremism could be stopped, he said, “then ages still to come will say … we kept the faith. We preserved democracy. … We heeded not our worst instincts but our better angels.”

Biden’s sharp warnings about the threat to democracy might seem out of character for a career politician whose genial, back-slapping style was refined by decades in the Senate. But as Sen. Christopher A. Coons, the president’s close friend and fellow Delaware Democrat, told me, Biden got his start trying to dampen the politics of rage. His first elected office was as a member of the city council in a Wilmington, Del., torn by racial violence and occupied by the National Guard. “He has seen this moment,” explains Coons.

After a ragged 12 months, Biden seemed to rediscover the art of politics this summer, breaking the political impasse (within his own party as well as with Republicans) to pass significant legislation on climate change, technology investment and gun control. He convinced progressive House Democrats that half a loaf was better than none. It helped that he looked like a commander in chief in supporting Ukraine and the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. And his wise decision to make Merrick Garland his attorney general has been validated by Garland’s slow and steady — but unyielding — pursuit of possible criminal actions by Trump and his supporters.
Biden has found a better groove, politically, in recent weeks. His approval ratings are up, and Democrats are hoping they can retain control of the Senate in the midterms, though an all-but-assured Republican takeover of the House will shift the balance of power in Washington.

Biden might have difficulty governing after the midterm elections, and 2024 remains a mystery. But as Trump’s political death spiral accelerates, Biden’s presidential legacy is nearly complete.

David Ignatius

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

Biden doesn't wantTrump to destroy American democracy because that's his own goal.

bhfranklin Loc: Boston Area / Cape Cod

You can't even name any real accomplishment of the Bidumb buffoon except for making even Jimmy Carter look good.....you are delusional.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

See....Political 'Fear Mongering' is alive, well and still works, especially among the sheep and uneducated.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I didn’t write the article. Do you understand the point of the article—the legacy of Biden, and what it will be?
This isn’t about anything Biden has accomplished, but rather the direction of the country after Biden leaves office.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

True if Ignatius thinks Biden's goal for America was solely to stop Trump, his direction is not setting well with a record 86-87% of Americans....in fact its far worse than when Trump was in office. If the destruction of America was worth defeating Trump, then the priorities, direction and radical policies of this current administration are far, far worse that what America had under Trump.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

America under Trump had a President who lied repeatedly about the severity of a national health crisis, who tried to overthrow an election by way of Pence and Eastman, who triggered an armed insurrection against our nation’s Capitol, who destroyed the integrity of the electoral process with the Big Lie, cast doubt in many Americans minds about sacred institutions, promoted culture wars with divisive language, and who ignored all security measures by taking classified documents to his personal residence. There is much more but why?
Trump will be remembered.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Armed Insurrection!!!! Well, you really do a great job of elaborating and dramatizing all those talking points....It shows the intent of the article that fear mongering by Ignatius and the MSM clearly do have their place in politics and for indoctrinating the sheep....Baaaaaaaa!!!

Triple G

It's clear who are the sheep.

https://www.rawstory.com/amp/lions-not-sheep-2657828454

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

LOLOLOLOL....RawStory has a consumer rating of 1.62 stars from reviews indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied. Nice try though and thanks for playing.

skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

You tend to be somewhat amusing with your screeds but “the legacy of Biden”?
That some hilarious shit right there!

slocumeddie Loc: Inside your head, again

Ignatius is a prolific author.....his books are all fiction.....and so is the opinion above.....!!!

slocumeddie Loc: Inside your head, again

Like everything Ignatius writes, this is pure fiction.....!!!

slocumeddie Loc: Inside your head, again

Thanks for your confused, deluded, TDS driven opinion(s).....

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Biden has a strong ally in the destruction of Trump... Trump himself. Trump has confessed to his crimes in a braggadocios way and has incriminated his close supporters in a feeble attempt to save himself.

The FBI will be harvesting a good deal of information about 1-6 and other Trump crimes from those who 20-30 warrants issued last week. Children and those about to be indited politicians tattle on the bully.

Trump modeled himself on strong men of the world dictatorial fascist like leaders. The Republican loading of the juridical dice is a danger to democracy.