President Joe Biden's closest advisors are "deeply frustrated" and "somewhat bitter" that they must deal with several crises created by his failures as commander in chief, Breitbart reported. These include the war in Ukraine, crime, inflation, illegal immigration, and the fallout from Hamas' attack against Israel.
In an Axios story Sunday, the media outlet broke the news that White House aides blame the president for the mess the U.S. is currently in. They believe he has squandered any political capital he came into office with after former President Donald Trump's 2020 loss.
With a likely rematch in the 2024 presidential election on the horizon, evidence of these failures now translates into poor polling. For instance, Axios claims that Trump is closing in on Biden in key battleground states, either tying the incumbent president or beating him outright in many surveys.
It's also clear that voters have noticed that Biden is to blame for problems like crime, inflation, and immigration. This has translated to a sentiment from Democrat voters who admit they "don’t want him to run — a daunting design flaw for a re-election campaign."
His biggest liability is in the conflict between Hamas and Israel that began with an offensive attack from the Islamic terrorist organization earlier this month. The polling reflects this, as he's lost 11 percentage points in support among Democrats in the time since the attack.
The president is in a no-win situation with the conflict in the Middle East. Biden supports Israel, a U.S. ally, but that has caused the Democrats to slip to 75% support for him among voters in his party, down from 86%.
That decrease reflects a divide among Democrats who support the Palestinians and Hamas, even in the face of their unprovoked attack against Israel. While these issues are all front-and-center, charges of possible corruption being investigated by Republicans in the House of Representatives are increasingly becoming a threat.
An impeachment inquiry initiated by the House Oversight Committee is already underway. It has so far uncovered a smoking gun $200,000 check written from James Biden to his brother, Joe Biden, in 2018.
The claim was that this repaid a portion of a $600,000 loan made to James Biden. However, the problem is that the check was cut on the same day James Biden received $200,000 from Americore, considered an entity in distress.
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer has demanded answers about this transaction that has the earmarks of a scheme. "If Joe Biden did personally loan James Biden an amount that was later repaid by the $200,000 check, please provide the loan documents, including the loan payment, loan agreement, and any other supporting loan documentation," the Kentucky Republican said in a letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel.
"As you may know, the Internal Revenue Code has specific requirements for delineating and reporting 'below-market [rate] loans' from gifts. While there are some exceptions, for example, loans of $10,000 or less, the payment in question would not appear exempt from such requirements if it is a loan," Comer went on.
"Indeed, there appears to have been no interest paid on the ‘loan’ based upon the White House’s own representations. The current lack of documentation leaves reason to doubt claims that this transaction was repayment for a legal loan," Comer added.
"We request documentation clarifying the nature of this payment and whether all applicable documentation and IRS filings were properly made." It remains to be seen what the White House will cook up next to dismiss these relevant concerns.
There's little hope that Biden will be able to turn any of these political liabilities around in time for the 2024 election. In the meantime, the best that they can hope to do is turn voters against Biden's Republican opponent, whoever that happens to be.
