Michael Goodwin: Perpetual screwup Joe Biden spins and stumbles on his way out of the White House – and proves Trump voters right

In his last week in office, Joe Biden is making a farewell tour of speeches to try to put a shine on his legacy. 

It would be a tall order in any event, but because the president is a perpetual screwup, his effort is going off the rails. 

Instead of polishing his record, he’s inadvertently highlighting what a total failure he’s been and why voters were right to elect Donald Trump. 

Even as Biden paints himself as a big success, a Gallup survey captures the truth: Large majorities say America has gone backward on key areas during his watch.

It would be a tall order in any event, but because the president is a perpetual screwup, his effort is going off the rails.  Reuters

These include the federal debt, immigration, the economy, crime and the US position in the world. 

The contrast is striking but familiar.

The White House and Democrats spent much of the last four years denying what Americans could see with their own eyes. 

Remember when Bidenomics was working, inflation was transitory and the border was secure? 

Maybe the president and his party should have listened to the public instead of trying to fool it. 

Crossings to bear 

Take Exhibit A — the border. On Day One, Biden began fulfilling his campaign promise to dismantle the security protections he inherited from Trump. 

You know, all those racist, inhumane, heartless barriers Hitler put up to keep out hard-working, innocent immigrant families who deserved to be here. 

Immediately after taking the oath in which he pledged to unite America, Biden began dividing it by throwing open the border door and rolling out the Welcome Wagon to the world. 

In his first 100 days, he issued 94 executive orders on immigration and the border, nearly all making it easier for illegals to cross into the United States or more difficult for officials to deport them. 

Come on in, he said, and come they did. Endlessly. 

In anticipation of his largess, the crowds waiting to claim asylum immediately swelled in Mexico and caravans formed throughout Central America.

The result has been an invasion of foreigners unlike any ever seen in our nation’s history. 

Biden’s own administration reports that border patrol agents had more than 12 million “encounters” with illegal crossers during his term. 

That’s four times as many as the 3 million encounters reported in Trump’s first term.

And the 12 million doesn’t include as many as 2 million additional “gotaways” who made it into the US without being stopped. 

New York and other large cities effectively became “border towns” thanks to the unvetted influx, with state and local taxpayers shelling out billions upon billions to provide housing, food and health care. 

And don’t forget the predictable outbreaks of crime. 

Yet here was Biden Monday, telling White House reporters that illegal immigration sharply declined after he took office. 

“Let’s get something in mind about the border. When I became president, the numbers came way down,” he claimed. 

There wasn’t a smidgen of truth in that, and fact checkers would have gone crazy if Trump spun a yarn half that big.

But when it’s Biden, or any Democrat, crickets. 

Foreign policy failures 

The second stop on his tall-tale tour came later Monday with a speech on foreign policy delivered at the State Department.

He again tried to rewrite history by insisting that America is stronger and our adversaries are weaker because of his policies and actions. 

“Right now, in my view, thanks to our administration, the United States is winning the worldwide competition,” he said. 

It was nice of him to qualify the claim by saying “in my view” because very few people agree with him. 

He also said, “I put together one of the most competent foreign policy teams in American history,” which is a howler even among the many die-hard Dems who regard Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan as incompetent lightweights. 

The most consequential move Biden made was the abrupt withdrawal of our military from Afghanistan.

It is now widely seen as a signal of weakness that emboldened our adversaries and endangered our allies. 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was one result, and Iran’s unleashing of its terror proxies on Israel another. 

Yet Biden still insists the withdrawal was the “right thing to do,” and mentioned only in passing the 13 “brave service members whose lives were lost during the withdrawal.” 

What he didn’t say was that his own military brass advised against complete withdrawal.

Nor, as even The New York Times felt compelled to add, did he “acknowledge the Afghan allies who were left behind or the fact that the withdrawal opened a vacuum for the Taliban to take over the country again.” 

It’s also a distortion to include Iran as among those who have suffered setbacks.

It was Israel, often against Biden’s wishes, that defeated Hamas and Hezbollah and defanged Iran’s defense systems, which helped lead to the overthrow of the Syrian butcher, Bashar al-Assad. 

While it’s true Biden helped supply Israel’s military, he simultaneously undermined the Jewish nation with his micromanaging and public criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Much of that criticism was aimed at appeasing rabid antisemites who would normally vote Democrat, and it helped prolong the war. 

Blinken inadvertently conceded as much when he said in a Times interview that “Whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel . . . Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a cease-fire and the release of hostages.” 

He also finds it “astounding” that amid all the criticism of Israel, “you hear virtually nothing from anyone since October 7 about Hamas.” 

Stop the presses: Blinken’s views reflect an astounding ignorance of the Mideast and the world. 

Israel is always Public Enemy No. 1 at the United Nations, while America is its best and sometimes only friend. When that friend wavers, as Biden and Blinken did, Israel’s enemies grow emboldened. 

Finally, a fresh start 

My hope is that after Trump takes office, the White House will release transcripts and other data showing how Biden and Blinken tied Israel’s hands in a war that could have been won months ago. 

Unfortunately, Biden is scheduled to give at least three more speeches, including a prime-time address Wednesday night. 

Prepare for more false claims about a record bad enough to get both him and his vice president fired. Thankfully, all the whoppers in the world won’t be able to change that.

Skews-wire shame at AP

The AP has fallen so far left it can’t get up. 

Under its website’s “US News” section, the once-reliable outlet lists four main topics: Abortion, LGBTQ+, Shootings and Immigration. 

There’s no need to read the actual stories. Knowing the source, you already know which way they tilt. 

Putting the con in congestion

Reader Colette Curry smells a rat. She writes: “So Uber and Lyft gave millions to our elected officials and lobbyists to legalize congestion tolling. It just proves once again that New York has the best politicians money can buy!”