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| By POLITICO MAGAZINE |
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Illustration by Jason Allen Lee for POLITICO |
President Joe Biden dreamed of the White House for decades. And when he finally won it, it seemed like his time in office could make history. People compared him to FDR.
But despite his accomplishments, his term has been overshadowed by a humiliating debate that toppled him from the ticket and the reelection of the man he promised to remove from political power. So we asked 11 prominent historians: How will Biden go down in the history books? Here’s what they said.
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Joe Biden’s term in office was “the most radically left-wing and polarizing presidential tenure in a century.” Can you guess who said this about Biden? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
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Comet Ping Pong Pizza is seen in Washington, where conspiracy theorists and alt right supporters claimed that the Clintons were running a child sex trafficking ring in the basement. | Nina Berman/Redux Pictures |
How Pizzagate Lost Its Bite … The pizzagate shooter was killed by police during a traffic stop earlier this month, and the kind of fear he fomented in D.C. might have died with him. While anxiety about political violence mounted in Washington during the election, anxiety around the specific kind of conspiracy-driven attacks on specific people and neighborhood spots in the Beltway has declined — and the reason might surprise you, writes Capital City columnist Michael Schaffer.
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Haven’t kept up with the latest on the will-they-or-won’t-they of the TikTok ban? Well, we don’t have a short-form video to get you up to speed. But if you use these talking points at work this morning, you can fake your way through — especially with your colleagues who aren’t on the app. (From Associate Editor Dylon Jones)
- Yes, of course, you know how many followers Trump and Harris have on TikTok. What are you, a Facebook user? Tell your coworkers: “She has 9.2 million followers, but he has 14.8 million. Maybe that’s why he went from wanting to ban the app to reportedly considering an executive order to save it.”
- Speaking of Trump changing his mind, let your friends know the lowdown: “Trump’s public change of heart on TikTok came after his meeting with Republican megadonor, Jeff Yass, who owns a chunk of its parent company, ByteDance — though Trump says they didn’t talk about the company. Yass is a big supporter of Club for Growth, which hired Kellyanne Conway.”
- Show off some timely knowledge of Supreme Court procedure: “The ban is supposed to go into effect on Sunday, and the Court seemed reluctant to overturn it. It seems like they are going to issue a ruling today, even though they weren’t expected to. We’ll get at least one opinion from them at 10 a.m., though they won’t take the bench, which is odd for an argued case. Last time they did that was when Colorado tried to take Trump off the ballot.”
- Drop some hints that you’re up-to-speed on how this plays into the upcoming inauguration: “Sure seems relevant that TikTok CEO Shou Chew got an invitation to a position of honor at Trump’s inauguration. He’ll be on the dais with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.”
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Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at the Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Sept. 13, 2024. | Stephen Voss for POLITICO |
Pete Buttigieg Opens Up On His Way Out … Outgoing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been one of the most vocal defenders of the Biden administration, and with Trump 2.0 nearly here, he has plenty more to say. Buttigieg spoke with POLITICO’s Adam Wren about attacks on truth, Musk’s role in Trump world and his own future political aspirations — whether it’s a gubernatorial run in Michigan or another bid for the White House.
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Homes are illuminated after the sunset in Tasiilaq, Greenland, Aug. 16, 2019. | Felipe Dana/AP |
The Spiritual Case for Greenland … Despite how zany Trump’s push to expand U.S. control of Greenland might sound, advocates make pretty conventional, practical arguments in its favor: It’s in our geopolitical interest, they say, for its proximity to shipping routes, wealth of important minerals and defensive position in the Arctic region. But others on the so-called New Right make a much different claim: that taking Greenland is important for America’s soul. Ian Ward unpacks the arguments — from the Wild West-y to the Martian — fueling the less conventional arguments for Trump’s takeover of Greenland.
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Anita Bryant is seen at a press conference in Miami Beach, Florida, on June 8, 1977. | Bill Hudson/AP |
Anita Bryant’s Thriving Legacy … Anita Bryant, who famously led a successful campaign against gay rights in the 1970s, died last month at 84 — but her legacy endures in the modern GOP, writes Associate Editor Dylon Jones. “From the proliferation of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws and bans on gender-affirming care for minors in red states to President-elect Donald Trump’s apocalyptic rhetoric about ‘child sexual mutilation,’ Bryant’s method of curbing LGBTQ+ rights by appealing to parental fears has once again become a powerful political weapon for conservatives.”
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From the drafting table of editorial cartoonist Matt Wuerker.
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Who Dissed? answer: It was historian and conservative commentator Victor Davis Hanson, in our roundup of historians assessing Biden’s presidency. politicoweekend@email.politico.com |
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