{"id":21268,"date":"2025-01-16T09:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T14:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=21268"},"modified":"2025-01-16T09:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T14:06:14","slug":"bidens-better-angels-bullshit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden’s “Better Angels” Bullshit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biden\u2019s \u201cBetter Angels\u201d Bullshit<\/a><\/h1>\n

James Bovard, Counterpunch January 16 2025<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Facebook<\/span><\/a> Twitter<\/span><\/a> Reddit<\/span><\/a> Bluesky<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
Email<\/span><\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/p>\n

Image: James Bovard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Joe Biden\u2019s presidency ends on January 20, 2025. There will likely be a media stampede to hallow his reign and trumpet his virtues. But Biden perpetually trampled his January 20, 2021, oath to \u201cpreserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his 2022 State of the Union address, Biden declared, \u201cWhen dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they keep moving.\u201d And he kept moving until his own political party dumped him. Later in 2022, President Biden proclaimed that \u201cliberty is under assault.\u201d But he was referring solely to a few court rulings of which he disapproved, not to the federal supremacy he championed for almost 50 years in the Senate and the White House.<\/p>\n

The absurdity of the Biden reign was epitomized in July when he was browbeaten into ending his reelection campaign. In Biden\u2019s 11-minute speech announcing that decision, everything was sacred \u2014 including the Oval Office (\u201cthis sacred space\u201d), \u201cthe sacred cause of this country,\u201d \u201cthe \u201csacred task of perfecting our Union,\u201d and the \u201csacred idea\u201d of America. Biden announced that \u201cI revere this office\u201d \u2014 a hint that viewers should revere him, too. Biden has worshiped political power his entire life \u2014 and so it was no surprise that religiosity suffused his valedictory address.<\/p>\n

Biden asked: \u201cDoes character in public life still matter?\u201d That signaled that most of the coverups of his abuses and potential kickbacks will continue at least until January. No wonder Hunter Biden had a big smile as he sat just outside of the video sweep in the Oval Office. But\u00a0 Biden never permitted his Attorney General, Merrick Garland, to release the audiotape of Biden\u2019s bumbling interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur \u2014 perhaps the single biggest step toward Biden\u2019s expulsion from American political life.<\/p>\n

Biden told viewers of that July spiel: \u201cNothing can come in the way of saving our democracy.\u201d So Democratic Party bosses had no choice but to nullify 15 million primary ballots cast for Biden and jam a replacement candidate down the nation\u2019s throat. For years, the Democratic Party has equated vanquishing or destroying Trump with saving democracy, justifying any tactic \u2014 fair or foul \u2014 to thwart Trump.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Biden\u2019s biggest innovation was his doctrine that preserving democracy requires destroying freedom of speech. His appointees launched the Disinformation Governance Board to police Americans\u2019 criticisms of government and plenty of other topics. The Orwellian name helped torpedo that board, but that was not even the tip of the iceberg of federal abuses. A federal appeals court slammed the Biden administration for conducting an unconstitutional censorship \u201cpressure campaign designed to coerce social-media companies into suppressing speakers, viewpoints, and content disfavored by the government.\u201d That same court found that censors especially targeted speech by conservatives and Republicans.<\/p>\n

For at least 15 years, Biden has relied on a two-step routine \u2014 ruthlessly vilifying his opponents and then appealing to \u201cour better angels,\u201d a phrase recycled from Lincoln\u2019s first inaugural address. Biden lulled listeners into assuming he is personally one of those \u201cbetter angels\u201d as he flailed anyone in the way of his latest power grab. From portraying any Republican who wanted to cut domestic spending as a \u201cterrorist\u201d in 2011, to claiming that Mitt Romney wanted to put black people back \u201cin chains\u201d in the 2012 presidential campaign, to endlessly misrepresenting the 2017 violence at a Charlottesville protest, Biden out-Nixoned Nixon. The media has sainted Biden on civil rights despite his championing crime legislation in the Senate that vastly increased the number of black and Hispanic citizens sent to prison. In a 2019 piece headlined \u201cJoe Biden and the Era of Mass Incarceration,\u201d the New York Times<\/em> hyped Biden\u2019s favorite fix: \u201cLock the S.O.B.s up!\u201d<\/p>\n

In his final full month before being demoted to lame-duck status, Biden made one last lunge to portray himself as a savior of the Constitution. After a Supreme Court decision blocked rigged political prosecutions of former President Trump, an outraged Biden condemned the decision.\u00a0 Seemingly speaking down from Mount Olympus, Biden declared that presidents \u201cface moments where you need the wisdom to respect the limits of the power of the office of the presidency.\u201d But then he claimed, \u201cI know I will respect the limits of the presidential power, as I have for 3\u00bd years.\u201d That line obliterated all the president\u2019s lofty pretenses.<\/p>\n

While Biden piously invoked the \u201crule of law\u201d in that brief statement, he consistently behaved as if his good intentions entitled him to dictatorial power. Biden speedily followed up by proposing a \u201cNo One Is Above the Law\u201d constitutional amendment. But Biden would have been more honest if he labeled his pitch the \u201cNo One Is Above the Law Except Me\u201d amendment.<\/p>\n

In the same week that Biden trumpeted his proposed amendment, he announced new schemes to avoid complying with the Supreme Court ruling forbidding him from illegally and unilaterally forgiving hundreds of billions of dollars of federal student debt owed by 30 million people. Biden then openly bragged that the decision striking down his program \u201cdidn\u2019t stop me\u201d from canceling student-loan debt with one new scheme after another. No wonder almost half of student-loan debtors are not bothering to pay what they owe Uncle Sam.<\/p>\n

Biden weaponized federal law at the same time he exempted himself and his appointees from the statute book. FBI agents conducted a heavily televised raid in August 2022 on Donald Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, seizing 33 boxes of evidence and documents. Five months later, the Justice Department announced that Biden may have also wrongfully stored or possessed numerous classified documents in his home and offices. Trump was swiftly indicted for his alleged offenses, while Biden was effectively absolved because jurors would likely see him as an elderly man with a bad memory. Although Biden was unfit to prosecute, he remained fit to possess almost boundless power over America and much of the world \u2014 at least until Democratic Party poohbahs and billionaire donors carried out a de facto coup ending his reelection campaign.<\/p>\n

Biden is seeking to portray himself as the patron saint of the Rule of Law. The president spoke in June 2024 as if he worshipped legal procedures, but his devotion is selective.<\/p>\n

Biden has stretched executive power far beyond reason. The FBI has illegally wiretapped more than 3 million Americans in recent years, but the Biden administration recently torpedoed congressional efforts to curb that surveillance crime spree. The FBI has 80 agents on a task force to curb \u201csubversive data utilized to drive a wedge between the populace and the government.\u201d Multiple FBI offices across the nation may have secretly infiltrated church services to \u201cidentify the bad Catholics\u201d (those who prefer traditional church services), according to FBI memos and whistleblowers. An FBI analysis justifying targeting Catholics portrayed rosaries as extremist symbols that helped justify federal targeting. The FBI classified all 1,000 people arrested on charges linked to January 6 as domestic terrorists \u2014 including peaceful grandmothers. No wonder that people joke that FBI now stands for \u201cFollowing Biden\u2019s Instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a spiel last summer before Democratic Party leaders labeled him mentally unfit, Biden invoked \u201cthe character of George Washington,\u201d which he said \u201cdefined the presidency\u201d with his belief that \u201cpower was limited, not absolute.\u201d Biden claimed that \u201ccharacter\u201d was the only restraint on White House power \u2014 suggesting that Americans were luckier than ever to have him in the Oval Office. Biden pirouetting as a constitutional vestal virgin is on par with Henry Kissinger winning the Nobel Peace Prize after ravaging Southeast Asia \u2014 an award that spurred Tom Lehrer to proclaim that satire was dead.<\/p>\n

Biden did not permit his victory laps to interfere with his ongoing coverups designed to assure that Americans remained ignorant of Biden administration scandals till after Election Day.\u00a0 Americans did not learn the hard facts (despite a congressional investigation) about allegations on Tim Walz\u2019s connections to the Chinese Communist Party, or the full details on the Secret Service\u2019s failure to protect Trump, or the White House string-pulling for the federal censors muzzling countless Americans to safeguard the Biden administration\u2019s reputation. And the Biden White House continued deluging Americans with phony claims of progress in Ukraine\u2019s war against Russia while refusing to disclose almost any details on exactly how the U.S. was intervening and risking World War Three.<\/p>\n

Rather than pound the White House for belated disclosures that could change the outcome of the election, much of the media simply continued reciting \u201cOrange Man Bad.\u201d If the Wizard of Oz was a contemporary political campaign story, the media would overwhelmingly side with the guy behind the curtain. Nowadays, withholding evidence is the only proof of innocence required in Washington.<\/p>\n

At a 2023 Juneteenth celebration, Biden proclaimed that he would need a second term to \u201cliterally redeem the soul of America.\u201d Biden missed that train. He also missed the chance to satisfy his gender-fluid supporters by publicly coming out and personally identifying as \u201cnondictator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biden helped turn Washington into an Impunity Democracy in which government officials pay no price for their crimes. Thanks in part to Biden\u2019s efforts stretching back to the Nixon era, Americans today are more likely to believe in witches, ghosts, and astrology than to trust the federal government. But Biden\u2019s apologists will seek to redeem his name in the history books by defining down dictator. Instead of designating a ruler who tramples the law and Constitution, \u201cdictatorship\u201d will only refer to presidents who publicly proclaim their plans to do bad things to good people.<\/p>\n

An earlier version of this piece was published by the Future of Freedom Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

James Bovard<\/em><\/strong> is the author of <\/em>Attention Deficit Democracy<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>The Bush Betrayal<\/em><\/a>, and <\/em>Terrorism and Tyranny<\/em><\/a>. His latest book is Last Rights: the Death of American Liberty<\/a>. Bovard is on the USA Today Board of Contributors. He is on Twitter at @jimbovard. His website is at <\/em>www.jimbovard.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biden\u2019s \u201cBetter Angels\u201d Bullshit James Bovard, Counterpunch January 16 2025 Facebook Twitter Reddit Bluesky Email Image: James Bovard. Joe Biden\u2019s presidency ends on January 20, 2025. There will likely be a media stampede to hallow his reign and trumpet his virtues. But Biden perpetually trampled his January 20, 2021, oath to \u201cpreserve, protect and defend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBiden's "Better Angels" Bullshit - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Biden has long used a two-step - first, vilifying his opponents and then appealing to our "better angels."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biden's "Better Angels" Bullshit - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Biden has long used a two-step - first, vilifying his opponents and then appealing to our "better angels."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T14:06:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"796\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Biden’s “Better Angels” Bullshit\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-16T14:06:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1658,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/\",\"name\":\"Biden's \\\"Better Angels\\\" Bullshit - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-16T14:06:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"description\":\"Biden has long used a two-step - first, vilifying his opponents and then appealing to our \\\"better angels.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":796},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/16\\\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Biden’s “Better Angels” Bullshit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Biden's \"Better Angels\" Bullshit - James Bovard","description":"Biden has long used a two-step - first, vilifying his opponents and then appealing to our \"better angels.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Biden's \"Better Angels\" Bullshit - James Bovard","og_description":"Biden has long used a two-step - first, vilifying his opponents and then appealing to our \"better angels.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2025-01-16T14:06:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":796,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"Biden’s “Better Angels” Bullshit","datePublished":"2025-01-16T14:06:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/"},"wordCount":1658,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/","name":"Biden's \"Better Angels\" Bullshit - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-16T14:06:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"description":"Biden has long used a two-step - first, vilifying his opponents and then appealing to our \"better angels.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Biden-with-Angels-Take-2.jpg","width":1200,"height":796},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/bidens-better-angels-bullshit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Biden’s “Better Angels” Bullshit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21269,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21268\/revisions\/21269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}