Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter, at first blink, appears to be a supreme act of love from a doting father. But it does raise some questions about the President’s priorities and leadership style. After all, he did promise not to extend clemency to his son and then he broke that promise. It also raises questions about his post-election Presidency.

Indeed, Biden not only seems to have compassion for Hunter but also for Ukraine. At every turn, he has tried to force Donald Trump’s hand by trying to lock him into a policy of escalation. Indeed, two weeks after the election Biden recklessly gave Volodymyr Zelenskii the green light to send missiles into Russia. Something he refused to do previously. Russia struck back unveiling a missile that cannot be stopped and which has the capability of carrying a nuclear warhead. Biden is not toying with a simple act of ratcheting the situation up, his actions risk World War III.

Time enough Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but the Biden administration goaded by Boris Johnson took a hardline but not too hard against Russia. After a fun of luck for Ukraine, things began to go sour, with Zelenskii authorizing offensive after offensive that deleted Ukraine’s manpower and equipment. Since 2023 dreams of victory have dissipated and Russia has been making steady gains. Biden was unfairly blamed for “losing Afghanistan” after Trump authorized a gradual withdrawal. Afterward, like John Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs, Biden decided to be tough on Ukraine. He repeated the performance after October 7, 2023, and confused toughness with intractability.

Since then, Biden, beginning in 2023 with an unexpected victory in the Midterms saw popularity collapse. His rhetoric was as over the top as his policies were unsustainable. Like Lyndon Johnson, he proclaimed that the US was omnipotent. He seemed to live in a Norman Rockwell world of his early youth. America in 1945 controlled 40% of the World’s Gross National Product. Biden did not seem to notice that it had shrunk to 15% in 2024. As well, the world was no longer Euro-Centric with the global South now setting a new agenda. American Exceptionalism is a dated view that escaped Biden’s notice.

Perhaps Trump shares his view, both being close to the same age. However, Biden seems to be convinced that he needs to tie his successor’s hands, especially in foreign policy. And, he has his allies including the worst set of advisors beginning with NSC Chief Jake Sullivan and feckless Anthony Blinken. Biden’s belligerent approach to passive aggressiveness is reflected in all his actions. He dropped out of the election and never proved of much help to Kamala Harris.

But his relationship to Hunter, who also sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, symbolizes his worldview. Despite having in been in the Senate from 1973-2009 and Vice-President for eight years Biden is provincial in his ideas and detached in his approach. Emotional, bombastic, and vain, Biden will leave office uncompromisingly clueless about the world in which he lived.