Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Biden’s removal could have been out of “Death of Stalin,” more closely, however, to Khrushchev’s retirement. Dear comrade, Premier Nikita Sergeyevich, first Secretary of the Communist Party, was on vacation when called back to Moscow for important government business. When he returned there was a Kremlin reception of the comrades awaiting him. At this pleasant little gathering, he was presented with a paper to sign– his resignation. The old Butcher of the Ukraine could peacefully retire to his dacha or be retired with a Dum-Dum. It was a simple matter. He mused that he was old, and wanting to grow older, Nikita Sergeyevich signed and lived happily ever after, or at least lived. His old comrades, his most loyal friends, his protégé Leonid Brezhnev, all had decided Nikita Sergeyevich’s usefulness to the Party had ended. Friendship and loyalty only go so far, and the Party is always right.

Then there is Joe Biden the choice of ordinary faithful Democrats to run for re-election, ready for another crack at the presidency. The family certainly wanted it. Jill Biden, in the midst of doing her best Edith Wilson impersonation, was foursquare behind Joe. Hunter Biden with the law sitting on his neck was headed for a prison experience without daddy’s protective embrace. Joe Biden, “sharp as a tack,” was backed by a party leadership praising his mental acuity, his consummate skill in foreign and domestic policy, his grasp of economics. Vice-President Harris was Joe’s biggest and best cheerleader. Reading and listening to the cant from the Party and lapdog press you would have though he was being nominated for the “first vacancy in the Trinity,”* the reincarnation of the “Archangel Woodrow” (a title bestowed on Pres. Wilson by Baltimore’s eminent newspaperman — H.L. Mencken). Joe was ready, willing, and able to crush the “Orange Man,” ready to smite Donald Trump as St. George had slain the dragon. 

But a funny thing happened on the way to the White House, a debate with the “Orange Man”, but it was not the “Orange Man who got squeezed, it was Joe. The Party leadership — Pelosi, Schumer, the whole camarilla of his most loyal supporters, and his most loyal subordinate, Vice President Kamala Harris engaged one of the most successful of coups. After years of papering over his crumbling mental state the debate had pulled the curtain back to reveal a Joe Biden so past his prime that his prime was ancient history. Conspiracy aficionados speculate that the debate was a set up by the party’s central committee to expose Joe’s condition giving them grounds for replacing him with their selection, his “protégé,” Kamala Harris. Like Khrushchev he was offered a choice of life or death, he could withdraw from running or be effectively removed from actual power by the 25th Amendment. If he withdrew his consolation prize was remaining president to the end of his term, then an honorable retirement to his Delaware dacha. In a lucid moment, he accepted the comrades’ proposition. 

Enter the “Great Black Hope” or is it Indian? Harris has been either or both, whatever the situation calls for. Selected in a decidedly undemocratic fashion by the party that champions democracy she will be the party standard bearer.  It matters not that when Harris ran for the Democratic nomination in 2019 she didn’t garner a single vote, and that the hoi-polloi have had no say in her elevation.  Can she win? If logic and facts mattered, she wouldn’t stand a chance. We live, however, at a time when logic is irrelevant, feeling is what counts. The new and improved Kamala has plenty of that.  Harris emotes all over the place, is friendly and chatty, which is very appealing to the women of daytime television.  Harris also lies with a straight face about her far-left positions as the media erases her record in the best Orwellian manner.  She is not to be underestimated, nor trusted.  The Republicans had better adjust fire, this new target is maneuverable with reinvigorated firepower. Of her it is as Caesar said of Cassius: “[he] has a lean and hungry look,… such men are dangerous.”

__

*H.L. Mencken, “Star Spangled Men” in The Vintage Mencken ed. Alistair Cooke, Vintage Books, 1955.

• About
• Latest Posts

William Layer

Lt. Colonel Civil Affairs, USAR (ret) served twenty-six years in the regular and reserve components of the US Army. He was civil military liaison for the 260th Military Police, DC National Guard, State Public Affairs Officer, Commander of the Public Affairs unit and a counter-drug intelligence analyst. Transferring to the 352 Civil Affairs Command as monuments and archives officer, he became the Command Public Affairs Officer in Iraq as well as liaison to local Iraqi leaders and acting Secretary to the General Staff. He was instrumental in recovering photographic artifacts of the Iraqi Royal family while in Baghdad. He was wounded in action in an ambush in Feb. 2004 for which he was awarded the Purple Heart.
In his civilian career he worked primarily in Army Public Affairs and for the Air Force as historian to the presidential wing in the early Reagan administration and later for Air Force Legislative Liaison covering congressional hearings and assisting in preparing testimony for senior leaders.
His essays and reviews have appeared in the scholarly and popular press including Asian Affairs and the Washington Times. He is co-author, with Ali Wahab, of The Iraqi Royal Family, a Collection of Photographs Recovered from The Ruins of the Zuhur Palace, 2004.
A native New Yorker, he holds a BA with honors in history from Findlay College (Ohio) and an MA in history from The Ohio State University. He is a graduate of the US Army Command & General Staff College and was graduated with distinction US Naval War College with a MA in National Security and Strategic Studies.

Latest posts by William Layer (see all)

• “War crime!” say Dems, history says NO! - December 11, 2025
• The Afghan killer — murder without motive in DC? Not likely - December 2, 2025
• “No Kings”? Are they playing with a full deck? - November 3, 2025

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.