View this post on the web at [link removed]

Beyond membership in the world’s most exclusive club, Donald Trump and Joe Biden don’t have a lot in common. The men are different not only ideologically, but also experientially and temperamentally. However, they do share one important trait that has marked their administrations: They both in their own ways are agents of chaos. What’s more, chaos played a key role in sinking Trump’s 2020 reelection efforts and may well do the same for Biden’s later this year.
Chaos characterized so much of Trump’s four years in the White House that it’s hard to even briefly list the highlights, but here are a few of the most striking: There were, for instance, the logistics issues, such as the frequent classified leaks [ [link removed] ] and the ever-revolving door of top officials moving in and out of the administration. There were also the calamitous things that happened on Trump’s watch, from the mess caused by hia so-called Muslim ban to the widely destructive George Floyd protests to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
But it was Trump’s chaotic response to COVID that probably sealed his fate during the 2020 election campaign. While the president’s vaccine plan has subsequently been acknowledged (even by Biden [ [link removed] ]) as an important step in getting the country back on track, Trump’s messaging during the first year of the pandemic was shambolic and, at times, downright weird [ [link removed] ].
Biden correctly understood that people were sick of the chaos, and “returning to normal [ [link removed] ]” became his most effective calling card during the 2020 campaign. And, at least in one respect, he delivered; the current president has certainly run a tighter ship, without the leaks and constant departures that characterized the Trump White House.
But Biden has nonetheless been a chaos agent too—just one of a different sort. Domestically, the president’s policies on migrants—particularly his decision to end the “remain in Mexico” [ [link removed] ] requirement for asylum seekers—has led to the de facto loss of control of the southern border, as millions of undocumented migrants have entered and stayed in the U.S. Meanwhile, many cities around the country are increasingly being overwhelmed [ [link removed] ] by these same migrants, who arrive in need of food and shelter. And all this comes alongside spikes in homicides [ [link removed] ] and other crimes that have occurred over the past three years.
Overseas, things have been even worse. The trouble started with the administration’s disastrous withdrawal [ [link removed] ] of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, an episode that sunk Biden’s relatively good approval ratings [ [link removed] ] to the low 40s, where they’ve remained (give or take a few points) ever since. In the run-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, his public comments [ [link removed] ] on the situation telegraphed American weakness and almost certainly reassured Vladimir Putin that he would not pay a high price for crossing the Ukrainian border in force.
And Biden’s dithering on providing sophisticated arms to the Ukrainians early in the conflict (along with recent GOP intransigence over continuing to provide military aid to Ukraine) has given the Russians new hope that they might prevail [ [link removed] ]. Finally, he has allowed Iran and its proxies to sow violence and chaos throughout the Middle East simply because he’s unwilling to make the Islamic Republic pay a high enough price to deter its actions [ [link removed] ].
For Biden, the chaos at home and abroad is likely to be a serious drag politically — more than it will be for Trump, who after all is no longer president. For one thing, there is a sense among voters that the administration is no longer in control of events. In a recent NBC News poll [ [link removed] ], Biden is losing to Trump on what might be called control-related issues. For instance, the president trails his predecessor by 35% on who is better able to secure the border and control immigration, by 21% on who is better at dealing with crime and by 11% on who can improve America’s standing in the world. These numbers are compounded by the fact that once voters get the impression that someone is a weak leader, it’s often hard to reverse. Ask Jimmy Carter. The loss-of-control narrative dovetails with another narrative that’s also hurting Biden: that his age and physical and cognitive decline mean that he can no longer effectively do the job.
Setting aside policy and politics, the fact that the last two administrations have been so chaotic speaks to how much more performative the presidency has become in recent years. Since we don’t have a monarch, presidents have always been more than mere chief executives. But the Trump and Biden administrations have taken to new heights the prioritization of superficial gestures and pandering over the sound execution of sound policies.
Trump, of course, ran against elites, and so whenever he appointed people with any demonstrated competence and experience, he soon unceremoniously dumped them or humiliated them until they left in anger and frustration. It’s clear that providing bread and circuses to his supporters trumped doing his job.
Meanwhile, Biden has pandered to the far-left wing of the Democratic coalition, which helps explain his border and Middle East policies. To put it another way, he’d rather fail to advance vital American interests than be called a xenophobe or an Islamophobe.
Politics is like evolution: constantly mutating in response to changes in the environment. So while the prospect of another Trump-Biden contest may prompt us to think we’ve reached some painful status quo, change is coming. Someone, in either or both parties, will eventually find a way to effectively run against the chaos and imbecility of the last two administrations.
In the meantime, as my colleague Jen Tiedemann pointed out in last week’s Editor’s Corner [ [link removed] ], we have only ourselves to blame for the coming Trump-Biden rematch. After all, despite what we might think, these candidates reflect the existing zeitgeists. We asked for chaos and we got it.
Meanwhile…
What I’m Watching: Since his death in 1965, Winston Churchill has been portrayed by a stable of fine actors, from Richard Burton and Robert Hardy to John Lithgow and Brian Cox. Probably the most famous Churchill portrayal is Gary Oldman’s Oscar-winning turn in 2017’s “Darkest Hour [ [link removed] ].” I think Oldman is one of the finest actors of his generation and that, despite some flaws, “Darkest Hour” is ultimately a good film. But for my money, no one has given us a better Churchill than Albert Finney in 2002’s “The Gathering Storm.”
Unlike “Darkest Hour,” which is set during the Blitz, “The Gathering Storm,” as its title suggests, takes place in the mid-1930s, the years just before the start of the Second World War. These were Churchill’s “wilderness years [ [link removed] ],” when as a political outcast, he worked tirelessly and largely alone to warn his colleagues in the British Parliament about the growing danger of Nazi Germany. Finney imbues his Churchill with all the brilliance, ego, tenderness and frustrating arrogance of the real man. Every breath the actor takes, every look and every twitch of his mouth is put into the service of successfully bringing this greatest of statesmen to life. It’s one of the best performances of his long and storied career. (Finney’s first film role was as Laurence Olivier’s son in the wonderful 1960 film “The Entertainer [ [link removed] ].”)
Finney is joined by an outstanding group of British actors, including Vanessa Redgrave (as Churchill’s wife, Clementine), Derek Jacoby (as British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin) and Jim Broadbent (as Desmond Morton, Churchill’s ally inside the government). Tom Wilkinson, Lena Headey, Hugh Bonneville, Celia Imrie and Linus Roache round out a dream cast.
The film devotes much time to Churchill’s personal life, especially his relationship with his wife, as well as his many personal quirks. But at its core is the story of how he came to save Britain. As one of Churchill’s most recent and best biographers, Andrew Roberts, points out in his magisterial book on the great statesman, “Walking With Destiny [ [link removed] ],” Sir Winston understood better than any political figure of his day that Adolf Hitler was more than just a garden-variety dictator; he was an existential threat to all of Europe and European civilization. The film spends ample time chronicling Churchill’s drumbeat against appeasing the Germans and in favor of British rearmament. His efforts ultimately transformed him from a political gadfly into an acknowledged prophet and, finally, the leader of a nation.
“The Gathering Storm” (which is currently available in its entirety [ [link removed] ] on YouTube) is particularly worth watching now, as storm clouds gather from Eurasia to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific. The message of the film is clear: As the Romans used to say, if you want peace, prepare for war.
And While I’m At It: If you want to see something of Churchill’s early life, you might enjoy “Young Winston [ [link removed] ],” director Richard Attenborough’s 1972 epic about the great stateman’s childhood and early adventures as a soldier, journalist and politician. Like “The Gathering Storm,” “Young Winston” sports a wonderful cast, including Simon Ward as Churchill, Anne Bancroft as his American mother and the always exceptional Robert Shaw as Sir Winston’s father, the imperious Lord Randolph. Anthony Hopkins, Ian Holm, John Mills and Jack Hawkins also star.
Like many biographical films that cover a lot of years, “Young Winston” is occasionally too episodic. The movie hits its stride, however, when Churchill sets out to make a name for himself as a soldier and writer. The scenes in which he attempts to escape from a South African prison camp during the Boer War are particularly riveting.
Finally: This week, we’ll be publishing some terrific essays, including Joe Romance on presidential power (which will be out tomorrow, in honor of Presidents Day) and Martin Gurri on a new book by another of our contributors, Andrey Mir. I hope you enjoy these and the other pieces we’ll be running. Meanwhile, wishing everyone a great week.
Latest Stories
Axel Kaiser, “The Last Latin American Revolution [ [link removed] ]”
Robert Tracinski, “The Manufactured ‘Decline’ of Manufacturing [ [link removed] ]”
Karlyn Bowman, “Turning Mr. Right Into Mr. President [ [link removed] ]”
Jennifer Tiedemann, “We Get the Candidates We Deserve [ [link removed] ]”
Andrey Mir, “The Dark Side of the Screen [ [link removed] ]”
Kenneth Rapoza, “How To Stop Fentanyl for Real [ [link removed] ]”
Ben Klutsey, “Self-Making: Finding Meaning Within Our Desires [ [link removed] ]”
From the Archives
Gary Hoover, “Is Now a Good Time To Start a Business? [ [link removed] ]”
Erec Smith, “What To Do When You’re the Wrong Kind of Black Person [ [link removed] ]”
David Masci, “A Biden-Trump Rematch Is No Reason To Panic [ [link removed] ]”

Unsubscribe [link removed]?