The Curious Case of the Biden Regency

Biden is clearly a cut-out for close advisers and relatives who steer the executive branch in his name – a highly unusual state of affairs, perhaps unheard-of in the history of modern democracy.

Biden answering questions at the NATO press conference Thursday evening. Politico runs the image with a sneering headline that “Biden’s ‘big boy’ press conference may not quiet the doubters” – suggesting that Biden is the equivalent of a child. Everywhere the Biden Regency is quietly acknowledged but rarely openly discussed.

The executive branch of the United States of America, for almost four years now, has been in the nominal hands of President Joseph R. Biden – a man who was suffering from serious senility even before he took office, and whose mental capacity has declined even further in the time since. There are abundant indications that much or all of Biden’s presidency has been an unacknowledged regency, with a small circle of close advisers and relatives effectively directing the actions of the presidential office. While all elected politicians are to varying degrees the vehicles for other political interests, they nevertheless exercise formal power directly and personally. Biden, however, does not have the capacity to govern on his own; instead, an unelected and partially anonymous Biden Regency has been ruling in his stead. This is a highly unusual state of affairs, and one deserving of far more commentary.

Since 27 June, evidence for the Biden Regency is everywhere, if you know how to look. Numerous reports shed light on the regency’s extent, its tactics and internal functioning and even its relationship to the broader executive: