I can almost hear Rod’s voice: “You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of cover-ups and lies, but of fake Presidencies. A journey into a wondrous land of manipulation and abuse of power. Next stop, the Edith Wilson Zone!“
Let’s begin with this: Did you know that President <cough> Biden hasn’t had a Cabinet meeting in almost a year? I didn’t. Isn’t this newsworthy? Nothing has happened in the last 11 months that warranted the President gathering his top deputies? Seriously? When was the last time an administration went this long without a Cabinet meeting? (I can find no record of that, but a competent journalism establishment would have told us.) We have a fake Presidency being covered up, still, by the party running the Executive Branch and its corrupt, complicit allies in the news media, while its conspirators claim to be saving democracy. The highest ranking officer responsible for the cover-up is running for President, and her role in this defiance of basic constitutional norms and the public trust has barely been mentioned.
Good question, Dana. Glad you’re engaged enough to ask: most Americans apparently don’t know and don’t care.
Then comes the news that the President, finally gathering his Cabinet together, spoke briefly and handed it over to—-his wife. She was neither elected to office, appointed nor confirmed by Congress. She is sitting at the head of the meeting, not behaving as a guest, as I’m sure other First Ladies have when a topic on the agenda was a project they were involved in and they were invited to make a presentation, though I can’t find a lot of evidence of that. William Howard Taft’s wife accompanied him at every Cabinet Meeting, but never spoke or took an active role. Bill was a nice guy. (Mrs. Taft did not tag along later when he led the Supreme Court.)
The Prop President began the meeting, saying,
“Before I begin this Cabinet meeting, I want to discuss very briefly the need for Congress to pass a continued resolution. It’s critical, we have 10 days for Congress to pass a short term funding bill. “This Cabinet meeting comes at a time when we have four months left in the administration, and we’re going to keep running through the tape because the vice president and I are determined to keep making sure that the democracy delivers what the American people are asking for. We’re grateful that Jill is here today — I heard that clapping, it wasn’t for me…Across previous administrations, first ladies have attended these meetings for specific reasons. This is the first time Jill has joined us, and it goes to show how important the issue is, which she is about to speak to. It’s all yours, kid.”
I suspect it’s been “all hers” for quite a while.
Then Jill, like Edith Wilson guiding her stoke-crippled husband’s hand to sign legislation, pretended to be President, talking about women’s health-related initiatives, supported by folders for each Cabinet member with covers were stamped with Jill’s signature alongside her husband’s…
Res ipsa loquitur.
Ethics Alarms 
The infuriating thing is that the shadowy cabal running the government isn’t even trying to hide what they are doing any more. We haven’t actually had a president for who knows how long. The only question now is when they feel they have power enough that they can drop the mask entirely. I swing between hopefulness and cynicism regarding this upcoming election. If they hold enough keys, then the fix is certainly in. The hope is that they still don’t have that power, and there’s still a chance to root them out.
They aren’t hiding it anymore because they are 100% certain they will never be out of power again. And that should terrify everyone.
Agreed. They know the media will cover for them and their base doesn’t care anyway.
And WordPress continues its campaign of sending all my comments to spam first…
At some point, like maybe now, this becomes impeachable conduct…
Letting an unelected relative be President? Absolutely impeachable, and far worse than the contrived charges Trump was impeached over.
In fairness, I recall many photo ops of Cabinet meetings that have the sitting President sitting in the middle of the table. That (ahem) Dr. Jill is at one end means nothing. Consider, for example, that Anthony Blinken, the grossly incompetent Secretary of State, is sitting at Joe’s right. From the standpoint of form, there is nothing wrong with any of this.
That, of course, is from the standpoint of FORM. Clearly there is a shitshow happening here. I’ve seen other angles of this that show the whole thing was a photo op – and that Joe was basically retreating into the haze that comes with both boredom and senility.
So I’m not going to go with you, Jack, on the idea that Jill was running the meeting. This whole thing was staged to demonstrate that the Bidens are Large and In Charge.
But that doesn’t change the fundamental question in the post. Though I might disagree with your read on what’s functionally going on here, your question is entirely valid: Who the hell is actually running the executive branch?
At this point, I’d actually find it somewhat comforting if it could be established that it’s Jill Biden. But I strongly doubt that, which means that we’ve got a politburo. And the politburo won’t change if/when Kamala gets elected.
Jill being in charge would be GOOD? It isn’t the worst thing, I am speechless. I am not old enough to just shrug, but what the fuck do I do?
You miss my point. At least we have something of an idea of who she is. We have NO idea of who is actually calling the shots.
Very valid point, AIM. I recall now that POTUS is sometimes in the middle of the table. I also believe that government employees are forbidden to court the “appearance of impropriety,” and that means that a responsible President makes it clear that someone as unqualified by experience and status as a First Lady doesn’t “appear” for one second to be leading a cabinet meeting, which she will from the head of the table, or from that middle seat you properly drew my attention to. The prominent seating position plus the inappropriat signature on the folder raise doubt. The US public should never be in doubt about who is running the government.
“Arthue” in Maine ? Is WordPress AI now just messing with us from its hidden sentience?
My fault! I always have to correct AIM’s name in his posts, and this time I was careless!
The fact that Jill Biden’s name appears below the Seal of the President says a lot to suggest that she was running the meeting as President of the United States.
I find Dr. Jill abhorrent to an absolutely Shakespearean or operatic degree. She’s the picture when you look up “elder abuse.” She’s been the brains of the entire Biden operation for years. She’s pushed Joe around like an infant in a stroller at least since the beginning of the 2020 “campaign.” She’s an absolute villain. She makes Hillary Clinton look like a piker.
Let’s Go Mrs. Brandon