Biden Hits the Panic Button As White House Civil War Intensifies

No doubt who is behind all of this administration’s destruction (not just Harris). Obama is pulling the puppet strings.

I hope they destroy each other.

Thank you my friend MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. for posting the perspective from powerlineblog.com

Biden Addresses Progressive Opposition To Nominating Jerome Powell To Second Term As Fed Chair
President Joe Biden on Monday nominated Jerome Powell to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, ending weeks of speculation over whether the president would replace the Republican who led the central bank's response to the pandemic with Fed Governor Lael Brainard, a Democrat whose bold stance on climate change made her a favorite among progressives for the coveted leadership role.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WD3iEd6oPI


"All last week the scuttlebutt in the media and in Washington was that President Biden was leaning toward appointing progressive favorite Lael Brainard to replace the “dangerous” (in Lizzie Warren’s words) Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve, because Brainard pledged to make the Fed a full partner in pushing the climate and “anti-racist” agenda by pressuring financial institutions not to make loans to any fossil fuel companies. Never mind that the legal authority for this kind of thumb-on-the-scale of capital allocation cannot be found in any statute governing the Fed, but who needs statutory authority when you have the Administrative State?

But then yesterday Biden surprised everyone by re-appointing Powell, while elevating Brainard to vice chair as a consolation prize for the progs. I suspect part of this decision is the rising fear about what inflation is doing to the Democratic Party, as Powell is much more likely than Brainard to rein in easy money. Likely, but not certain. Remember that Trump picked Powell over the much superior John Taylor in 2017 because Trump, as a real estate guy, likes easy money and low interest rates, and sure enough when Powell took some mild steps toward normalizing the interest-rate cycle in 2018 Trump attacked him, and Powell let up. Still, Powell is a far better choice than Brainard, though I’d prefer disinterring Paul Volcker at this point, before things get completely out of hand.

Then this morning Biden announced that he’s releasing 50 million barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is meant for use only in national emergencies, though if you’re a Democrat, soaring pump prices and the party’s slumping approval ratings are a a national emergency. I note that oil stocks jumped sharply higher on the news this morning, as this move portends that whatever short-term relief this move may provide (likely not much at all), the trajectory of oil prices over the medium term is likely higher. It is clearly panic time at the White House. If Biden really wanted to do something, he’d reverse his decisions to cancel the Keystone pipeline and block domestic oil production. Less than a year ago, the U.S. was a net exporter of oil and petroleum products, but now we’re dipping into the emergency SPR? Way to go, Brandon!

Even Jimmy Carter finally figured out late in his only term that what he needed to do was decontrol oil and natural gas prices and install a sensible chair at the Federal Reserve. Biden is about a third of the way along the Carter Curve.

Of equal interest is the likelihood that there is a full-scale civil war going on inside the White House between Team Biden and Team Harris. A few days ago we noted the harsh CNN story on Kamala Harris’s dysfunctional and embarrassing performance in office, a story that contained lots of anonymous quotes from people inside the White House. This story has all the invisible ink of a planted story, likely by Biden chief of staff Ron Klain himself, but certainly with his approval and encouragement. Why would Biden’s political guard do this? My theory is that it is a clear warning shot for Harris and her team to get their act together. I suspect—and there are lots of rumors swirling—that Harris’s staff is amateurish, whiney, and demanding (like their boss), and that there is intense friction between the Biden staff and the Harris staff. Keep in mind that Harris has always had a terrible reputation as a boss, and has always had very high staff turnover. (The CNN story reported that her head “comms person” is leaving shortly, though I suspect she is already gone from the building. There’s a strange consistency to liberals when they are in trouble: they always say they have a “communications problem,” with nary a moment’s reflection that perhaps what they are communicating is the problem.) Friction between the vice president’s staff and the president’s staff is not unusual—it happened back in the Bush-Quayle administration, and even in Nixon-Agnew—but Harris likely sets a new low.

But then there is the curious story in the New York Times two days ago:
How Hunter Biden’s Firm Helped Secure Cobalt for the Chinese
The president’s son was part owner of a venture involved in the $3.8 billion purchase by a Chinese conglomerate of one of the world’s largest cobalt deposits. The metal is a key ingredient in batteries for electric vehicles.

FYI SFC William Farrell SPC Chris Bayner-Cwik CWO3 Dave Alcantara CPT (Join to see) LTC (Join to see) CPT Jack Durish ltc-joe-anderson-taz-or-joe-retired-now-in-contract-compliance TSgt Joe C. SSG(P) (Join to see) MSG Greg Kelly MSG Joseph ChristofaroSgt (Join to see) SPC Jeff Daley, PhDSPC Woody Bullard SGM Bill Frazer SGM Major Stroupe CWO4 Terrence Clark SGT John PodlaskiPo1 Robert Payne