There’s a serious issue with Democrats and the outcome could be nuclear, says PEGGY GRANDE

Leaders should inspire confidence, be role models to look up to, and selflessly serve the public - putting the needs of others above their own. Sadly, this is not the reality of today’s ruling class – especially in Washington. 

What we see is often in stark contrast to that.  Many leaders not only lack character, but even the baseline of competence is not achieved. America deserves – and should demand – better.

When it comes to competence – or lack thereof - a few key individuals come to mind.  Our President, Joe Biden, is deep in the throes of cognitive decline.  It was apparent when he took office, causing nearly three dozen House Democrats to request the president give up sole capacity to launch nuclear weapons, citing, "vesting one person with this authority entails real risks". 

This was his own party – rightly worried two years ago.

Biden’s acuity hasn’t – and won’t - improve as time goes on.  A public fall this week on stage at the Air Force Academy commencement was the point on that exclamation.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) represents nearly 40m people in the Golden State yet didn’t know she was gone from her job for three months recovering from shingles.  When asked, she said: "No – I haven’t been gone. I’ve been working." 

She also recently asked why Kamala Harris was presiding in the Senate, either forgetting that Harris is the Vice President, or not remembering that the VP is president of the Senate and is called upon when a tiebreaking vote is needed. 

If Feinstein doesn’t know what her job entails, or whether or not she’s even doing it, can she adequately represent her constituency?

But this isn’t just an age issue – look at Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) who is only 53 years old, and also is unable to adequately fulfill the requirements of his job.  Just one month into his six-year term, he spent six weeks away from the Senate, hospitalized with clinical depression. 

We are told this depression resulted from a stroke he had while he was campaigning for Senate, which also left him with an auditory processing condition.  The severity of this health condition, which had been known by the Democrats prior to his election, was concealed from the voters to boost his election chances. 

This fraud perpetrated on the people of PA has caused them to be underrepresented - or unrepresented - by their own senators.  This is inexcusable.

While I have great sympathy for both the unavoidable process of aging, and for the adverse effects of illness or injury, we shouldn’t tolerate covering it up.  At what point do those who are entitled to adequate representation have rights too? 

If pilots can no longer safely fly a plane, they are not given a pass just because of age or illness.  They are grounded.  If a teacher can no longer provide instruction, or a firefighter can no longer drag a hose, they’re not allowed to continue in those roles, even though there may be other valuable roles in society they can still play.

It seems the Democratic Party is insistent on electing, then propping up, people who are unable to fulfill the duties with which they have been entrusted.

The current White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, who promised transparency, is notoriously opaque.  Even the left-leaning White House Press Corps gets annoyed with her when she can’t – or won’t - share relevant information about the President, his schedule, his priorities, or his position on certain issues. 

She defers, deflects, defends, but never truly delivers an answer.  She often says she hasn’t talked with the President about a topic, or doesn’t know the answer, or hasn’t been “read in” on that.  Well, her very role exists to provide access, insights, and comments from the President. 

When she can’t regularly do that, it makes you wonder if that is not the problem, but instead is the point.  Obstruct, obfuscate, and don’t provide meaningful information.  Hide the President behind a thick binder of incompetence and insincerity.

Then there’s Vice President Kamala Harris - who has “fallen up” her entire career.  Her inability to communicate clearly or connect with others is truly stunning.  Greater ineptitude or detachment couldn’t be scripted in fiction. 

It’s beyond description and frightens the nation – and the world - that she’s one heartbeat away from the Oval Office.  We shouldn’t tolerate the promotion of incompetence.

So then if some of our leaders aren’t actually leading - who is?  Is it a person?  A group of people? If so, they are unelected – and therefore unaccountable – to the voters over whom they hold great power.  

Or perhaps those truly in control are proving that the person who holds a specific title is irrelevant and the “deep state” or the bureaucracy itself is in charge.  The elected official is just a seat warmer for a short period of time - a powerless figurehead – a prop.

Either way, the will of the people is being manipulated – or ignored - by those who are selling a candidate or covering for an elected or appointed official who cannot deliver as promised and required.  This makes us wonder if these pawns are there not despite their incompetence, but because of it. To the Democrats, perhaps incompetence is a feature, not a flaw.

Peggy Grande was executive assistant to Ronald Reagan and is author of “The President Will See You Now.”  She was Chair of World for Brexit and served as a political appointee in the Trump Administration. Peggy serves on the Board of Pepperdine School of Public Policy, and the Board of The Center for American Ideas.