The handwriting is on the wall: Joe Biden has outlived his usefulness to the people who foisted him upon us and who pull his strings.  He is on his way out.

And although some envision him stepping down or being removed from office and being succeeded by either Kamala Harris or Nancy Pelosi, his regime, which many have already likened to the third term of Barack Obama, will morph into the actual third term of Barack Obama.

Don't be led astray by popular misunderstandings of the provisions of the 22nd Amendment.  That amendment (which came about in reaction to Franklin D. Roosevelt having been elected to a third and even fourth term) bars Obama (or anyone who has served as president) from being elected to a third term.  But, in an American Thinker post published on April 6, Andrea Widburg lays out the process by which Obama could step back into the Oval Office without being elected and without violating the 22nd Amendment.

In that scenario, Kamala Harris would be prevailed upon to step down, and Obama would be drafted (on the grounds that the current global instability calls for a person with Obama's mastery of foreign policy) to replace her (which, under the 25th Amendment, would require confirmation by a majority vote of both houses of Congress).  Then Biden would be removed via the 25th Amendment's provision for such removal (and replacement by the current V.P.) should the president be "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."

In that same article, Ms. Widburg posits that Obama's April 5 appearance at the White House (ostensibly to mark the 12th anniversary of Obamacare), an appearance in which Obama was fawned over and Biden was apparently snubbed by Obama, Harris, and everyone else, was a "signal to Democrat apparatchiks that Biden is now shark chum."

Further indication that Biden's days are numbered is in the mainstream media's sudden new interest in actually acting like investigative journalists and finally acknowledging the scandal of corruption and possible treason that surrounds Hunter Biden.

We can expect the Hunter Biden story to be vigorously pursued.  Having ignored or suppressed the story sufficiently to keep it from influencing the election, and having finally reached the limits of strained credulity with their claims that a) the laptop wasn't Hunter's, and then b) the laptop was Hunter's, but the alleged evidence it contained smacked of "Russian disinformation," the Democrat party's press lackeys (which is to say, almost the entirety of the Fourth Estate!) have now decided that Hunter Biden shall be pilloried.

But we shouldn't expect any negative fallout for "the big guy."  Although his political future may be no better than that of shark chum, I predict that Joe Biden won't be savaged the way actual shark chum would be.  Rather, despite having now been deemed expendable, Ol' Joe will be permitted to save face.  While his son is being fitted for an orange jumpsuit, the elder Biden will be gently shuffled offstage.  And the leftist agenda of the "fundamental transformation" of the U.S. will steam right along.

Along with self-congratulatory stories about how "the system" and the noble profession of journalism "still work" to ferret out and punish corruption, I predict that the stories and talking points are right now being written about how Joe Biden has been "the real victim" here, a tragic figure who knew nothing of Hunter's bad behavior.  All his alleged failings will be laid at the feet of his preoccupation with the travails of his beloved, albeit wayward, son.

Having already lost his first wife and infant daughter in a tragic collision, and having lost his other son to cancer (tragedies about which he has never missed an opportunity to remind us), Joe Biden's only sin was to have loved and trusted his remaining son too much.  [Pass the Kleenex™.  And maybe a barf bag.]

It won't surprise me one little bit if Joe Biden, even as he's led off into the sunset, is feted to a ceremony in which he receives the "Father of the Year" or "Excellence in Parenting" award.  (I wrote something about this, here.)

Stu Tarlowe has, since 2010, contributed well over 150 pieces to American Thinker.  For some 15 years, he was the personal editor for the late Barry Farber; more recently, he was a staff writer for a magazine forecasting political and societal trends, but when he had to be hospitalized for COVID, he was replaced.  Now recovered, he writes on a variety of topics (political and personal) in his newsletter at https://stutarlowe.substack.com and is seeking another gig as a writer/editor/proofreader.

Image credit: Donkey Hotey CC BY 2.0 license.