- When Tara Reade’s allegations about Joe Biden sexually assaulting her first surfaced during the last presidential election, her description of an angry, power-driven misogynist didn’t seem to fit the picture of the dull, gaffing politician most of us were familiar with.
- But 21 months into his presidency, and in the wake of a national address that characterized President Donald Trump and his supporters as a “threat to the country,” a much darker and divisive Joe Biden has emerged—a figure obsessed with his predecessor, determined to project power, intimidation and absolute authority.
- “This last speech felt like it was a very pointed public relations campaign to create an image that never was,” she said of the president’s Sept. 1 comments in Philadelphia. “Biden seemed so weak. The blood red background, having the two Marines there, he was sending a message to voters that he’ll go after them if they don’t agree with him. This is like the very thing he did to me, and it is the embodiment of insecurity. It is the imposter syndrome. Joe Biden was always a lightweight. He liked the image. He liked women. He liked to be adored. But he’s the embodiment of the insecure man trying to be the alpha, and what’s exacerbated it is the aging process. He’s different now in certain ways, but he was always insecure.”