Joe Biden’s “Power” Move

[Content Warning: Sexual Assault and Inappropriate Touching]

We’ve all winced at the photos: Joe Biden’s history of inappropriate touching and sexual harassment has been well documented. Slate published a compilation of accounts by 7 women who have felt deeply uncomfortable due to Biden’s unsolicited “affectionate” touching, which has typically manifested as the acts of smelling women’s hair and grasping their shoulders or waists from behind. TIME‘s analysis of Biden is an attempt to identify the “gray zones” of respecting personal spaces so that men can begin to learn what’s appropriate. It’s a playing-both-sides sort of article that ultimately makes an example out of Biden so that we can continue having the difficult conversations of sexual assault, gender-based violence, and socially acceptable conduct. The problem is that ever since that article was published just under a year ago, Joe Biden has ostensibly been the “frontrunner” in the Democratic National Primary Race. Making an example out of Biden so that other people will learn to be more respectful human beings is certainly fine, but the fact of the matter is that this ‘example of misconduct’ is running for president of the United States, and, if nominated, would be running against an incumbent who has not only been repeatedly accused of sexual assault, but has also bragged about it. It seems disingenuous to sympathetically brush Biden off as a learning tool when he wields immense social power. Evidently, doing so would also be an insult to Anita Hill, who did not only receive an unfair hearing when Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but was ridiculed by the committee itself during her accusation of Judge Clarence Thomas for sexual harassment. It doesn’t seem sufficient to deem Biden as creepy or out of touch when he is gunning for the presidency. Biden’s non-consensual behaviour—whether on the offensive or on the defensive—is an assertion of control.

Since the bar is set incredibly low for men like Biden, we’ll start with the basics. The text below highlights the 3 types of touching—unwanted, safe, and unsafe—that we typically teach to young children: 

“Unwanted touches are those that are safe, but may not be wanted at the time. For example, your child may not want his little sister to hug him multiple times per hour, or he may not want to hug and kiss his great aunt goodbye each time he sees her.

Safe touches are touches that are loving and appropriate. Friendly, nonsexual touching from family, friends, teachers, emergency response personnel and medical workers are all examples of safe touching.

Unsafe touching is touching that is harmful physically or psychologically. Sexual touching, hitting, kicking and biting are all examples of unsafe touches. Teach your child that this type of touching can originate from anyone — another child, an adult or a professional. Warn them about how to handle and report unsafe touches.”

It seems silly to have to clarify this in 2020, but Biden’s behaviour is evidence that some may need a refresher. Sexual assault and harassment are about power; Joe Biden feels that he needs to assert his dominance over women—even men sometimes—regardless of their age or their relation to him. When Biden engages in unwanted touching with children, it comes off as predatory. When he engages in it with reporters or adult voters, it comes off as bullying. Far be it for us to try to analyze his motivations, and yet Biden, either for himself or for others around him, systematically tries to establish control in his interactions by breaching people’s personal space and touching them. This is not past behaviour. This pattern has been ongoing, and although carefully obscured and misdirected by the Biden Presidential campaign, none of this is news. What has come to light, however, is when Joe Biden is most likely to touch people without their consent during his campaign trail. Biden’s recent campaign has shown a slightly different kind of inappropriate touching and invasion of personal space, which is, again, rooted in his attempt to dominate his interactions with voters who interrogate him through physical bullying. According to Psychology Today, “The bully’s ego is artifice. His arrogance is a hollow confidence. His condescension is a need to belittle. His rage is a need to control. This ego for him is a fragile thing, driven by fear and narcissism, not by power, nor by the power he wishes so desperately to possess. In fact, the bully is actually quite powerless, for he is only as powerful as the power we give him.” This definition, though perhaps not written with presidential candidate in mind, seems apt. Biden is vying for power, and seeks to regain control when that path to more power is disrupted by activists and concerned voters.

Video: Biden Grabs Iowa Voter By Jacket 

Take this interaction, for instance: Biden is quick to place his hand on the man’s chest as he tells him that he should “vote for someone else,” instead of listening to the man and defending his own position. When the man, Ed Fallon, persists in telling Biden that a serious climate leader should not be building pipelines, Biden responds by facing and speaking to Fallon directly while grabbing him by the jacket. Biden’s tone is dismissive and lethargic, but his actions are aggressive; they aren’t brisk, but they are imposing. And the timing of this physical response is important: it is at the mention of pipelines that Biden turns to Fallon slightly and pats him dismissively on the chest. Tension mounts as Fallon respectfully stands his ground and Biden grabs hold of his jacket. As Biden keeps his grip on Fallon’s clothes, he asks: “Now you believe Bernie can do something by 2030?” And there it is, the source of Biden’s insecurity and a source of motivation for the inappropriate touching: Bernie Sanders. 

Bernie Sanders makes Biden feel the need to retake control of a situation—to reassert his dominance—by breaching the perceived attacker’s zone of comfort. And this is not a mere speculation to fuel the rivalry between Biden’s moderate and Sanders’ progressive camps; the video shows that Biden immediately releases Fallon’s jacket when Fallon informs him that he is supporting Tom Steyer, whom Biden does not see as a threat.  

Video: Joe Biden Responds to Question Posed by Mobilize for the Wild Activist about Whether or Not He’ll Address the Climate Crisis by Committing to Phasing Out All U.S. Fossil Fuel Production

Here, again, Biden responds defensively by repeatedly poking the activist in the chest to reinforce his points. Unlike Biden’s standoff with Fallon, this interaction is aggressive and his tone is far more caustic. Although these two events seem isolated, the similarities they share are, for one, the inappropriate touching on the part of Biden, and, secondly, the fact that they center on Biden’s lackluster climate policies. Not long ago, Biden claimed that  “not a single solitary scientist thinks it [Bernie Sanders’ Green New Deal] can work,” only to be proven wrong by 57 scientists who rallied in support of Sanders’ climate plan. Climate change is clearly a touchy subject for Biden, and it doesn’t seem like a stretch to say he associates any attacks on his climate plan with the Bernie Sanders campaign.  

Video: Biden Responds to Sunrise Movement Activist by Putting Both Hands on his Shoulders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3dqR9oQ9pE 

In this video, an activist from the Sunrise Movement interrogates Biden about his climate advisor, Heather Zichal. The activist expresses his concern that Zichal, who earned over $1 million by serving on the board of a liquefied gas company, may not be a trustworthy climate advisor. Not once, but twice, does Biden place both of his hands on the activists shoulders as he talks down to him. The activist, just as in the other examples above, holds his ground, only to be dismissed again by Biden’s recitation of his de facto campaign slogan: “You should vote for someone else.” It’s worth noting that the Sunrise Movement endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Nomination at the start of 2020, with 76% of the 10,000 member group’s votes. While Bernie Sanders is the clear climate candidate, Biden, when faced with the reality that moderate politicians like him don’t have a viable plan for the environment, falls back on his bullying tactics to feel like he is coming out on top. 

Video: Biden Gets Flustered and Pounds a Reporter’s Chest With His Fist

Biden’s attempts to exert power are no longer subtle; in the video above, it’s fair to say that he fails to flip the tables on that reporter. As Bernie Sanders’ favourability surges, the mere mention of him appears to trigger Biden’s reactionary verbal and physical harassment toward the voters that he should be trying to court (without touching). As we move out of the Iowa caucus debacle, one thing is clear: Biden is plummeting and the Democratic Establishment are looking elsewhere, at contenders like Mike Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg. According to a Des Moines Register Poll, climate change was the second most pressing issue for voters, and voters proved this poll right by moving away from Biden. His performance in Iowa was abysmal, and this may mean that he will be lashing out even more often going forward. But one thing is becoming clearer. Although Biden’s pattern of inappropriate touching and invasion of people’s personal space is not the reason for his low voter turnout, it does illustrate why he is unfit to run against Donald Trump. If the Democratic nominee is a candidate who, rather than defend his policies and his political record with measured argumentation, resorts to bullying and physical harassment, then Donald Trump will win because he already excels at those tactics. Biden’s insecurities, and how they manifest, are a severe liability, which Donald Trump and the Republican party will exploit. Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, but, at the very least, she could stand her ground when debating against Trump. And that wasn’t enough to win her the presidency. Both Biden’s and Trump’s tendency to take up space and touch people inappropriately is rooted in insecurity, but Trump is a far more effective bully. A victory for Biden in the primary is a victory for Trump in a presidential race between an abuser and a harasser. Such a race will guarantee low voter turnout.

Note: this article was written before Joe Biden was credibly accused of rape by his former staffer, Tara Reade, and therefore only discusses Biden’s history of harrassing women.

Editor: Artemis Archimandriti