The tragedy of ex-president Joe Biden

The denouement of Joe Biden is unbearably sad. The Irishman who could spend 45 minutes answering one question lost his gift of gab. The father who saw two of his children die and two spin into addiction wilted under the ongoing stress, especially when Hunter Biden — “my only living son’, as Joe called him — got tangled in the legal system.

- Maureen Dowd

The gregarious pol, who loved chatting up lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, ended up barricaded in his Rehoboth, Delaware, house with Covid, furious at everyone, proclaiming his oldest friends disloyal naysayers. He was fuming at nearly everyone except his wife Jill, Hunter and the cordon sanitaire of aides who had fuelled his delusions that he could be reelected despite his feeble and often incoherent state at 81. And, saddest of all, the man known for his decency, empathy, humility and patriotic spirit was poisoned by power, losing the ability to see that in clinging to his office, he was hurting the party and country he had served for over half a century. It is the oldest story in tragedy: hubris. If presidents get reduced to their essence, Mr Biden's is a chip on his shoulder.