This is Spectator Radio, the Spectator's curated podcast collection.

Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American politics

and the Trump presidency for the New Spectator USA website.

I'm joined today by John Rick MacArthur, who is publisher of Harper's and a much-loved

spectator contributor.

And we are going to be talking about Joe Biden and asking what's the matter with him.

Rick, I think it's been, I mean, Biden for a while has been sort of, you know,

he's been coming top in the polls of democratic candidates for 2020.

And he's a former vice president.

He's thought to be much loved by people and certainly by the party.

And then this week, a lot of listeners will have noticed, there's been sort of various

allegations, not that he's a sexual predator so much as that he's inappropriately handsy

with women.

And this appears to be a kind of campaign to stop him putting his hat into the ring,

perhaps because he's likely to win the nomination,

or perhaps because there's just a lot of people that don't really like him in the Democratic Party.

Is this a fair summary of where we are with Joe Biden at the moment?

Yes, although it's unclear who is driving the train, the anti-Biden train.

Harper's Magazine, as usual, we published something contrarian last month on the cover,

pointing out that Biden had a rather disastrous legislative record on several counts, whether or not you are a progressive or a left

winger or you are a centrist who cares about American foreign policy. He's really had a terrible

career in terms of actual policymaking. The thing that upsets or should upset left-wingers

...