Editorial

15:00 JST, January 19, 2025

Joe Biden’s presidency will likely be remembered as a time when the United States struggled to prevent the collapse of democracy and international order between the two administrations of Donald Trump.

Biden leaves office on Monday. His four years in the Oval Office seem to embody the struggles of the United States, which was buffeted by the changing times and vacillated between “America First” isolationism, a view typified by the president-elect, and the path of international cooperation.

Since taking office, Biden vowed to protect democracy. However, in his farewell address, he had to acknowledge that the situation is actually worsening, with an “oligarchy” taking shape in the United States in which a handful of........

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