The Rachel Levine Administration

In the final, pathetic weeks of his failed presidency, Joe Biden has been casting about desperately for a positive legacy. He has liberally distributed pardons and commutations, as well as presidential medals of freedom. He has leaned on progressives, whose ego-inflating counsel helped destroy his presidency, to rescue its historical reputation. And he and his allies have retailed counterfactuals about how the Afghanistan withdrawal was a success, and how he would have won the 2024 election if he had run instead of Kamala Harris, his vice president.

We do not yet know how history will treat the Biden interruption of Donald Trump’s two non-consecutive terms. Hence Biden’s frantic efforts at self-definition. But one Biden administration figure already serves as a convenient distillation of what his presidency unleashed on America and may bequeath as his legacy: Rachel (formerly Richard) Levine, assistant secretary of health and human services (HHS). A recent NPR interview with Levine reminds us of the foibles, follies, and fallacies that have marked his last few years of public service, which are also illustrative of the Left’s recent travails.

About the Author

Jack Butler

Jack Butler is a former submissions editor at National Review.

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In the final, pathetic weeks of his failed presidency, Joe Biden has been casting about desperately for a positive legacy. He has liberally distributed pardons and commutations, as well as presidential medals of freedom. He has leaned on progressives, whose ego-inflating counsel helped destroy his presidency, to rescue its historical reputation. And he and his allies have retailed counterfactuals about how the Afghanistan withdrawal was a success, and how he would have won the 2024 election if he had run instead of Kamala Harris, his vice president.

We do not yet know how history will treat the Biden interruption of Donald Trump’s two non-consecutive terms. Hence Biden’s frantic efforts at self-definition. But one Biden administration figure already serves as a convenient distillation of what his presidency unleashed on America and may bequeath as his legacy: Rachel (formerly Richard) Levine, assistant secretary of health and human services (HHS). A recent NPR interview with Levine reminds us of the foibles, follies, and fallacies that have marked his last few years of public service, which are also illustrative of the Left’s recent travails.