This has not exactly been a secret, if you have been paying attention for the last 8 months.

But Joe Biden’s performance in the press conference on Thursday — which took place ONLY because Democrat party-supporting media organizations had begun to question why he had not yet appeared in a press conference setting since the inaugural — confirmed the unspoken truth: that Joe Biden is only a prop, not the leader of the free world.

My RedState colleague Nick Arama did this story yesterday on photographs which captured the “cheat sheets” Biden had to use at the podium to assist him in picking the reporters he should call on — he only called on 10 — and in what order, as there were circled numbers next to their faces, and names on one of the sheets he had with him.

A second photograph captured some large-print, typed notes with introductory comments on various topics, which Biden read from while giving his answers.

CNN reports that only the following topics were the subject of the questions, and how much time was spent on each:

Immigration — 19 minutes

Filibuster — 12 minutes

China — 9 minutes

Infrastructure — 5 minutes

2024 Election — 4 minutes

National Security — 4 minutes

COVID Recovery — 3 minutes

Voting Rights — 3 minutes

Economy — 1 minute

Gun Control — 1 minute

Climate — 30 seconds

Over half the press conference, according to CNN, was spent on Immigration and the filibuster.

The immigration and border crisis is an issue which the Democrats understand hurts them badly at election time. On Wednesday, Biden announced that he was putting VP Harris in charge of the border problems, and not very much attention was paid to the fact that Dept. of Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas’ 60 days in his position have been a complete disaster on every level — as many predicted would be the case because Mayorkas is an idiot.

In a RedState VIP Live Chat on Wednesday night, there was some discussion of the idea that putting VP Harris in charge put a bullseye on her back, if the problem doesn’t get fixed soon.

I took a contrarian view — Harris is going to be applauded as a miracle worker when this problem is “solved” in the next 30 days or so. The solution to the problem is obvious and easy for the Biden Administration to implement — nothing more than a return to the policies of the Trump Administration.  “Remain in Mexico” for asylum seekers, and hardline pressure on Mexico to combat the traffickers in the border cities, who are making millions of dollars herding migrants across the border, and closing Mexico’s southern border to migrants coming from Central America.

The press will look the other way regarding “how” and only focus on the fact that a solution has been found. They might even misreport that Harris created some fabulous, new policy solution on her own. The only people disappointed in such an approach are the Democrat-supporting interest groups who want more influx of migrants. The politicians and the media only care about getting a “Win” on the board.

“See, we fixed the broken system left to us by the Trump Administration, just like I said we would.”  And Kamala will have proved her mettle for purposes of the 25th Amendment at the same time.

It’s a “Win-Win.”

Joe Biden is merely a prop being used by those who lead the Democrat party — elected officials and unelected bureaucrats. The decision-making is happening among a few senior White House officials, working in conjunction with Pelosi and Schumer on Capitol Hill and their key staffers.

Unelected Democrat Party officials appointed to various positions in the Biden White House — as well as some who have no formal government role at all — formulate policy, while Joe Biden’s presence maintains the facade that the American people are being led by the man they “elected” to be president.

But that’s a transparent farce — maybe the only thing about the Biden Administration that is transparent.   The farce is being protected from scrutiny by the press. The press conference was a necessary near-term success for the White House staff — “If we can just get him through one press conference, we can come up with all kinds of excuses for why a second one can’t be done anytime soon.” The next, big test on a public stage difficult to manage will be the G7 Summit in London in June.

We should prepare ourselves for an announcement that VP Harris will be attending in person for the United States, standing in for Biden, due to some compelling reason that will only be disclosed at the 11th hour. Biden will participate via videoconference, which will allow his involvement to be managed. It has already been acknowledged that Biden has allowed Harris to conduct solo conversations with world leaders on behalf of the Administration.  Having her attend the G7 will be another data point — another marker along the pathway to installing her as president.

Did I mention that a deliberate policy has been implemented — for the first time ever — to have all federal agencies identify the current Administration on their websites as the “Biden-Harris Administration”.

According to a report at Outspoken, “a top White House communications team member” has sent an email directing that official usage at all federal agencies include Vice President Kamala D. Harris.

“Please be sure to reference the current administration as the ‘Biden-Harris Administration’ in official public communications,” the directive reads.

According to Outspoken, its source worked for a “bipartisan” federal agency that deals with foreign relations but not affiliated with the State Department, which implies a broadening scope to the “naming Harris” practice. The websites of all 15 Cabinet-level executive departments already refer to the Biden-Harris administration.

Outspoken noted such other Harris-centric moves “to diminish Biden” as the official White House Twitter account reading “Welcome to the Biden-Harris White House!” “Neither of the @WhiteHouse Twitter accounts from the previous two administrations mentioned the vice president in the account’s description,” Outspoken wrote.

I expect that it will be foreign policy issues — and a demand from allies — that will lead to the final decision to make the switch. The Western-allied nations cannot be led by a U.S. President who can only join them by video screen, and who is unable to nimbly work through multilateral concerns and considerations in formulating U.S. foreign policy. They are going to want to hear about U.S. foreign policy from the person responsible for advocating U.S. foreign policy. If that isn’t Joe Biden, our Western allies have no reason to go along with the charade simply because it furthers the domestic political interests of the Democrat party.

At the same time, the Democrat party can’t risk having the South Koreans, Japanese, or Australians wondering about where their long-term strategic interests lie.  If they are going to stand with the United States and against China, they aren’t going to want to be led by a character from a cast of “Weekend at Joe’s White House.”

It might seem obvious that the Democrats would want to get Biden to January 2023, which would mean that VP Harris would still have two full terms of eligibility to serve as president, should she be elected after Biden passes from the scene.

But I’m not so certain all factions of the Democrat party really want that. Harris is only 56 years old. She would be 62, if she were to win in 2024, and 66, if she were to win again in 2028. She would not leave office until January 2033. I’d be surprised if all factions of the Democrat party are enthusiastic about the idea of having Kamala Harris sitting atop the Democrat party establishment for that long, making it into whatever she wants it to be. This is, after all, a presidential candidate who had to drop out of the Democrat primary contest before a single vote was cast, because the Democrat electorate didn’t support her.

Joe Biden’s name might be on the door, but Joe Biden isn’t running the United States government in the sense that has always been assumed to be the case about the person elected to the office — since President Wilson, at least.

We are a nation now governed by a political party apparatus — a collection of apparatchiks and commissars.

Just like China and the CCP.