Lost in the callous cravenness of the end of the Trump Administration is the decency of Joe Biden. The man who said that he was running to restore normalcy to government has kept to his promise in spite of the horrible outrages of the last weeks of Trump. Even as Trump tries to take a flamethrower to Washington, Biden is focused squarely on his task at hand and has avoided taking on Trump directly. He has even shrugged off Trump's violation of every norm when it comes to the transfer of power. Biden seems intent on preserving his political capital to spend it where he needs it.

For a politician with a reputation for being undisciplined, Biden has consistently stayed far away from mixing it up with Trump since he handily beat him in November. He has even managed to stay in control after learning that his son was being targeted in a political investigation. Biden has looked only forward instead of backwards in a remarkable show of strength. The President-elect really is everything that he seemed to be during the campaign. Getting in the path of a crazy person bent on destroying the country on his way out would really only be dirtying his hands. It was bad enough that Biden had to suffer by association during the shoutfest that was the first debate. Biden realizes that he will need to save his capital for putting the country back together after January 21.

Biden's Discipline and Staying on Message Is Helping in Georgia

Normally, at this time, attention would begin to shift from the outgoing president to the incoming one. Of course, one never thought that this would be the case with Trump. Like he did during the campaign, Biden has not fought Trump for airtime. Here, his image of a solemn and decent problem solver will help the Democrats in Georgia. Biden knows that the success of his presidency is largely dependent on what happens on January 5. He is doing everything humanly possible not to give the GOP conspiracy machine another thing to pummel him with over the airwaves. Right now, he is doing an incredibly good job. In fact, it seems to be months since Biden has made a misstep or a gaffe.

Biden has smartly recognized that this is not the time to try to fight to win a news cycle. His relative silence on Trump has allowed the wannabe fascist to focus all of his mental energy on destroying his own party. That seems to be one thing that Trump is doing successfully. In a sense, Biden recognizes that there is little he can do now to stop Trump's destruction, and he needs to seem like the adult in the room for four more weeks. Now, he has a better chance of controlling both houses of Congress for his administration.

Biden Has Demonstrated a Supernatural Ability to Keep Playing His Own Game

This is exactly why the Democrats nominated Biden. It is hard to imagine any other politician in the Democratic Party with the magnanimity to manage Trump the way that Biden is. Trump is going to cause his damage no matter what, and without the backbone of the Republican Party, he will not be stopped. By keeping his powder dry, Biden has more than a remote chance to work with a Republican Party that has been attacked by Trump. The Democrats may be able to peel off a few moderate Republican votes in the Senate if Biden manages to not make himself the issue. Biden has skillfully managed to turn sideways and allow the battle to be Trump vs. McConnell. The President-elect knew that Trump was going to focus his fire on someone.

There will come a time in just a handful of weeks when Trump cannot wreck the country anymore. However, it will require a few Republicans with some moral courage to move towards the center. Biden is seemingly trying to create the conditions where that is possible. In the meantime, the country will teeter on the brink as Trump tries to strip away the last vestiges of democracy before he skips town to whichever place will take him. Normalcy is coming, and Biden has recognized that he will need the support to move past this circus on the say that he takes office. The further Trump goes, the more that is possible.