What happened to 'Honest Joe'? President Joe Biden's promises are turning into lies.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

© AP Vice President Joe Biden.

President Joe Biden started a tweet Sunday with: "I give you my word as a Biden"

He was making a lofty promise about his signature legislation: that no one making less than $400,000 a year would see a tax increase.

I laughed out loud at Biden's tweet, because A) to what other name would he attach to his word? and B) Biden's word has never been worth less.

Furthermore, the promise was laughably false, disproven by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, which found taxpayers in every income bracket - yes, every single one - would see a tax increase by 2023. Read it for yourself.

And it followed a series of falsehoods told by this president that makes Biden seem like everything he railed against in the 2020 campaign.

"The words of a president matter," Biden used to say. With a straight face.

Biden was elected on a promise to be different than Donald Trump. In fact, on Nov. 1, days before the election, Biden led Trump by 15 points on the question of which candidate is "honest and trustworthy," according to a Fox News poll.

It worked. He won. And then continued to profess honesty as he took office.

"There is truth and there are lies," Biden said in his inaugural address. "Each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders - leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation - to defend the truth and to defeat the lies."

But less than a year in, what's become clear is that Biden's "word" means virtually nothing, and that he lies with the same ease as his predecessor.

What did Biden know on Afghanistan?

Apart from his lies about raising taxes and that his $3.5 trillion spending plan "costs zero dollars," Biden was badly exposed this week regarding his decision on Afghanistan.

In August, ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, in an interview with Biden, asked, "So no one told - your military advisers did not tell you, 'No, we should just keep 2,500 troops'?"

Biden said: "No. No one said that to me that I can recall."

On Tuesday, during sworn congressional testimony, U.S. Central Command Gen. Frank McKenzie confirmed that he "recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan."

Biden clearly lied in August, as his disastrous decision was unfolding before our eyes.

It is the commander in chief's right to make whatever military decision he wants to make. And I suppose it is his right to lie to Stephanopoulos about it. But on the topic of Afghanistan, in which Biden's decisions cost 13 American servicemembers their lives, to lie so effortlessly is even more disgusting.

A long series of lies

Biden only looked honest when posted up against Trump. He only looked reasonable to Democrats when compared to Bernie Sanders, for that matter. And we are finding out every day the consequences of judging someone by who they aren't rather than who they are.

Remember the stories about his son's laptop that Biden asserted was Russian disinformation? Politico, citing a new book, said recently that "some of the purported HUNTER BIDEN laptop material is genuine."

What about the southern border? Biden once brushed off our illegal immigration crisis as a seasonal influx, intimating that once the weather turned hot the migrant surge would abate. Nope.

Or how about Biden's claim that proposed voting laws in Georgia and Texas amounted to "Jim Crow in the 21st century"? These mainstream election security efforts are nothing like America's dark history of voter suppression, and the president knows it. A large majority of Americans (Black voters included) support voter identification and other measures that make it harder to cheat.

Biden claimed "America is Back" as a reassurance to allies and a warning to our adversaries. Then he turned around and greenlighted a long-sought Russian pipeline that infuriated our Ukrainian friends, before angering the French so badly that America's oldest ally pulled its ambassador from Washington.

Whether Biden is claiming that trillions of dollars in new spending will cost zero dollars, that he was arrested in South Africa or that "no serious economist" is worried about inflation, he has no problem stretching, bending or outright obliterating the truth.

When you point this out to Democrats, you get a similar refrain: But Trump lied all the time!

© provided Scott Jennings is a Republican adviser, CNN political contributor and partner at RunSwitch Public Relations. He can be reached at Scott@RunSwitchPR.com or on Twitter @ScottJenningsKY.

No doubt. But is that the standard you want to set for your guy? That he can lie just slightly less than Trump and be successful in your eyes?

Biden's low bar

Biden promised to "always level with you." He centered his campaign around restoring the "soul of the nation." He has violated - repeatedly - that pledge.

I'm continually amazed at how low Democrats are willing to set the bar for Biden by simply screaming "But Trump!" every time the new president does something they hated about the old one.

It seems, however, that the American people are catching on.

A tracking poll from YouGov says 46% of Americans say Biden is dishonest versus just 41% who say he is honest.

An Axios/Ipsos survey released Tuesday reported that "45% ... say they trust Biden a great deal or a fair amount to provide them with accurate information about the virus and pandemic, while 53% said they have little or no trust in him." In January, the scores were reversed, with Biden judged to be honest by a 58% to 42%.

This is what destroys presidencies - when people decide you are a liar, it is hard to regain that trust. And Biden has lied so frequently and so obviously that he's in a true political danger zone.

The next time the president tries to give you his word "as a Biden," just remember: You've been handed something as worthless as screen doors on a submarine.