The failures and problems that have befallen the nation since Democrats assumed power in January are both staggering and scary.

• Turkey shortages for the Thanksgiving holiday.

• Spikes in violent crime, especially in Democratic-run cities, while police departments report staff shortages.

• Bottlenecks at the ports causing supply chain disruptions, causing shortages for retailers.

• The nation’s decline from energy independence, sparking record high prices at the gas pumps.

• The surge in migration on the southern border and migrant flights in the middle of the night to unknown destinations.

• The Democrats’ push for trillion dollar spending legislation which supports spending for a socialist wish list.

• Parents being muzzled at school board meetings for their concern about districts promoting a socialist ideology.

And how are President Joe Biden and his staffers addressing questions about these mounting problems which seem to mask their socialist agenda to remake America?

In order to deflect serious questions on these sensitive issues, they’ve tried to deflect by laughing them off or simply cracking jokes.

While the humanitarian and security crisis was escalating back in March, Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden’s hand-picked border czar, laughed off a reporter who asked if she planned to visit the US-Mexico border.

“Not today,” chirped Harris, who is known to resort to a belly laugh whenever challenged. She’s also been known to laugh uncontrollably in an audience setting where she’s not on prompter or senses she’s failing to connect with that audience. Watching her cackle is embarrassing because it always seems to come at an inappropriate time.

J. “Kahuna Kuya” Alota, a former U.S. Intelligence Officer/Interrogator, said in a tweet that it appears Harris laughs a lot as a defense mechanism that kicks in as with others who laugh to either calm their nerves, anxiety, maintain composure, buy time, regroup thoughts or recover from shock/surprise to either an unexpected comment or question not prepared for an immediate response. He cited a “60 Minutes” TV interview before the last election when “there was a lot of laughing and fake smiling going on.”

Another glaring example, Alota said, was during the aforementioned tarmac interview when Harris was asked if she was planning to see for herself the serious problem of migration going on at the southern border. She paused, laughed and responded, “Maybe later, it’s not on my schedule.”

When it comes to trying to deflect with bad jokes, Joe Biden is a master. When asked during last week’s town hall event on CNN if he planned to visit the border, Biden admitted that he “should go down” but that he hasn’t “had a lot of time to get down.”

That lame reason alone was enough to make us laugh.

Biden’s attempt at stand-up comedy has also flopped. During the Coast Guard Academy’s graduation ceremony in May he tried to earn some laughs while boasting of his own college escapades, including a fire-extinguisher assault on his dorm’s resident assistant.

When the cadets and audience members failed to respond, Biden jeered: “You are a really dull class. I mean, come on, man, is the sun getting to you? I would think you would have an opportunity when I say that about the Navy to clap.”

His jab at the Navy generated some nervous laughter and a smattering of applause from the cadets.

Several times Biden practically begged for applause from the crowd.

“You can clap, come on, man,” Biden said when he joked about cadets spending “too much time at the Slice,” a local pizza parlor.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has also resorted to badly timed joke-telling to deflect from answering tough questions. When asked last week about nighttime flights that President Biden’s administration is using to ferry unaccompanied migrant kids from the Texas border region to destinations like Westchester County, New York, and Jacksonville, Florida, Psaki quickly deflected by disputing reporter Peter Doocy’s insinuation that the flights were taking place “in the middle of the night.”

When Doocy who read the flight times aloud - 2:30 a.m., 4:29 a.m. - Psaki attempted to joke by stating, “Here we are talking about early flights, earlier than you might like to take a flight.”

Psaki also found humor in the supply chain crisis which is affecting businesses and consumers across the country. When asked to address the disruptions that have left store shelves bare just in time for the holiday shopping season, Psaki joked that it’s a “tragedy” some people may have to wait longer for their treadmill to arrive.

There are times for joke-telling, but the time we find ourselves during the Biden regime is not one of them.

Americans can tell the difference between a President John F. Kennedy, who was a master of the one-line quips, and the likes of a Joe Biden, Jen Psaki or Kamala Harris who try to use laughter as a defense mechanism in order to deflect from the myriad of failures and problems that have befallen the nation since they assumed power.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.