Based on public polling and the media narrative, the 2020 election was a major reset of Trumpism, and America was desperately looking for a return to the normalcy and competence that was lacking while Trump was in office.
Given how the political winds had shifted, and Democrats were handed one-party government. All they needed to do was be modestly competent at governing to show Trump and Republicans how it’s done.
Instead, they proved to be so epically bad at governing that Donald Trump is leading Joe Biden and other Democrats in hypothetical 2024 matchups.
And Biden hasn’t even been in office a full year yet.
It was easy to see this coming. Biden, immediately upon taking office, sought to reverse Trump-era policies, seemingly out of spite, regardless of how good or bad they were, and then seemed dumbfounded that those decisions had consequences. For example, he killed the Keystone XL pipeline, temporarily suspended federal gas and oil drilling, and issued a flurry of executive orders to “combat” climate change. After inheriting a country that was virtually energy independent from Trump, Biden oversaw skyrocketing gas prices, impacting almost all aspects of our lives.
Biden’s follies are numerous. Between his economic ineptitude, the border crisis, his incompetence and abuses of power in fighting COVID-19, and his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country has plenty of reasons to be experiencing buyer’s remorse. And boy, are they feeling it.
In fact, Biden lost more support in the first several months of his term than any president in Gallup polling since at least World War II.
“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*** things up,” Barack Obama reportedly told a fellow Democrat in 2020.
Obama was right, but only partially. Biden didn’t do this alone.
Biden has worked hand-in-hand with congressional Democrats, pursuing a radical agenda that Americans aren’t sold on. A recent ABC/Washington Post poll found that 62 percent of registered voters believe the Democratic Party is out of touch with the concerns of most Americans. In addition, a Rasmussen Reports survey from last week found that 64 percent of voters think the nation is headed down the wrong track.
Democrats have the White House, the House, and the Senate, yet they’re choosing to pursue their radical agenda over addressing the needs of everyday Americans. This was after Biden ran an election claiming to be a moderate who would bring both parties together to achieve compromise. Given the Democrats’ razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate, compromise was needed more than ever, and Biden naturally wasted the opportunity, choosing instead to pander to the Bernie Sanders/AOC wing of the party and cement a legacy that outshined Barack Obama’s for being transformational. Instead of working with Republicans to get bipartisan legislation, he pursued a social spending bill with an insane $3.5 trillion price tag. He then had the audacity to claim (multiple times) that it wouldn’t cost anything because it was all paid for.
Related: Are Progressives Determined to Sink Biden’s Presidency?
Had Joe Biden governed as moderately as he claimed he would, the situation for the Democrats wouldn’t be so dire. But now, they face an electoral bloodbath in the 2022 midterms greater than the one they experienced in 2010 at the height of the Tea Party movement.
All they had to do was govern competently. But they can’t do that. So instead, they govern like lame ducks, desperately trying to push through anything they can while they still have a chance. And they know time is running out.