The Trump kids must be kicking themselves over the fact their daddy lost to the worst-ever president, who’s having the worst week in presidential history. They learned Thursday President Biden had asked OPEC to pump more oil, meaning his early orders to stop pipelines and fracking were thoughtless: Here’s the deal. I’m saving the planet and creating Green jobs on Day One – – Day One! It’s a no-brainer, folks. I’m guessing he’d like a do-over, because America needs abundant energy.
Stopping the “existential crisis of our time” started the “existential crisis” of Dems staying in power. Stick a fork in New York’s Mario Cuomo. California’s Gavin Newsom has a 50-50 shot at recall. Virginia’s Terry McAuliffe is tied in pre-election polls. Democrats are trailing Republicans by 6% in 58 swing-district polls. It’s complicated, but Biden made brown-outs, $5.00 gas, and scarce heating oil happen. No modern president ever had so much bad news in a single week.
In 1971, the leaked Pentagon Papers proved Johnson knew Vietnam was a lost cause and “escalation” was a lie. Just like that, leaked audio of DHS Secretary Mayorkas proved Biden’s “situation” is a full-blown border crisis: “Our borders are our first line of defense. We’re going to lose and this is unsustainable. Our people in the field can’t continue. Our system wasn’t built to handle such an influx of migrants.” Mind you, July’s border apprehensions (212,672) were up 16% over June’s record numbers.
In August 1974, GOP senators told Nixon he lacked the votes to stay in office. A week ago, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) told Democrats, “if the [mid-term] elections were held today, we would lose” the House. He knows the GOP needs only five seats to regain the House, and now lead Democrats by 6% in 58 swing districts (source: Politico). Maloney said their “substance” mid-term message would prevail, but Debbie Dingell (D-MI) disagreed: “we’re not breaking through.”
In April 1975, Gerald Ford remorsefully watched the fall of Saigon; allies on the US embassy roof to avoid a traitor’s fate (firing squad). Today, Al Jazeera reports from Afghanistan the Taliban has surrounded Kabul, President Ghani has fled, and Canada is re-settling 20,000 Afghans “to protect them from Taliban reprisals.” When Biden blamed his predecessors, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) scolded: the “haphazard withdrawal of American troops is all on President Biden.”
In 1981, Jimmy Carter left the White House, vanquished by the “misery index” he’d used to get elected in 1976. He was held to account for 13.9% inflation, robbing the US of purchasing power. Biden is being held to account for July’s 6% CPI rise, 19% increase in rents, and 17% rise in home prices: independent voters are 43% of the electorate and as pessimistic about Biden’s economy as they were about Obama’s in August 2009 (source: University of Michigan).
In March 2017, US District Court Judge Derrick Watson issued a temporary restraining order on President Trump’s Muslim Travel Ban (the ban was later upheld). Of course, Biden revoked every Trump immigration order, including the Remain In Mexico policy. Oops! US District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk just ordered Biden to reinstate Trump’s policy. Ouch!
August 2017, Trump’s big legislative idea (repeal Obamacare) was killed by fellow Republican John McCain with a single thumbs-down. This August, nine moderate Democrats stalled Biden’s big idea, $3.5 trillion by budget resolution. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) was clear: “We will not consider voting for a budget resolution until the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passes the House and is signed into law.” Who’s afraid of Biden? Apparently, nobody.
If you’re keeping score at home, that’s seven big setbacks in one week. Notable for two reasons. The first is no US president has been embarrassed in so many areas in such short order as Joe Biden was last week. The second is that none of the other “loser” presidents (Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, or Trump) served two full terms. The view here is this president is just entering a political Twilight Zone that’s highly contagious.
The realpolitik Dingell knows Michigan voters feel the President has not done enough to help the economy (i.e. auto industry). GOP strategist Karl Rove says Biden is handicapped by “voter expectations…higher than most presidents can meet” and a “rift between Justice Democrats and centrist Democrats” that’s erupted into an “internal war” – that Democrat strategist James Carville blames for McAuliffe’s close gubernatorial race in Virginia.
Biden rushed blindly into un-Trumping America. Half-baked plans invited bad consequences. He won’t own his mistakes. His approval (low 40s) with independent voters has tanked, because they’re hurt by higher prices and rising crime, ashamed of Afghanistan and the border crisis, and dispirited by an unaccountable president. The images of overrun embassies in Saigon and Tehran come to mind – before smart phones and social media. Biden’s next week could be very, very, very bad.