“Why should anyone still support Joe Biden after the debate?” is a question I answer at length in this month’s podcast episode, but just in case you needed a refresher on the 46th President’s first-term accomplishments, here it is…
1. Passed a crucial infrastructure bill that no other recent POTUS has been able to pass
2. The climate bill
3. The inflation reduction act
4. The American chips act
5. Heavily prioritized American manufacturing
6. A raise in social security benefits
7. Passed the third stimulus
8. Successfully and quickly reopened an America half-dead from CoVid
9. Quick vaccine distribution, and tried his best to mandate the vaccine (nearly all CoVid deaths over the last three years have been unvaccinated or chronically ill people put in jeopardy by the unvaccinated) but ran into court interference
10. Helping veterans through the PACT act
11. Left Afghanistan, America’s longest war… [Despite the endless harangues that this is a “failure,” he left a terrorist state with the worst deal possible put together by Trump, who made sure it would be chaos by releasing thousands of Taliban fighters before the U.S. withdrawal. 13 troop deaths is tragic, but Afghanistan was a dream withdrawal compared to America leaving Vietnam.]
12. Even though we left Afghanistan, Biden still killed the head of Al Qaeda with a precise “ginzu knife” drone that had no collateral damage, both literally and figuratively decapitating AQ
13. Killed the leader of ISIS
14. Has dismantled 90% of the Russian military without sacrificing a single American troop life. Zelenskyy admits there’s no way Ukraine would’ve lasted without American intelligence, aid, and weapons
15. No major race riots or civil unrest. This is very different from Trump, who began his term with the women’s march and ended it with months of Floyd riots, even bunkering in the White House basement while a mob rattled the White House gates
16. Quickly jump started an American economy that absolutely sucked after a year of CoVid had killed demand
17. Biden, his economic team, and Jerome Powell tried some unorthodox moves to cool inflation without having a recession. Pulled off the miraculous “soft landing” that has cooled inflation, but not hurt his record-breaking economy
18. Astoundingly low unemployment
19. Record breaking stock market that just climbed to an all-time high
20. A dramatic decrease in crime from 2020
21. But also cancelled private prison contracts at the federal level
22. Pardoned all federal felons for simple marijuana possession
23. The first real gun legislation in 30 years with the Safer Communities Act
24. Not losing his cool against a SCOTUS that seems determined to plunge America into a constitutional crisis (overturning Roe, various ethics breaches, failure to recuse from obvious conflicts, stalling Trump’s trials deliberately)
25. Actual anti-trust enforcement for the first time in 45 years. His FTC is on fire, preventing ghastly mergers between Jet Blue (one of the best airlines) and Spirit (THE worst), Albertson’s/Kroger (which would surely raise grocery prices for the 40% of Americans that have few alternatives), and others
26. Dozens of “little things” to help American consumers like capping insulin prices for Medicaid recipients, reducing the cost of hearing aids by letting them be sold over the counter, forced airlines to give refunds on cancelled flights (rather than just a voucher), FTC-DOJ task force against price fixing/gouging that saw businesses “miraculously” start lowering prices after it was announced, etc.
27. Wanted to hold tax cheats and plutocrats accountable with a properly funded IRS that was capable of catching them, but House Republicans have fought him on this every step of the way. This is perhaps a de facto admission that tax cheats give Republicans donations so that they’ll cut tax rates and IRS funding
28. Tried his best to combat disinformation with a disinformation task force that Republicans (predictably) killed before it began
29. Tried his best to get civil rights legislation and various other bills through the senate that Manchin/Sinema have killed…His legislative record is even more impressive considering he hasn’t really had control of the senate; noticeably, Manchin and Sinema held things up forever, and both have since left the Democratic Party
30. Navigated a tricky crisis between America’s longest ally in the Middle East (Israel) and the civilian population of Palestine. A divisive tightrope between civilians led by a terrorist group (Hamas) and an increasingly-authoritarian, but allied-president (Netanyahu). If Trump had been in charge, I can only imagine we would’ve seen absolute riots break out in heavily-Muslim areas like Detroit or Dearborn. [And no, a few students arrested on campus doesn’t compare to the month-long flames of the Floyd riots.]
31. The most pro-labor President since FDR. Biden has walked picket lines, and been supportive of labor all the way—even as plutocrats like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk literally try to sue the national labor relations board out of existence
32. While America’s economy booms, China’s sucks…Between China’s slowing economy and Europe’s higher-inflation, it’s clear the U.S. has handled its post-CoVid recovery the best
33. Strengthened American alliances like “The Quad” to hurt China far more than Trump’s inconsistent rhetoric
34. Strongly encouraged businesses to not only make products in America, but leave China specifically
35. Healthcare-wise, fewer uninsured Americans than ever before
36. A cabinet of quiet, scandal-free professionals that just capably go about the business of running the country
37. The first black woman on the Supreme Court
38. The Respect for Marriage Act
39. The most diverse presidential cabinet in American history, such as the first openly gay cabinet head (Pete Buttigieg), the first Native American cabinet secretary (Deb Haaland), the first female treasury secretary (Janet Yellen), and the first black VP, Indian VP, or female VP (Kamala Harris)
40. When he had a colonoscopy, he temporarily gave Kamala Harris Presidential authority (something Trump was too paranoid to do with Pence…or anyone else), technically making her the first female POTUS—even if it comes with an asterisk
41. Student loan forgiveness for nearly 4 million Americans to the aggregate of 150 billion (so far)…His initial plan was more money to more people, but he has met unprecedented opposition from the Supreme Cult
42. Possibly the most climate conscious President ever, heavily prioritizing green initiatives from the climate bill to protecting a lot of new lands
43. Quick emergency relief with a FEMA that actually runs properly (in contrast to Trump’s sluggish Puerto Rico relief or W’s disastrous Hurricane Katrina relief)
44. Most of the job creation included in the infrastructure bill, the inflation reduction act, and the climate bill will go to red states or red districts in blue states. Almost all Republicans voted against the first two bills, and every Republican voted against the climate bill. In addition, every Republican voted against the third stimulus, despite most of them voting for the prior two under Trump
45. He has done all of this against a completely insane opposition party that has impeached his Homeland Security Secretary, (mostly) refused to certify his 2020 election victory, has heckled him at every State of the Union speech (2024’s looked like dollar beer night at Mike’s Tavern), ousted their own Speaker of the House because he wasn’t insane enough, and made locking up his only surviving son for nonsense a top priority. Hunter Biden is the only white male in U.S. history that a majority of Republicans want to see locked up for a minor gun charge
Worthy of its own mention, he’s done all of this with “the former guy” still stalking his every move. The first POTUS in American history to try to commit a coup to hang onto power was holding rallies only weeks after he left office, started his own social media company (Truth Social…funded by Chinese money), has been on Fox News near-daily, actively campaigned members of congress to block Biden legislation like the third stimulus or infrastructure bill or even the border deal (which Trump blew up), and started running for reelection the second the midterms were over.
46. And one for the future: Plans to use ARPA-H funds for his “curing cancer moonshot,” that would not only be the most miraculous thing a U.S. President has pulled off since the moon landing, but isn’t quite as far fetched as you might think after hearing the proposal.
Conclusion: That Joe Biden has been this successful with the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu, the biggest European war since WWII, and the most tense U.S. political moment since the Civil War is absolutely astounding.