No. of Recommendations: 3
Right. How lucky for Biden that COVID was long gone when he assumed the presidency.
No one claimed that. Any fair assessment of Biden's economic performance includes the recovery from Covid. But if you want to form an accurate assessment of how the economy performed under the Trump will also recognize that Covid had an enormous impact on the U.S. (and global) economy. Up until Covid, the economy under Trump was also characterized by very low unemployment and consistent economic growth, and it also featured lower prices and lower interest rates. So simply pointing to things like low unemployment and solid (though not spectacular) economic growth is not likely to be all that strong an economic performance.
If progressives think they'll be better off with Trump back in the White House, then they can sit at home, not vote, vote for a third-party candidate in protest, or whine and complain that Biden isn't progressive enough.
Or they can mobilize, coalesce, and work to reelect the only candidate who might actually help them push for the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, expanding Social Security, paid family leave, the care agenda, a $15 minimum wage, and fair taxes on the rich.
Right now, that's exactly what progressives are acting like that's what they're going to do: "sit at home, not vote, vote for a third-party candidate in protest, or whine and complain that Biden isn't progressive enough." Not because they think they'll be better off with Trump, but because Biden didn't really get them any of the things that you describe there - and almost certainly isn't going to be able to do it in a second term, either.
Many of those things were originally in the BBB/IRA legislative proposals, but they mostly got cut or whittled down to nearly nothing. That was probably unavoidable. When you're governing, you have to actually prioritize things. So when considering Green funding, the "care agenda," paid family leave, and expanding Social Security (to say nothing of the expanded child tax credit)....well, the Biden Administration prioritized the first at the expense of all the other proposals. They put their money on Green. It's not much of a surprise that their wager didn't pay off, because the types of things that the IRA will fund to fight climate change will take a long time to actually be visible (much less have an impact). Oh, and voters don't prioritize fighting climate change all that much.
As we get closer to the election, maybe the progressives will come back to the fold and be energized to strongly support Biden again. But right now, they're not - and it's no surprise that the progressive media outlets that cater to those voters aren't singing his praises. They're very unhappy with Biden's priorities, and the fact that he's governed way to the center from where they wanted him to be doesn't help.
