Well, if you're being honest you know its a vastly different situation between the two. Biden has everyone in the media covering for him and mostly has the support of his own party. Trump really had no party in 2016. The media was 100% against him and Trump being a novice politician made the mistake of trusting Reince Preibus to staff his admin. That was a huge mistake in hindsight bc he was staffed with a bunch of former bush admin that were also trying to destroy him by leaking everything to the press. This time around if he doesnt get the job done it will be on him bc he should know who he can trust.bear2be2 said:Those sound an awful lot like excuses. Not unlike the excuses being made by some Democrats for Biden.muddybrazos said:You made fun of Trump for accomplishing nothing when he had rinos like Mccain and Paul Ryan trying to destroy anything he did? He also had the fraudulent Russia collusion thing trying to take him out. The guy had guns trained on him from every direction and still managed to survive. I'm honestly surprised they didnt take him out and im sure they had that option on the table.bear2be2 said:He's had a majority in both houses of congress the last two years.J.B.Katz said:Joe Biden is a consensus builder.bear2be2 said:Genuinely trying to do something you've proven incapable of doing isn't really a virtue. And the presidency is a results-driven, pass/fail job. Joe Biden has never in his overlong political career been a leader, and he's been a total failure in that capacity as president. It's OK to admit that. In fact, it's vital if the Democrats hope to move in a more positive direction in the future.J.B.Katz said:You'll get no argument from me.bear2be2 said:
The Democrats may be less bad than the Republicans right now, but they present no great alternative for anyone who is not already linked to that party by tribal affiliation.
Republicans are dominated by one very bad personality who has forced unity, but to a bad purpose: His own personal power.
Democrats lack coherent, unified leadership.
I don't blame that on Biden. He's not a dynamo, but I have less contempt for Biden than I do on some old-school Senate and Congressional leaders who aren't grappling with the new reality of the clear and present danger to American democracy Judge Luttig identified.
Biden is genuinely trying to lead at a time when that's hard not only b/c Republicans have tried to delegitimize his presidency (a strategy they employed very successfully with Obama, who was too cerebral and cool and calm and collected to fight fire with fire and counter the obstruction and blatant racism he and his family dealt with effectively).
I envision Biden as the overly patient parent of a bunch of truculent toddlers who is trying to walk forward while they're clinging to his legs kicking and screaming. The Senate won't pass measures to combat inflation / price gouging / other economic ills cuz that might make Biden look good & they want him to look worse than they do at the mid-terms. The balancing act of helping Ukraine is a hard one, since we only have Europe working with us. https://giphy.com/gifs/chordoverstreet-chord-overstreet-26FLgGTPUDH6UGAbm
Infrastructure would seem a no-brainer, but Republicans wouldn't vote for it b/c it would make Biden look good. Trump's attempt at an infrastructure initiative was half-hearted and he blew it up himself.
Obstruction has been McConnell's strategy since Obama was elected. At some point, people get tired of angry theater, gay-bashing, dog-whistle racism and reducing women to the status of "vessels" and they want to see some progress on bridges that don't collapse and parks that reflect thousands of years of natural heritage washing away in a couple of days and want to see some progress on basic survival issues. What's the Republican plan for that? More laws stopping confused kids from using the wrong bathroom?
That's how he leads.
You can't build consensus when the other party refuses flatly to work with you, and denies, even though they know better, that you even won the election.
The miracle is that he's accomplished as much as he has given the fact that he's had to do it in dealing with a Congress where about a third of the members claim to believe the Big Lie and more than that refuse to act like Biden is president b/c they care more about winning their next election and not getting primaried by Trump than they do about dealing with a global pandemic, climate change, a worldwide economy in free-fall, Putin invading Ukraine and committing war crimes, Xi shutting down China if there's a hint of COVID (I'm strongly in favor of masks and vax, but China's response to COVID is bizarre), Yellowstone washing away, Lake Mead evaporating, etc etc.
These guys are behaving like there's no tomorrow. I hope the 1-6 commission succeeds in preventing Trump from running for office and then we'll see if Republicans are going to continue to cater to goons and loons.
We rightly made fun of Trump when he accomplished next to nothing legislatively with majorities in both houses of congress. We can't make excuses for Biden when the same thing happens.