Joe Biden Had a Very Good Week

The New Hampshire primary, a major union endorsement and strong economic reports give the president reason for optimism

President Joe Biden traveled to Superior, Wisconsin, yesterday to tout his economic agenda. (Photo by Stephen Maturen via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden pushed for South Carolina—the racially diverse state that ignited his 2020 campaign—to host the first Democratic primary. When New Hampshire Democrats proceeded to go first anyway, without Biden’s name on the ballot, the party infighting could have led to an embarrassing outcome.

But no: Biden garnered 64 percent of the total on Tuesday as a result of voters’ enthusiastic write-ins. The unremarkable Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips pulled in nearly 20 percent while spiritual self-help author Marianne Williamson attracted 4 percent.

This was just one of many signs this week that there may be more enthusiasm for Biden, America’s pro-democracy candidate, than many have imagined. (In my latest “Media Misses” video, Mark Jacob and I look at an extreme example of this skepticism: CNN’s Abby Philips claimed on Tuesday’s primary night that “nobody wants Trump, nobody wants Biden.”)

In fact, while the petty, sociopathic tyrant Donald Trump was dishing out insults in his GOP “victory” speech about Nikki Haley who came in a solid second—aggrieved that she was refusing to abandon the race so every Republican would instantly anoint him king—the independents, Democrats and minority of Republicans who chose to vote for Haley provided a picture of how they view America and what moves them. Their views, revealed in the exit polls, offer a compelling expression of support for Biden and what he’s accomplished in the last three years.

Consider the facts: 81 percent of those who said the nation’s economic conditions are good supported Haley and 76 percent who were satisfied about “the way things are going in the U.S.” also were for Haley. And 78 percent of Haley backers think Biden was legitimately elected, while 94 percent said they would be dissatisfied if Trump won the nomination. These voters were talking about Haley, but you can see how these responses indicate most of them will support Biden in the fall.

Note the sour contrast of the pro-Trump voters: 89 percent who said the economy is poor supported Trump, as did 80 percent of those who are angry about how things are going in the U.S. The Trump backers—which represent 74 percent of the Republican voters surveyed—said overwhelmingly (85 percent) that Biden was not legitimately elected.

It’s also worth noting that 13 percent of the Trump backers said he would not be “fit for presidency” if he is convicted of a crime.

Donald Trump is “a scab,” the United Auto Workers’ president Shawn Fain said during his full-throated endorsement of Biden Wednesday, recalling Trump trying to con workers by appearing at a non-union shop during the UAW workers’ strike last fall. “This election is about who will stand up with us and who will stand in our way.”

This followed Biden’s unprecedented decision to join the picket line last September and describe himself as the “most pro-union president in history.” His hand is strengthened by this endorsement from the 400,000-plus-member autoworkers’ union, which achieved a 25 percent increase in base wages and a cumulative increase in the top wage by 33 percent as a result of its six-week strike.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration also announced that more than 21 million people had signed up for health coverage as a result of the increasingly popular Affordable Care Act (ACA). This record enrollment rose 5 million over last year and is part of an 80 percent surge since 2021 when millions lost Medicaid coverage and Biden expanded available subsidies. “The American people have made it clear: they don’t want the Affordable Care Act weakened and repealed—they want it strengthened and protected,” Biden said in a statement.

And what of his likely opponent, who threatened and failed to repeal the ACA, better known as Obamacare, and never came up with an alternate plan, despite many empty promises? Here’s what Trump posted last November on his Truth Social platform: “I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!”

Uh-huh. The rising enrollment numbers released this week make clear what the country thinks.

Speaking of rising numbers, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported yesterday that gross domestic product grew by 3.3 percent in the last three months of 2023, faster than many anticipated and largely driven by energetic consumer spending, a strong job market and and rising wages.

As The Washington Post put it, this offers “fresh evidence that federal policymakers have managed to bring down inflation and secure a ‘soft landing’ without major repercussions for workers or the economy.” The BEA also reported that the annualized inflation rate dropped to 1.7 percent in the last three months of the year, the lowest rate since the second quarter of 2020.

It remains to be seen whether Biden will ever get credit from a skeptical public that still continues to believe that Republicans are better for the economy. But Biden garnered new achievements this week, providing him powerful talking points to get his point across.

“Wages, wealth, and employment are higher now than they were before the pandemic,” Biden said yesterday in a statement. “That’s good news for American families and American workers.”

In Wisconsin yesterday, Biden added, “My predecessor recently said he was hoping for the economy to crash…He said he hoped it would happen soon while I was still president…America now has the strongest growth and the lowest inflation rate of any major economy in the world.”

Let’s hope that Biden can successfully tout that message all over the country in the coming months, including among the billionaires who were at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week. Jamie Dimon, the influential CEO and chair of JP Morgan Chase, had plenty of praise for the last occupant of the White House.

“Take a step back, be honest,” Dimon told the private jet and yacht crowd. “He was kind of right about NATO, kind of right on immigration. He grew the economy quite well. Trade tax reform worked. He was right about some of China.”

This is the kind of crazy talk you hear when the rich and powerful think that Donald Trump could end up in the White House again and they need to curry favor. This is self-serving denial of the potential dangers of a fascist dictatorship if Trump retakes the levers of power.

Even on a very good week, each of us—including Biden—must keep in mind there’s no rest for the weary.

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