Bidenomics is the new Obamacare.

June 29, 2023

          Part of the GOP effort to disparage the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to tie the program specifically to President Obama by creating the label “Obamacare.” Originally intended as an insult, “Obamacare” has now become synonymous with “access to health insurance.” Although Republicans have stubbornly refused to acknowledge the success of Obamacare (even as they depend on its benefits), “Obamacare” is now viewed favorably by 60% of all American adults—the high-water mark for almost any policy in our fractious society. See KFF Health Tracking Poll: The Public’s Views on the ACA.

          So, too, with “Bidenomics”—a term created by Republicans to tie Biden to inflation and high gas prices. But as the economy has continued a historic stretch of expansion and improvement—especially for middle-class Americans, Biden has embraced the term “Bidenomics” as a badge of honor. As they say, “Eighty is the new sixty” and “Bidenomics is the new Obamacare.”

          On a day when President Biden gave a major speech in Chicago embracing the term Bidenomics, the White House released a brag sheet entitled, “Bidenomics Is Working: The President’s Plan Grows the Economy from the Middle Out and Bottom Up—Not the Top Down.” The press release described Bidenomics as follows:

[Bidenomics] is an economic vision centered around three key pillars:

• Making smart public investments in America

• Empowering and educating workers to grow the middle class

• Promoting competition to lower costs and help entrepreneurs and small businesses thrive

While our work isn’t finished, Bidenomics is already delivering for the American people. Our economy has added more than 13 million jobs—including nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs—and we’ve unleashed a manufacturing and clean energy boom. There were more than 10 million applications for new small businesses filed in 2021 and 2022—the strongest two years on record. America has seen the strongest growth since the pandemic of any leading economy in the world. Inflation has fallen for 11 straight months and has come down by more than half. And we have done it all while responsibly reducing the deficit.

President Biden believes in a fundamentally different approach. Under Bidenomics, he has proven that we can make smart investments in the American people while reducing the deficit by ensuring the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes, closing wasteful tax loopholes, and slashing wasteful spending on special interests.

          It is worth ten minutes of your time to read the entire press release—its content will become the substance of Biden’s campaign pitch for 2024.

          Dan Pfeiffer of Pod Save America posted an analysis with charts and graphs in an accessible, shareable format. See Dan Pfeiffer, The Message Box, The Biden Economy: What You Need to Know. Pfeiffer distills Bidenomics to the following:

• Inflation is down.

• Jobs are up.

• Manufacturing is back.

• Consumer confidence is up.

• Republicans want more tax cuts for the wealthy.

          E.J. Dionne Jr. penned an op-ed in WaPo that described the quiet revolution of Bidenomics, If ‘Bidenomics’ works, it will be a very big deal. Dionne writes:

“President Biden might not seem like a revolutionary, but he is presiding over a fundamental change in the nation’s approach to economics. Not only is he proposing a major break from the “trickle-down” policies of Ronald Reagan, as Biden highlighted in a speech in Chicago on Wednesday. He is also departing from many orthodoxies that shaped the presidencies of Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

“Government is no longer shying away from pushing investment toward specific goals and industries. Spending on public works is back in fashion. New free-trade treaties are no longer at the heart of the nation’s international strategy. Challenging monopolies and providing support for unionization efforts are higher priorities.

          “On Wednesday [in his Chicago speech], he stressed they are producing well-paying jobs for those who have been on the short end of economic growth: Americans without college degrees and those living in places with “hollowed out” economies.”

          One sure sign that Bidenomics is working is that Republicans who opposed Biden’s signature legislative achievements are now trying to take credit for those accomplishments. Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville tweeted to his constituents,

“Broadband is vital for the success of our rural communities and for our entire economy. Great to see Alabama receive crucial funds to boost ongoing broadband efforts.”

          Senator Tuberville twice voted against the Biden bill containing funds for broadband in rural areas. President Biden responded to the Tuberville tweet with his own tweet, saying “See you at the groundbreaking.”

          Despite the successes of Bidenomics, it is difficult for the slow work of rebuilding the economy to rise above the daily drama of Russian rebellions, Trump indictments, and new tragedies involving the Titanic. Each of us should help spread the word of Biden’s successes. Sharing Dan Pfeiffer’s article (above) is a good place to start. And Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium Chronicles is always a reliable source of data and talking points relating to Democratic successes. Don’t be shy about sharing the good news of Bidenomics!

The havoc created by Justice Thomas in Bruen.

          In New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, Justice Thomas adopted an extremist view of the Second Amendment that prohibits any regulation of firearms that does not have a “historical analog” from 1791, when the Second Amendment was ratified. The practical effect of Thomas’s ruling is to ban virtually all regulations of firearms unless exhaustive historical research reveals a historical precedent. But, as one federal judge recently noted, judges are not historians, so imposing that evidentiary standard is unworkable and unfair.

          Mark Joseph Stern takes a deep dive into an opinion by Judge Carlton Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi in which Judge Reeves expresses his displeasure with Justice Thomas’s ruling in Bruen. See Slate, A federal judge Calls Clarence Thomas’ bluff on gun Rights and originalism. If you are interested in the jurisprudence of gun regulation, I highly recommend Stern’s article. Here is a preview of Judge Reeves’s opinion:

The justices of the Supreme Court, distinguished as they may be, are not trained historians. [Federal judges] lack both the methodological and substantive knowledge that historians possess. The sifting of evidence that judges perform is different than the sifting of sources and methodologies that historians perform. And we are not experts in what white, wealthy, and male property owners thought about firearms regulation in 1791. Yet we are now expected to play historian in the name of constitutional adjudication.

          Stern punctuates Judge Reeves’s criticism, noting

Reeves, who is Black, will not pretend that he can divine the intentions of dead white men from the 1790s. His candor—respectful and eloquent as it is—puts Justice Thomas’ fake history to shame.

Rudy Giuliani may be cooperating with special prosecutor Jack Smith.

          In a potentially significant development, Rudy Giuliani sat for a voluntary interview with special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutors. As explained by the NYTimes, Giuliani did so in the context of a “proffer” of testimony he would give if granted immunity or a plea deal. See NYTimes, Giuliani Sat for Voluntary Interview in Jan. 6 Investigation. (This article is accessible to everyone.)

          According to the Times, Giuliani provided information regarding the fake electors plot and the “war room” in the Willard Hotel from which Giuliani, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, and others planned Trump's attempted coup.

          Although details are scarce, a reasonable inference is that Giuliani is cooperating because other witnesses have implicated Giuliani in criminal activity. Cooperating witnesses may include Mark Meadows, who is in a position to incriminate Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, and others.

          If it is true that Jack Smith has multiple cooperating witnesses, he may be on the verge of blowing open the case against Trump on the fake electors’ plot. Why? Because once potential defendants start cooperating with Jack Smith, the last people standing are the ones who will be defendants in criminal prosecutions.

          This is a truly significant development that suggests that Smith will seek indictments against multiple defendants in the fake electors plot (at the least). If so, Trump will become a weaker candidate among independent voters and less likely to win in a general election. But it will do nothing to weaken his death grip on the GOP. Read on!

Kevin McCarthy begs for forgiveness from Trump after suggesting that other GOP candidates may be more electable in a general election.

          In an interview on Tuesday, Kevin McCarthy spoke the truth for about five seconds when he said that Trump might not be the “strongest” GOP candidate in the 2024 general election. Trump's staff immediately set McCarthy aflame, who promptly made a mea culpa appearance on Steve Bannon’s radio show. McCarthy also called Trump to apologize, a gesture that failed to placate Trump. See Talking Points Memo, McCarthy Scrambles To Apologize, Do Damage Control After Questioning Trump’s Strength.

          The point is not that McCarthy has the backbone of a sea sponge. It is that the (nominally) most powerful elected Republican cannot even admit the possibility that Trump might not be the strongest candidate without being forced to make a public apology. Trump is likely to be indicted again—an eventuality that he has begun to prepare his followers to accept. On Tuesday, he told a crowd in New Hampshire, “There could be others coming, like for a perfect phone call,” a reference to his effort to tamper with the election results in Georgia.

          Here’s the point: More than a dozen GOP contenders have joined the primary race in the belief that Trump will eventually be forced out because of indictments. As Oscar Wilde might say, their candidacies represente the ‘triumph of hope over experience.’ If Trump's followers were not shaken by Access Hollywood, extorting Ukraine, inciting insurrection, civil liability for sexual abuse, and indictment for retaining defense secrets, they will not be bothered additional indictments.

Update on the Russian rebellion.

          The Institute for the Study of War reports that the “deal” between Prigozhin and Putin is still being negotiated. See Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 28, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War.

          Separately, the Moscow Times is reporting that a top general was arrested because he had foreknowledge of Prigozhin’s plans. See Moscow Times, Russian General Arrested Following Wagner Mutiny.

          Disclaimer: All the above may be disinformation circulated by supporters and opponents of Putin. Take the reports with a block of salt.

 Concluding Thoughts.

          The constant hum of investigations into Trump's many crimes is obscuring one of the great modern presidencies. Historians will look back in wonder at what Biden achieved in a presidency that began mid-pandemic before the smoke of a failed coup and insurrection had cleared. Despite those obstacles, his legislative record rivals or exceeds that of every president since FDR—a president who was mired in controversy throughout his tenure. Biden is not perfect—far from it. No president is, so let’s stop obsessing about manufactured controversies and start amplifying the larger truths of Biden’s accomplishments. That is a winning strategy for 2024.

          My Managing Editor and I will be traveling to Boston on Thursday and I may write the newsletter in flight. Tomorrow’s newsletter may therefore be late, short, and filled with typoes. Talk to you tomorrow!