from Sarah: Democrats must understand that their destiny will be determined by economics, not demographics.
Fact check True. Dems getting the economics right is neccessary but insufficient.
The Dems continue to drift left and continue to become less and less popular. On economics, Dems do not have an economic policy that makes any sense to…
from Sarah: Democrats must understand that their destiny will be determined by economics, not demographics.
Fact check True. Dems getting the economics right is neccessary but insufficient.
The Dems continue to drift left and continue to become less and less popular. On economics, Dems do not have an economic policy that makes any sense to me. As far as I can tell they have no idea of any sort for the supply side of the economic equation. It is all demand side stimulus which was the problem in the Biden Admin. All demand side stimulus, zero supply side. This was not always the case. I was not fan of Bill Clintons and lord knows the man has many personal failings. But he left office with his polices quite popular. And what were those? He championed NAFTA which was a significant supply side stimulus. In addition, Clinton did other moderate things like signed welfare reform, signed a border-enforcement-focused immigration bill and of course negotiated a balanced budget agreement with Newt flipping Gingrich. He led American forces in Bosnia and took military action against Sadam Hussein. All of that and he Sister Souljaed the extreme Left of his Party. That is what a centrist President looks like.
Sure, he got lucky with cheap oil prices (supply side stimulus) and Y2K which resulted in a ton of B-to-B business spending which goosed the economy. Still, can you imagine a Democrat today doing any of what Clinton did?
Biden did the opposite of Clinton. He did not champion free trade, was not fiscally responsible, had a reckless border policy until the last 6 months of his administration, did not Sister Souljah the far Left on its most radial cultural positions including the false accusations and ahistorical comments about Israel which only activated anti Jewish sentiment among his base. It was not just Biden of course. Dems from Senator Van Holland to the pro-Hamas protestors all made the false claims about Israel killing Palestinians indiscriminately and committed war crimes which was never true (and which has again and again been disproven). If ever there needed to be a Sister Souljah moment for Biden, it was on Israel. Biden bugged out of Afghanistan against the advice of his military generals and irresponsibly in my view. Meanwhile Democratic governance in progressive states like CA and OR is so bad, Ezra Klein was prompted to write a book about it. In Oregon, it has been continues Democratic rule since the mid 1990’s and in that time the schools are an embarrassment, taxes keep going up for worse and worse outcomes, the business climate has collapsed and public safety was compromised until we elected a moderate DA. Progressive polices don’t work.
It seems to me a mistake to look past the far progressive drift of the Democratic Party and why that drift has made it so unpopular and to therefore, call out the Progressive wing of the Dem Party. If its unpopularity and loss to the Trumpy Repubs is not a wake up call, I don’t know what will be.
What the hell are you taking about? Literally, what the hell are you talking about? Biden was more pro- free trade than Trump. The problem with your "supply side" argument is that the pandemic nuked the supply chain. Even with that, though, Biden used defense spending to get supplies moving from shipyards and factories to retailers. Much of Biden's stimulus was B-to-B. And the family tax credits was money that went directly into family spending.
Look, the economy under Biden was objectively good The inflation wasn't the result of the stimulus. It was the result of a pandemic. Things like that happen, and when they do, it's expensive. The stock market was way up; people were taking vacations at record rates; he addressed inflation better than just about every other First World country.
And for all of your comparisons to Clinton, Bill wasn't able to "smooth the landing" during the 2000 dot com bust. Biden achieved the unicorn– the smooth landing that many economists thought wasn't possible.
On places like Oregon and California, they have their problems, but you and I both would prefer living in either state to living in Mississippi or Alabama.
In all seriousness, the problem wasn't the economy. It wasn't Biden's age. Or Kamala's comments on trans people. Americans voted for Trump b/c they find politics boring. They found Biden boring. They wanted reality TV instead of actual reality.
And indeed, if President Trump was the most protectionist president since World War II, President Biden was the second-most. Biden did not repeal very many of the Trump tariffs that were imposed in the first Trump term, and he didn’t reopen the Trans-Pacific Partnership that was the real answer to the problem of how we integrate China peacefully into the world trading system.
Biden, in many ways, was quite continuous with Trump on trade, and he was because there are people in the Democratic Party who wanted to be
As the Grateful Dead sings: you ain't gonna learn what do you don't want to know
from Sarah: Democrats must understand that their destiny will be determined by economics, not demographics.
Fact check True. Dems getting the economics right is neccessary but insufficient.
The Dems continue to drift left and continue to become less and less popular. On economics, Dems do not have an economic policy that makes any sense to me. As far as I can tell they have no idea of any sort for the supply side of the economic equation. It is all demand side stimulus which was the problem in the Biden Admin. All demand side stimulus, zero supply side. This was not always the case. I was not fan of Bill Clintons and lord knows the man has many personal failings. But he left office with his polices quite popular. And what were those? He championed NAFTA which was a significant supply side stimulus. In addition, Clinton did other moderate things like signed welfare reform, signed a border-enforcement-focused immigration bill and of course negotiated a balanced budget agreement with Newt flipping Gingrich. He led American forces in Bosnia and took military action against Sadam Hussein. All of that and he Sister Souljaed the extreme Left of his Party. That is what a centrist President looks like.
Sure, he got lucky with cheap oil prices (supply side stimulus) and Y2K which resulted in a ton of B-to-B business spending which goosed the economy. Still, can you imagine a Democrat today doing any of what Clinton did?
Biden did the opposite of Clinton. He did not champion free trade, was not fiscally responsible, had a reckless border policy until the last 6 months of his administration, did not Sister Souljah the far Left on its most radial cultural positions including the false accusations and ahistorical comments about Israel which only activated anti Jewish sentiment among his base. It was not just Biden of course. Dems from Senator Van Holland to the pro-Hamas protestors all made the false claims about Israel killing Palestinians indiscriminately and committed war crimes which was never true (and which has again and again been disproven). If ever there needed to be a Sister Souljah moment for Biden, it was on Israel. Biden bugged out of Afghanistan against the advice of his military generals and irresponsibly in my view. Meanwhile Democratic governance in progressive states like CA and OR is so bad, Ezra Klein was prompted to write a book about it. In Oregon, it has been continues Democratic rule since the mid 1990’s and in that time the schools are an embarrassment, taxes keep going up for worse and worse outcomes, the business climate has collapsed and public safety was compromised until we elected a moderate DA. Progressive polices don’t work.
It seems to me a mistake to look past the far progressive drift of the Democratic Party and why that drift has made it so unpopular and to therefore, call out the Progressive wing of the Dem Party. If its unpopularity and loss to the Trumpy Repubs is not a wake up call, I don’t know what will be.
What the hell are you taking about? Literally, what the hell are you talking about? Biden was more pro- free trade than Trump. The problem with your "supply side" argument is that the pandemic nuked the supply chain. Even with that, though, Biden used defense spending to get supplies moving from shipyards and factories to retailers. Much of Biden's stimulus was B-to-B. And the family tax credits was money that went directly into family spending.
Look, the economy under Biden was objectively good The inflation wasn't the result of the stimulus. It was the result of a pandemic. Things like that happen, and when they do, it's expensive. The stock market was way up; people were taking vacations at record rates; he addressed inflation better than just about every other First World country.
And for all of your comparisons to Clinton, Bill wasn't able to "smooth the landing" during the 2000 dot com bust. Biden achieved the unicorn– the smooth landing that many economists thought wasn't possible.
On places like Oregon and California, they have their problems, but you and I both would prefer living in either state to living in Mississippi or Alabama.
In all seriousness, the problem wasn't the economy. It wasn't Biden's age. Or Kamala's comments on trans people. Americans voted for Trump b/c they find politics boring. They found Biden boring. They wanted reality TV instead of actual reality.
I am not comparing Biden to Trump. I am comparing Biden to Bill Clinton on trade (and other issues). Biden was terrbile on trade and spending.
The American Rescuse Plan was a mistake. Just ask Larry Summers who predicted it.
Noah Smith:
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-americans-can-cease-being-rich
From David Frum just today in The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/05/david-frum-show-trumps-national-security-disaster/682868/
And indeed, if President Trump was the most protectionist president since World War II, President Biden was the second-most. Biden did not repeal very many of the Trump tariffs that were imposed in the first Trump term, and he didn’t reopen the Trans-Pacific Partnership that was the real answer to the problem of how we integrate China peacefully into the world trading system.
Biden, in many ways, was quite continuous with Trump on trade, and he was because there are people in the Democratic Party who wanted to be
As the Grateful Dead sings: you ain't gonna learn what do you don't want to know