On Top of Everything Else, This Economy Sucks

A year ago this week, I wrote this and asked you to bookmark it:

A quick reminder that under Joe Biden, America has thrived in a lot of ways.

For the record:

— Employment is way up.

— Unemployment is way down.

— Wages are way up.

— Inflation is down (peaked 2 years ago).

— Stock market and personal spending are way up.

— Border crossings are way down.

— Deportations are way up.

— Crime is way down.

— Domestic energy production is at its best level ever.

Trump’s messianic inaugural speech shouldn’t fool anyone. He is inheriting a very strong America.

A lot has changed since then, and all of it—beyond just these benchmarks of a normal presidency—is for the worse. Much, much worse. I don’t really need to remind you, but I will anyway. A President who previously tried to overturn an election he lost and incited an insurrection at the Capitol has:

• pardoned and released thousands of criminals back onto our streets.

• illegally eliminated large swaths of the federal government.

• illegally imposed sweeping tariffs, often entirely punitively (more on these in a minute).

• launched an illegal crypto scheme to profit off the office.

• unleashed a masked army of unidentified federal agents into our cities to violate the Constitutional rights of both immigrants and American citizens.

• commandeered the Department of Justice to go after his political enemies on spurious charges.

• sued media organizations, defunded universities, and rescinded visas for speech he doesn’t like.

• unilaterally demolished the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom literally no one wants.

• convinced red states to redistrict mid-decade and is demanding that states turn over their voter rolls to the federal government.

• illegally invaded a sovereign country, Venezuela, to steal its oil, directing the profits to himself.

• threatened to invade Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, and now Greenland because he didn’t win a Nobel Peace Prize.

• actively shielded pedophiles—including himself (most likely)—from justice.

This is obviously a very incomplete list, but you get the picture.

Now, let’s assume that all the folks who voted for Donald Trump are okay with every single autocratic, cruel, fascist, narcissistic, unconstitutional, un-American thing listed here and beyond. And to be sure, many of them are, but let’s assume for the sake of argument that all of them are. The one thing they were willing to accept all of this for, to a person, was the economy.

Every single Trump supporter I talked to in the summer and fall of 2024, when I was campaigning for Kamala Harris, mentioned the economy as a top concern. Yes, they brought up other things too—the border, trans issues, Biden’s age, Harris’ “inexperience,” Democrats’ elitism. But across the board, they said, “It’s the economy, Joe. I can’t afford anything. Not even the basics. Why should I care about the democracy stuff when I don’t even know if I’ll be able to pay my bills next month?”

The economy. They were willing to look past everything else for the economy. And look, I can’t begrudge someone who is genuinely concerned about feeding their kids. I get it. I was the poorest Member of Congress back when I served. I’m no stranger to money problems. But as Americans, we have to do both. We have to care about the economy and about democracy. As members of a free society, we have to care about both. That’s the price we must pay for liberty. We have to stay informed and engaged and care about all of it.

So let’s take a look at where the economy is now...