Harken back, if you will, to a few months ago when senile President Joe Biden’s poll numbers were safely above water, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, or Wuhan, if you prefer) virus appeared to be under control and on the wane and Democrat congressional leaders were primed to push spending legislation that would codify their wildest socialist fantasies.
Republicans were in disarray at the time, frustrated at being unable to prevent Nancy Pelosi from passing anything she wanted to in the House but also buoyed (somewhat) by having stopped most of the Democrats’ obviously destructive measures, such as the disastrous H.R. 1/S.R. 1 “voting rights” bill that would have federalized election law and turned over oversight of new state voter integrity laws to Joe Biden’s Justice Department’s so-called Civil Rights division.
Earlier in the year, the Democrats did pass their $1.9 trillion COVID “relief” package without any Republican support, but it didn’t appear that much else could squeak through with just liberal votes alone, since the filibuster was still un-nuked in the senate and GOP leaders had a decent hold on their caucuses when they chose to use their powers.
Meanwhile, a social media-less former president Donald Trump was still around, commenting through press releases and beginning to hold public rallies where his crowds were every bit as enthusiastic for him as they were on Election Day last November. Trump played coy whenever queried about his intentions for the 2024 presidential election, but his command of the base made any such possibility formidable.
Then came the battle over the “bipartisan” infrastructure bill where senate RINOs roared and cooperated with Democrats to avoid a filibuster and give Biden what looked to be his lone legislative accomplishment outside of his first hundred days. Giddy with optimism, Chucky Schumer got together with Bernie Sanders and his pals and assembled a $3.5 trillion budget resolution package to add salt to conservatives’ wounds.
House Democrats briefly disagreed over which bloated boondoggle proposal should be prioritized and passed first, but Nanny Pelosi ultimately got her wish on both fronts.
Then came Afghanistan. Cracks in Biden’s approval wall emerged at the beginning of August and then widened into full-on fissures when the Afghani government collapsed in record time, leaving the president’s decision-making open to criticism from all sides. Bumbling Joe couldn’t explain his thinking, couldn’t keep his vow to safeguard all Americans and allies in the region and then doubled down on his administration’s grievous handling of the controversy, no doubt to the utter annoyance of his handlers.
Now, the “Happy days are here again” aura of the Democrats’ late spring and early summer is completely gone. Biden can’t stop putting his foot in his mouth, and Schumer and Pelosi are battling mighty unhappy outliers in both chambers. Does Biden have enough political juice left to revive the good tidings?
“President Biden’s sagging approval ratings, especially among independents, are raising questions about his ability to move his agenda through a House and Senate where centrist and liberal Democrats are battling one another.
“Democrats aren’t running away from the president, but the approval rating hit could make it tougher for Biden to muscle moderates such as Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) who are balking at the $3.5 trillion cost of his budget reconciliation measure...
“An NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll published last week showed Biden’s approval rating dropping to 36 percent in August from 46 percent in July among independents, while a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed 36 percent of independents approve of Biden overall while 57 percent disapprove. The polls showed Biden’s overall approval rating at 43 percent and 44 percent, respectively, the lowest of his presidency.”
Oh gosh, the people at the White House have another thing to worry about now. Just as they’re trying desperately to move away from discussing Afghanistan and onto friendlier issue territory like federal aid for hurricane victims and national measures to combat “climate change”, instead they’re forced to confront members of their own party who are slowly edging away from the far left’s knee-jerk default position of “we need this now or else!”
The usual suspects are causing the uproar, namely Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, the latter having published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal recently suggesting the Democrats put their ambitious big, big, BIG spending schemes on hold to calmly assess how the money dumping would impact the economy and inflation. You can almost hear the shrieks of anguish from “Chucky” Schumer as he shouted “NO WAY!” to no one in particular.
Manchin (and maybe Sinema?) mentioned that the $3.5 trillion figure is way too high, indicating that West Virginia Joe might withhold his consent until the number is pared down considerably. It’s been reported that Manchin wants the package to be between a mere one and two trillion. Since the other “bipartisan” legislation is still in the proverbial pipeline, combined that’s an additional $2 trillion in spending regardless!
No conservative should ever vote for either of these monsters, since it’s “social” welfare outlays as well as a pittance for “traditional” infrastructure.
There are other urgent concerns, of course, none of which Democrats appear to be troubled over. The federal fiscal year concludes at the end of this month, so another government funding agreement will need to be passed to keep the lights on. Rumor has it that the DC pols from both parties will agree to a continuing resolution that funds Uncle Sam until November or December, when they’ll go at it over the same things. It’s basically kicking the can down the road -- again -- just like they’ve done for years.
And don’t forget raising the debt ceiling! None other than Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin herself “warned” congressional leaders that the U.S. could default on servicing the national debt in October if the roof isn’t raised on the borrowing limit. Mitch McConnell has repeatedly indicated that Republicans won’t help do it since Democrats have loaded up the budget resolution bill with leftwing goodies without any GOP input. Who knows how it will work out? Democrats can increase the ceiling as part of the bigger stand-alone budget agreement with only their votes needed.
A full default won’t happen in any case. But the political establishment wants you to think it will.
As if this weren’t juicy enough, Nancy Pelosi suggested she might be open to a bill somewhat smaller than the $3.5 trillion price, a clear indicator that she doesn’t believe she has the votes to please all the lefties. The 81-year-old Speaker recognizes that this is her final rodeo as the House’s head honcho and will personally bring an axe to the “negotiations” between the two chambers if it means she’ll get most of what she wants.
The ones who’re left out can eat cake, right?
A blind man could see that the pressure’s being applied because of senile Joe’s rapidly descending approval ratings. That darn Afghanistan! Who cares about those people anyway! Half of them probably still dwell in caves and don’t even wear real shoes on their feet! What’re their lives and comfort against the Democrats’ ability to pork-up a spending bill and bring home the bacon for their constituencies?
And here’s thinking Biden’s popularity downward trend won’t suddenly reverse itself. Democrats take comfort in the fact Donald Trump’s approval ratings were somewhat worse than Joe’s at this stage in his first year. But these are two different presidencies and two sets of diverging circumstances. Trump’s approval ratings went up and down according to the degree to which the media hyped some personality issue or misstep specifically attributed to the orange man himself (and look, he’s no longer orange!). Biden’s approval drop is issue oriented. That’s bad for Democrats.
Trump was battling the inane “Russian collusion” charges in the latter half of his first year. What problem does Biden possess that isn’t of his own making? He’s seen as a blowhard and a liar on COVID-19 and Dr. Anthony Fauci has been lying all along about government funding of “gain of function” research in the Wuhan lab, too. Wanna strap on that mask because the NIH and CDC tells you to do it?
Joe Biden has to manage the issues, the circumstances and the divisions in his own party to get anything done on the spending front. And he’s got to do it in a tight timeframe, too. It’s a lot to ask of the mentally and physically flailing 78-year-old. If he doesn’t think it already, senile Joe will wish the fraudsters hadn’t been so effective last year. Don’t you feel pity for him?
Democrats
$3.5 trillion budget resolution
Joe Manchin
Kyrsten Sinema
Donald Trump
Nancy Pelosi
bipartisan infrastructure bill
federal deficit
national debt
Biden approval ratings
Dr. Anthony Fauci
vaccine mandates
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