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Why doesn’t Joe Biden get credit for presiding over an administration that rivals only FDR’s White House when it comes to achieving legislative accomplishments designed to transform America’s economy?
In the past two years, Biden guided three bills through Congress that allocate a whopping $2T for infrastructure programs, high-tech semiconductor manufacturing, and renewable energy development.
The Economist believes “Biden’s blueprint will change America profoundly. It may succeed in helping deal with an authoritarian China, keep voters at home from embracing a more radical and destructive politics and defy the gloomier prediction about the effects of climate change.”
The magazine adds that Biden’s plan also “could save the planet.”
Yet Biden is the Rodney Dangerfield of American politics. He gets no respect.
The Washington Post/ABC poll released Feb. 6 finds that 62 percent of Americans think Biden has accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing.”
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How could that be? Frankly, I think Biden’s age has a lot to do with it.
Biden comes across as lethargic and out of it. That image of a doddering old man stands in sharp contrast to the dynamism of his massive legislative victories.
The president achieved much during his first half with the help of a Democratic Congress.
Biden will be shut out in the second half by the lunatic Republican fringe, which is hellbent on launching investigation after investigation simply because the GOP has no political agenda. It just wants to run the clock out on old Joe.
If Biden is serious about running for another term, he better hope that Donald Trump gets the GOP nomination.
He is the only guy that sleepy Joe could whip.
The Wall Street Journal follows Rupert Murdoch’s marching orders to trash and bury Trump.
VVIP Ventures and Icon Publishing on Feb. 6 agreed to buy the National Enquirer, which is described by the WSJ as “the scandal-plagued supermarket tabloid that facilitated a hush-money scheme involving former president Donald Trump.” Nicely done.
The Journal explains how the National Enquirer helped bury stories that were damaging to Trump as he ran for president in 2016.
It recalls that the scheme was to silence women who alleged affairs with Trump.
The Journal article is a little light on news about what VVIP and Icon plan to do with their new publication.
On second thought, who cares about the Enquirer?
Walt Disney Co. caves to its Chinese paymaster once again… The embattled entertainment giant cut an episode of The Simpsons that referred to “forced labor camps” from its streaming service in Hong Kong, according to the Financial Times.
The episode showed Marge Simpson taking a virtual bike class with an image of the Great Wall. The instructor says: “Behold the wonder of China. Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where children make smartphones.”
This is the second time that Disney went the self-censorship route in Hong Kong. In 2021, it cut a Simpsons’ reference to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
The 2021 Hong Kong film censorship law does not apply to streaming services.
A professor at Hong Kong Baptist University told the FT that Disney may be proactively censoring itself because it doesn’t want to jeopardize its theme park business on the mainland.
Nelson Peltz, CEO of Trian Management Fund, already has a lot on his plate as he runs his campaign to win a seat on Disney’s board.
It would be great if Nelson could ask Disney CEO Bob Iger about the company’s self-censorship policies at the upcoming annual meeting.
Does Disney only muzzle itself in China, or does it roll over for all authoritarian regimes?
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