The Democratic rout and the specter of Trump 2.0

On this Thanksgiving day in the United States, Democrats have little reason to thank Providence. If all is not lost, time is running out.

All is not rosy for Joe Biden and his party. Satisfaction with the president has languished between 42% and 45% since September, and the chances of retaining control of Congress next year are dwindling. To add insult to injury, some polls indicate Donald Trump would win out over Biden if the election takes place today.

In short, things are going badly for the Democrats and if some of their setbacks are out of their control, the fall is also largely attributable to their own mistakes and a change of direction is needed on their part to avoid the United States and the whole world. a return to the specter of Trump.

Bad luck and bad faith

The bad luck plaguing Democrats is not entirely surprising. It’s normal, for example, for the president’s popularity to fade a bit after a few months in office, but Biden’s drop in approval ratings is the second worst since the invention of the polls, after Trump’s.

It’s also normal to expect losses for the presidential party in the midterm legislative elections, but one would expect Republican members of Congress to pay, if only a tiny price, for the sad spectacle they have been offering for a few months.

It is also a bit ironic that Republicans are now seeking political capital with the most recent waves of COVID-19, when it is they who stand in the way of the most effective measures to curb the virus.

Democrats would be wrong, however, to blame their misfortunes only on the bad luck or bad faith of their opponents.

Course errors

History will judge whether the management of the withdrawal from Afghanistan justified the slaps launched in the direction of Biden, but it must be admitted that he sold his share poorly. It is also true for the other good blows of his administration, that the democratic propagandists have rather badly succeeded in making perceive to the population.

Employment has rebounded since January, but the Biden administration could and should have anticipated better that the strong pressure from demand for goods was going to lead to the inflation we are experiencing today.

It is even more certain that the Democrats suffer from the internal divisions which they have exposed in broad daylight since the beginning of the debate on their gargantuan bill of social reforms.

Instead of focusing on all the elements of this project that are widely supported by public opinion, the only thing the electorate took away from this process is the factional bickering of the party.

Some hopes

Despite everything, there are still a few snatches of light at the end of the tunnel in which the Democrats seem to have become entangled.

First, the failures of the economic recovery should be corrected when the supply of local services returns. It’s likely that Biden’s second big bill will pass, and Democrats will then have several months to sell their popular achievements in physical infrastructure and social policies – assuming they get rid of the wacky label of radicals of the left that their opponents insist on joining them.

We must also not forget that if the multitude of investigations into serious crimes against Donald Trump and several members of his entourage (especially in the case of the violent attack on the Capitol) end up coming out of their exasperating torpor, the election data could be significantly different in the fall of 2022.

In the meantime, Democrats will have to content themselves with thanking Providence that things are not worse for them.