Biden, winning by the numbers
The America Donald Trump claims that you are living in is not the America you actually are living in. He paints a misleading portrait of a land beset by crime and fear and despair, of no hope and Depression-like economic conditions. He falsely bad-mouths the country to convince people that Joe Biden has destroyed the nation and only he, the great Trump, returned to power, can redeem it.
His doom and gloom is all for effect, to boost his chances with voters who might be so tricked. Trump, a salesman all his life, is trying to sell this lie to put himself back in the Oval Office. Don’t buy it. In fact, the country in which we live is doing quite well, thank you, in a few crucial areas.
First is the thing that Republicans used to care more about than anything else, the health of the economy. “Jobs, jobs, jobs,” many a GOP candidate has said when running in what he or she thought to be a weak economy.
Well, under President Biden, the American employment machine is humming right along, as evidenced by the just released jobs report for March.
Last month, employers added 303,000 positions, well above expectations, marking the 39th straight month of growth, bringing total job growth under Biden to 15 million (under Trump between 20172020, the economy lost nearly 3 million jobs). The unemployment rate moved down to an almost unheard-of 3.8%.
Nor is job growth coming at the expense of income gains. Average hourly earnings were up 4.1% as compared to March 2023. GDP growth is healthy; the stock market has been good to retirement accounts. Back in October 2022, economists almost unanimously proclaimed themselves absolutely sure America would be dipping into recession within 12 months. They all turned out to be wrong.
“But inflation!” screams the party of Trump, as though the fact that prices rose too sharply for too long erase all those positive indicators. It was indeed a serious problem, and we’d love to wave a wand and make a dozen eggs cost $1.50 again, but that can’t happen. Price increases are now under control, and in any event, the economic positives far outweigh the negatives.
Asecond core element of Republican campaigns since Richard Nixon is ratcheting up fears on crime, trying to make those in the center and the suburbs believe that ever more violence and disorder (emanating from big cities, of course) is headed their way. George H.W. Bush stoked such fears with the Willie Horton ads; Trump, far blunter, says an invasion of migrants paired with the handcuffing of cops is bringing chaos, death and destruction.
Fortunately, we have facts, courtesy of Jeff Asher at Datalytics, who rigorously surveys crime trends. So far this year, the number of murders has declined year over year by 20.6% in 187 U.S. cities, a remarkably sharp drop. Shooting data is similarly showing a decline, of around 12% year over year.
Yes, in New York and elsewhere, most categories of crime are still worse than they were in 2019, before the pandemic hit. But there’s no question that the United States under Joe Biden is becoming safer and more prosperous. Lives are being saved; the nation is safer than it was when Trump left office. Put that in your red hat and smoke it.