The Biden White House has spent months trying to make “Bidenomics” work. But as the general election campaign begins, the president’s team is rolling out something a little different: an economic argument that tries to frame former President Donald Trump as the candidate of corporate tax cuts and Biden as a scourge of the ultra-wealthy.

It is a decidedly populist turn meant to overcome voters’ doubts about the state of the economy by moving the debate away from a referendum on Biden and into a choice between the two main parties.

Biden spent the last six months trying to sell his economic agenda under the banner of “Bidenomics,” an effort to boost awareness of his accomplishments and optimism over the nation’s overall trajectory.

But that effort was overshadowed by lingering frustration with the rising cost of living. Even as Americans’ view of the economy brightened over the last two months, Biden’s approval ratings remain mired near the low-water mark of his presidency.

Within the Biden camp, officials are clear-eyed they face an uphill climb in turning the economy into a winning issue. And while nearly every presidential incumbent tries to turn their election into a choice rather than a referendum, Biden has a distinct challenge of facing off against a candidate with little in the way of a concrete policy platform to contrast himself against.

Trump is sort of a policy chameleon,” said Danielle Deiseroth, executive director of progressive think tank Data for Progress, which has spent the last several months polling voters on messages that might erode Trump’s advantage on the economy. “He’s able to be a little more slippery.”

  • @MegaUltraChicken
    link
    188 months ago

    I want to know what policies we’re going to put in place to REVERSE this upward redistribution of wealth that has taken place for decades. All I want is a candidate to tell me what they want to do, why, and what they need to do it. Republicans don’t have to do this because they stick with this amorphous platform that has no real agenda other than amassing power. There’s no contrast from the Democrats, who do have actual policy goals.

    • @ganksy
      link
      108 months ago

      Like raising tax on earners 400k+ ? Expanding the IRS? They’ve been clear policy goals for a number of years. We just need to have a Congress that doesn’t sabotage those goals.

    • GodlessCommie
      link
      English
      -38 months ago

      There are no policies that will reverse it, for all intents Biden is Reagan’s 11th term and still defending Reaganomics.

  • @ganksy
    link
    18 months ago

    I guess Russia is back online

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    -268 months ago

    Brandon is just so painfully bad at politics, it’s honestly quite an accomplishment to be this inept.

    Voters don’t give a fuck about trump’s tax dodging, especially trump voters. We all hate paying taxes because most of us recognize we’re shouldering an unfair tax burden, while the elites literally pay nothing for their billion dollar capitalist enterprises.

    You want to talk about taxes Biden? Let’s start with you locking in trump’s $2 Trillion corporate tax cuts, literally the only thing he accomplished while in office. How are we going to pay for that anyway? And don’t tell me trump’s paying that bill, because we all already know he doesn’t pay any bills at all.

  • @go_go_gadget
    link
    -268 months ago

    What a fucking weak ass candidate. I’d really love to know why anybody saw the people running in the 2020 primaries and was like “yep. Biden. That’s the best dude for the job.”

    Like really?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      28 months ago

      I don’t think people were saying that until Biden tricked Warren into dropping out and backing him. That was such a huge blow to the progressive movement. If she had backed Bernie instead, they may well have won. Warren didn’t even get a cabinet seat out of it, hopefully she learned a valuable lesson out of that experience, but her education cost us dearly as a nation.

      • @go_go_gadget
        link
        -18 months ago

        I’ll admit I was irritated about that at the time but honestly with 20/20 hindsight I’m done blaming progressives for anything. They’re already playing the game on hard mode they shouldn’t have to sacrifice their opportunities to cater to establishment shit.

        At this point I’m just blaming Boomers for being uncompromising selfish assholes in the primaries. There were plenty of great options to vote for and teyh rejected all of them and fucked over progressives and leftists. Now they’re scared Biden might lose the 2024 general and instead of reflecting on that and calling for Biden to compromise they triple down and tell progressives and leftists we’re obligated to vote for Biden.

        These people are shitbags and they need to be called out as such. I want Boomers to start feeling embarassed to admit they voted for Biden in the primaries. That’s the practical path forward that I can see.