Biden's Biggest Blunders

[Brainster]

His biggest blunder was not running in 2016. That gave us Trump.

You're assuming that Biden would have beaten Hillary and Bernie in the primaries and Trump in the general. But with Clinton and Biden splitting the moderate liberal vote, Sanders might have been able to gain momentum. Also, keep in mind that whoever won in 2016 was very likely to lose in 2020; Covid is the only reason Trump didn't finish up his second term a month ago.
Running for reelection in 2024 was the biggest blunder; he should have announced his impending retirement in July of 2023.

 

[Donal]

You're assuming COVID would have been as bad. Proper leadership from Washington not only would have mitigated the effect for the US, but probably the world.

If Clinton or Biden had won in 2016, there would have been Congressional hearings about why 100,000 Americans had to die from COVID. And also hearings on why we needed such stringent restrictions when only 100,000 people died. As rough as it would have been, not having divisive rhetoric and conspiracy theories coming from the White House would have led to a much less charged election.

 

[dirtywick]

if trump loses 2016 he probably doesn't run 2020. who then, ron desantis? people loved him.

trump is barely squeaking these wins out.

 

[Donal]

Trump massively benefitted in 2016 from the clown car of a primary and the way the delegates were proportioned. In NEw Hampshire, I think the top vote-getter receives 50% of delegates. Trump received 35% of the votes, which was enough to win New Hampshire. South Carolina was winner-take-all. Trump had less than 33% but still won the divided field.

Same thing happened on the first Super Tuesday. Trump won all of Arkansas' delegates with less than 1/3 of the votes. Of the 11 states, Trump won 7, but never it 50% once and only broke 40% twice.

A small but super dedicated base was able to stay on mission and hang on long enough for the rest of the field to take each other out. If the establishment politicians like Bush, Kasey, and Christie threw in behind Rubio, he probably would have run away with it from the get go.

 

[Brainster]

if trump loses 2016 he probably doesn't run 2020. who then, ron desantis? people loved him.

trump is barely squeaking these wins out.

True, but do you really see Biden prevailing against Hillary in 2016? Just running would have earned him the enmity of the feminists; if he won, Hillary would again have been denied the nomination by a man.

 

[Segnosaur]

True, but do you really see Biden prevailing against Hillary in 2016? Just running would have earned him the enmity of the feminists; if he won, Hillary would again have been denied the nomination by a man.

Feminists may have preferred Hillary, but Biden probably would have had more strength among minority voters (due to his association with Obama). Not to mention being an "incumbent" (or in this case vice president) provides a certain advantage.

It would have been close primary, and I really cannot say for sure who would have won.

(And in a general election, while a few feminists might have had problems, I suspect most would have recognized that Biden was a better option than anyone the GOP put forward.)

 

[mikegriffith1]

Biden's biggest blunders? Well, I think Biden did some good things, and some bad things, and some things in between. His worst, in my view:

-- Failing to give Ukraine long-range offensive weapons and fighter jets right after Russia's invasion began.

-- Pushing the transgender agenda.

-- Revoking Trump's executive order on federal regulations, which was saving us at least $100 billion per year.

-- Running for reelection and then endorsing Kamala Harris.

 

[Segnosaur]

Biden's biggest blunders? Well, I think Biden did some good things, and some bad things, and some things in between. His worst, in my view:

-- Failing to give Ukraine long-range offensive weapons and fighter jets right after Russia's invasion began.

Not sure if giving fighter jets to Ukraine immediately would have worked.

Western jets (like the F16) are substantially different from the former Soviet-era planes that the Ukranianes were used to flying. Before they could give them planes, a significant amount of training was required.

-- Pushing the transgender agenda.

Umm... "transgender agenda"? How horrible, the democrats wanted transgender people to be treated as humans.

The fact is, the Biden administration was not "pushing" it. Yeah, they had no problem with things like transgender people in the military, but the vast amount of work that the Biden administration did involved things like the economy, infrastructure, dealing with covid, etc.

The republicans just managed to hype up the issue, making it a bigger deal than it actually was.

-- Revoking Trump's executive order on federal regulations, which was saving us at least $100 billion per year.

The fact that republicans don't like regulations does not mean that regulations are themselves bad.

Regulations help prevent abuses. Financial regulations keep the economy stable and keep people from getting screwed. Environmental and workplace regulations prevent injury/death, and help avoid the massive problems that can result when "something goes wrong".

 

[Safe-Keeper]

"Transgender agenda". Love how much of the current anti-trans fearmongering is just copy-paste of the homophobic stuff back in the day.

 

[ahhell]

Puerto Rican State Hook, I'm for it or independence. The votes on it have generally been a mixed bag as they have mostly included three choices; Statehood, independence, or status quo.
2020 the question was, should PR be admitted the US as a state? Yes or No with slightly more than 50% turnout the result was slightly more than 50% yes. So, not super clear majority for statehood.

Still, I think Biden pushing for statehood would have been a good move and until 2016 it was the official position of the GOP. Would have been fun to hear the rationalization as to why it changed.

There was a 24 vote with larger turnout and a larger majority for Statehood.

Not really that big a mistake though, might have helped in the election, probably not that much. Might have gotten him a few more Puerto Rican votes but wouldn't have helped with any other constituency.

Biden's biggest mistake was running for a second term. Second mistake Harris as VP. She dropped out of her presidential run before the first primary, that is not a sign of someone that could successfully win the election this time around.

Third mistake is thinking that a slightly majority win is a mandate for anything other than not being the other guy, fortunately for the Dems, Trump is making that mistake now.

Mistake made totally in bad faith as pandering hand out to his core constituency, student debt forgiveness. Probably didn't matter in the end but seeing as some folks are still peddling the good old uncle joe foolishness.

Also something that wouldn't have changed a single vote, should have embraced more limited executive authority and federalism.

 

[johnny karate]

"Transgender agenda". Love how much of the current anti-trans fearmongering is just copy-paste of the homophobic stuff back in the day.

The "transgender agenda" is literally the only thing these people can still point to as a justification for supporting Trump. Remember when we we were told it was about the economy? Now that the economy is tanking, it's masks off bigotry, because it was always about the bigotry.

 

[Axxman300]

As life-long Democrat, here's my list of Biden's mistakes:

1. Merrick Garland as AG. Biggest gutless coward ever to hold the position. You know how they say a Grand Jury will indict a ham sandwich? Garland would be the lone holdout.

2. The Afghan Withdrawal. Made our exit from Vietnam look like the Marshall Plan. Never acknowledged his poor judgement killed good people in that country.

3. The Border and blanket Asylum hold-status. I'm all for immigration, but it was out of control. And Biden, Harris, and his administration lied about the ongoing situation at the border non-stop. Deaf to complaints from the African-American and Latino communities about the negative impacts, i.e. job loss, and rising crime directly effecting them. This issue cost the election. And yes, Biden's DHS deported immigrants in larger numbers than Trump has so far, cameras don't lie. They'd downplay the subject while long lines of people crossed into Texas, and New Mexico on live TV.

4. The swing back to Identity Politics after the 2020 election. It's the economy, stupid. If Americans have jobs that pay the bills, put a roof over their heads, eat three square meals a day, and have something left over for savings then NOBODY GIVES A CRAP ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE,OR RACE, OR IF THEIR BOSS IS A WOMAN.

5. The whole cognitive decline thing. If Biden really had problems, which I don't think he did, there should have been an intervention prior to 2024. This would have allowed him to announce he wouldn't run, and give voters a decent field of candidates. And if he didn't have cognitive issues then he should have stayed in the race to let the voters decide. Trump has early stage dementia, but the press doesn't call him out on his daily mental lapses. Not just the lies, but his constant losing his train of thought. When they brought him in to swear in Tulsi Gabbard as ODNI, he sat down, gave a rambling speech, and got up to leave. Someone had to remind him to swear her in. But every gaff Biden made was front and center on Fox News, and in 2024 the major news outlets joined in.

6. Restrictions on US weapons systems we sent to Ukraine. Just dumb, and it killed good people.

 

[Donal]

I like how adding gender identity to already existing civil rights protections is "pushing the trans agenda".

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Makes as much sense as the people who call being trans an 'extremist ideology'.
Come to think of it, that reminds me of the 'gay lifestyle' canard they kept throwing out back in the day.

 

[Manger Douse]

Makes as much sense as the people who call being trans an 'extremist ideology'.
Come to think of it, that reminds me of the 'gay lifestyle' canard they kept throwing out back in the day.

Redefining what it is to be a member of the most discriminated against group in history seems pretty extreme.

ETA: Particularly when you won't actually define what it is to be a member of that group

 

[Segnosaur]

As life-long Democrat, here's my list of Biden's mistakes:

It seems like some of your things were not necessarily mistakes that the Biden administration made, but just straw men that the republicans were able to fabricate in order to attack Biden.[/quote]

2. The Afghan Withdrawal. Made our exit from Vietnam look like the Marshall Plan. Never acknowledged his poor judgement killed good people in that country.

Withdrawing forces from a country is always going to be messy, and Biden had limitations placed on him by the actions of the Trump administration. (After all, it wasn't Biden that negotiated the withdrawl of troops or the release of Taliban prisoners.)

3. The Border and blanket Asylum hold-status. I'm all for immigration, but it was out of control.

No, it wasn't.

Yes, there were plenty of immigrants that were crossing the border. But border crossings have never been the primary source of illegal immigrants in the U.S., nor are they a major source in domestic crime.

4. The swing back to Identity Politics after the 2020 election. It's the economy, stupid. If Americans have jobs that pay the bills, put a roof over their heads, eat three square meals a day, and have something left over for savings then NOBODY GIVES A CRAP ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE,OR RACE, OR IF THEIR BOSS IS A WOMAN.

The vast majority of Biden's actions were in support of basic issues... the infrastructure act, deficit reduction act, investments in technology. Yes, the democrats were favorable to things like trans people in the military. But it was such a small fraction of Biden's agenda. It only became an issue because republicans were successfully able to push bigotry as mainstream.

5. The whole cognitive decline thing. If Biden really had problems, which I don't think he did, there should have been an intervention prior to 2024. This would have allowed him to announce he wouldn't run, and give voters a decent field of candidates. And if he didn't have cognitive issues then he should have stayed in the race to let the voters decide.

At the start of the election there were valid reasons why Biden should have stayed in the race. (Being an incumbent usually provides an advantage, and he still had a political relationship with Obama to bring in minority voters.) Problems occurred in the first presidential debate, which necessitated his withdrawal.

Trump has early stage dementia, but the press doesn't call him out on his daily mental lapses.

Whatever problems biden had, Trump had worse. But it wasn't Biden's fault that the press didn't successfully highlight Trump's mental decline.

6. Restrictions on US weapons systems we sent to Ukraine. Just dumb, and it killed good people.

What restrictions are you referring to?

Remember, there may be reasons why they couldn't just ship Ukraine anything and everything:
- Any fighter jets that were sent required pilots and ground crew to be trained
- Congress has a role in funding any sort of military aid to Ukraine

 

[P.J. Denyer]

The social media thing agin: it seems to be no longer than 2 weeks of memory.

"They are eating our cats and dogs" worked as it hinted at something real. "They are stealing our democracy" did not work. Because it had not happened yet! "They are crashing our planes" would right now. It will work in 2026 if the planes keep crashing.

My theory is Trump saw an old episode of ALF on TV and thought it was real.

 

[Donal]

As life-long Democrat, here's my list of Biden's mistakes:

1. Merrick Garland as AG. Biggest gutless coward ever to hold the position. You know how they say a Grand Jury will indict a ham sandwich? Garland would be the lone holdout.

Ya, should have been way more aggressive on that. We've seen time and time again that not coming down hard on rich white men who commit crimes just leads to more crime.

2. The Afghan Withdrawal. Made our exit from Vietnam look like the Marshall Plan. Never acknowledged his poor judgement killed good people in that country.

Eh, ya, the Biden admin made mistakes there, but it was an untenable situation. Trump had committed to a withdrawal and handed back thousands of Taliban fighters.

3. The Border and blanket Asylum hold-status. I'm all for immigration, but it was out of control.

What do you mean "out of control"? Do you have something tangible there?

And Biden, Harris, and his administration lied about the ongoing situation at the border non-stop.

What lies?

Deaf to complaints from the African-American and Latino communities about the negative impacts, i.e. job loss, and rising crime directly effecting them.

You mean the rising crime that wasn't happening? Especially from undocumented immigrants?

This issue cost the election. And yes, Biden's DHS deported immigrants in larger numbers than Trump has so far, cameras don't lie. They'd downplay the subject while long lines of people crossed into Texas, and New Mexico on live TV.

You know at least some of those were staged, right? And how many people normally cross as compared during the Biden administration? Was there maybe something that went on earlier that may have caused a large build up of people waiting to cross?

4. The swing back to Identity Politics after the 2020 election. It's the economy, stupid. If Americans have jobs that pay the bills, put a roof over their heads, eat three square meals a day, and have something left over for savings then NOBODY GIVES A CRAP ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE,OR RACE, OR IF THEIR BOSS IS A WOMAN.

Republicans were the ones who leaned into identity politics. Its all they have.

5. The whole cognitive decline thing. If Biden really had problems, which I don't think he did, there should have been an intervention prior to 2024. This would have allowed him to announce he wouldn't run, and give voters a decent field of candidates. And if he didn't have cognitive issues then he should have stayed in the race to let the voters decide. Trump has early stage dementia, but the press doesn't call him out on his daily mental lapses. Not just the lies, but his constant losing his train of thought. When they brought him in to swear in Tulsi Gabbard as ODNI, he sat down, gave a rambling speech, and got up to leave. Someone had to remind him to swear her in. But every gaff Biden made was front and center on Fox News, and in 2024 the major news outlets joined in.

It really is amazing how that double standard works. Biden could on some words during a speech and it would be referenced for months. Trump could have ◊◊◊◊ in his hand and autographed the walls with it and the media would have creditied him for spelling his name right.

6. Restrictions on US weapons systems we sent to Ukraine. Just dumb, and it killed good people.

It's not that easy as he didn't want to be seen as escalating. Also, not all of our equipment would have been able to enter the theater right away.

I will say, they should have done less celebrating how great "the economy" was. Yes, the traditional indicators were all up, but people were still hurting. a lot of micro level stuff was bad. The message should have been less" greatest economy ever!" And more "the economy is back on track, now lets get it working for everyone" or something like that.

Also, more focus on the work of people like Lina Khan and Gary Gensler

 

[Donal]

Makes as much sense as the people who call being trans an 'extremist ideology'.
Come to think of it, that reminds me of the 'gay lifestyle' canard they kept throwing out back in the day.

Which was just cut-n-pasted from the anti-race mixing rhetoric.

 

[Manger Douse]

Which was just cut-n-pasted from the anti-race mixing rhetoric.

You didn't have white people self-IDing their way into an n-word pass back in the day, nor were academia lying about the efficacy of trans-racial surgery on children so no, the arguments weren't really cut-n-pasted at all