Good News for Joe Biden

More Americans have died from COVID during the Biden Administration than during the Trump Administration.  That is not good news for Joe Biden.

President Trump initiated Operation Warp Speed.  We had Democrats casting aspersions on the efficacy of a would-be and supposedly rushed vaccine.  We finally got the vaccine at the end of the Trump Administration.  The moment Biden became President, Trump voters cast aspersions on the vaccine and the Democrats bullied anyone skeptical of it.

People still died.  The Delta variant has upended lives, taken loved ones, and sent progressives cowering in fear of a microbe, and upped their loathing of their fellow man.  Love your neighbor, which has no caveats, carve-outs, or exceptions in scripture now comes with an “except for the unvaccinated” disclaimer for the left.

Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan.  That too is not the good news for Joe Biden.  Officials of San Juan Unified School District in California announced it has forty-one students still trapped in Afghanistan.  Josh Youssef of Help the Persecuted, a Christian non-profit in Atlanta, reported he has 600 Christian refugees trying to flee Kabul.  His organization had chartered planes, drafted a letter to the Taliban asserting his organization’s ability to evacuate, but the Biden Administration continues to be an impediment.

15,000 Haitian refugees have made it into the United States at Del Rio, TX.  Most of them have been allowed to stay, pending court dates.  Many of them have COVID and no vaccination.  The government has already lost track of many of them.  Now, more than 30,000 more refugees are walking through Mexico headed north.  Panama’s Foreign Minister arrived in the United States to raise awareness of the coming humanitarian crisis and wave of humanity.  Her warnings fell on deaf ears.  That is not the good news for Joe Biden.

All of this comes as Democrats are squabbling over the price tag for a reconciliation package in Congress.  The individual items allegedly show public support, but the public collectively is not smart and does not really understand the things Congress offers.  The public is worried about costs, inflation, fuel prices, and grocery store bills.

Gas prices continue to rise.  The Biden Administration took over in January and set about hurting oil producers. They refused pipelines, rolled back access to federal lands, and made it otherwise more complicated to drill.  All of this was by design to drive up fuel costs thereby forcing Americans to use less or move to alternatives in the name of climate change.  As it had the perfectly foreseeable consequences of driving up gas prices and thereby driving up the prices of everything else, the Biden Administration begged OPEC to save the President from his policies.  OPEC has refused.

None of these things are the good news for Joe Biden.  The cumulative effect of these things is to drag down President Biden’s polling.  The just-released Quinnipiac poll is disastrous for Joe Biden.  Quinnipiac historically has a slight bias in favor of the Democrats.  Even with that bias, the President’s approval is at thirty-eight percent.  Only twenty-three percent of the public supports his handling of the border issue.  Thirty-four percent approve of his handling of foreign policy.  Thirty-seven percent approve of his handling of taxes.  Thirty-nine percent approve of his handling of the economy.

More damning, fifty-five percent say “the Biden administration is not competent in running the government” and fifty-six percent say President Biden does not have “good leadership skills.”  Tim Malloy, Quinnipiac’s polling analyst, noted, “President Biden is being hammered on all sides as his approval rating continues its downward slide to a number not seen since the tough scrutiny of the Trump administration.”

So what is the good news for the Biden Administration?  The good news is that it is October of 2021 and not October of 2022.  Things can turn around.  Events can change things. Unfortunately, even as the bad headlines have receded, President Biden’s polling has not turned around.  Likewise, the Virginia gubernatorial race, which should be a Democratic blowout, is coming down to a nail-biter.  It all suggests a voter backlash has begun in earnest.

---

The McConnell Sell Out?

Mitch McConnell seemingly sold out on the debt ceiling. Except, did he? McConnell agreed to punt the issue until December. Democrats will get enough Republican votes to raise the debt ceiling enough to get to December, pending a number from the Treasury Department.

This most likely is not a sellout. The “McConnell Blinks” headlines should really read “McConnell Punts.”

First, it forces Democrats to go back to fighting each other instead of just beating up the GOP with the media on the debt ceiling. Democrats still cannot get an agreement on reconciliation. Joe Manchin says the Hyde Amendment must be included to preclude federal funding of abortion. The progressives say the Hyde Amendment must come out. Manchin says he will go no higher than $1.5 trillion. The Biden Administration says they will go no lower than $2 trillion.

Late yesterday, Manchin told his fellow Democrats they would have to pick one of their three big initiatives for reconciliation and abandon the other two. Senator Sanders refused to sign a letter condemning the harassment of Senator Sinema.

As long as they are united against the GOP on the debt ceiling, they aren’t fighting each other. So let them fight hard now against each other. They are and returned to the fighting quickly.

In December, the problem still exists. Joe Manchin says he will not blow up the filibuster for the debt ceiling. That means the Democrats will be forced into a compromise they won’t do now with reconciliation fighting. Likewise, McConnell is worried about some of his own retiring Republicans who might blow up the filibuster for the debt ceiling, then flee after the midterms.

The bottom line is that this is not so much selling out as it is a postponement of a fight in order to let the Democrats get back to their own bloody internal purges. McConnell, Romney, and Collins all say the GOP won’t support a debt ceiling increase. That means we still have the same conditions in December that we have now. As long as the GOP holds the line and Manchin does too on the filibuster, the Democrats will have to compromise.

---

The Numbers Are In

I told Rush Limbaugh more than once I did not want a national show. I’d never even have a chance at number one. He laughed and told me not to worry about it. I’d still never be as good as him even if he weren’t around. He’s right. That was actually very liberating because it allows me to be me and not do a bad impression of Rush.

And the numbers are in.

Five shows sprang up in the void left by Rush. I was the last to get into syndication and remain the smallest of the shows with less than thirty affiliates. Unlike the others, I have no syndication company but do have a loyal team around me helping me grow who believe in what I’m doing.

Now, I can lay claim to something none of the other shows can.

I’m the only 12-3pm ET conservative talker to hit #1 in a quarter in a top ten radio market — in my case, Atlanta. The summer book consists of July through September. In the coveted demo of 25-54 year olds, I am number one. I’m also number one with men in the demo. I’m also number one with total listeners too. And this isn’t number one in talk, but number one on the radio period.

Even as the Braves have made their way into the playoffs and the NFL is back, more people were listening to me on the radio in Atlanta than sports-talk or music. I’m not sure that I’m that popular as opposed to Georgia’s sports teams are more disappointing than me. But I’ll take it.

The Atlanta metropolitan media market is the seventh-largest radio market in the country with 5,035,400 people and more people listen to me 12-3pm ET than listen to anything else on the radio at that time. I can’t thank my audience and my readers here enough.