It is hard to pick the worst moment from President Joe Biden’s recent two-hour press conference. The two hiccups that White House press secretary Jen Psaki had specifically to clean up afterward (first on Biden airily suggesting a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine and later his questioning the legitimacy of the 2022 elections) are both strong contenders.
But his insistence that today’s store shelves are “barely changed” from before the pandemic and his dismissal of polls showing that independents disapprove of the job he is doing as president also revealed a chief executive who is hopelessly out of touch.
So, too, did Biden’s rhetorical effort to blame Republicans for his lack of progress in addressing the country’s problems. “What are Republicans for? What are they for?” Biden asked. “Name me one thing they’re for.”
Well, for starters, 19 Republican senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, voted for the $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill that Biden then signed into law. It had some gimmicky pay-fors and failed to reform environmental regulations that delay federal projects and drive up costs, so not all Republicans got on board. Still, 19 Senate Republicans is a big number. Did Biden simply forget that he signed this legislation?
Eighteen Senate Republicans also voted with all 50 Democrats for legislation to combat China’s growing dominance in certain technology sectors by investing more than $200 billion in research. This legislation has since been blocked not by the GOP but by leftist Democrats in the House. Perhaps Biden should go ask members of the Progressive Caucus what they are for.
Republicans have a right, perhaps even a duty, to oppose policies they disagree with. Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress, so it is their agenda that is debated. As the minority, the opposition party, Republicans should oppose the majority’s agenda. They were elected to do that, and they are doing it.
Later in his press conference, Biden rhetorically asked what Republicans are for on immigration. Answering that is even easier. They are for enforcing the nation’s immigration laws and securing the border. Biden should try that — not simply because it is his job to administer the law but also because it would improve his public approval.
Republicans support reinstating the successful “Remain in Mexico” program, which Biden is fighting in court to end while doing the bare minimum to restart it as the court previously ordered.
Republicans believe in American global leadership, which requires projecting strength internationally. That is why 49 Republican senators and six Democrats voted to sanction Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was a vote Biden lobbied against.
Republicans are for law and order, which is why they highlight atrocious prosecutorial decisions made by far-left district attorneys in big cities. Minority communities are suffering historic rises in murder rates, and Biden does nothing to protect them. He could at least shame prosecutors into doing their jobs or, more forcefully, threaten to cut off Justice Department grants if they continue releasing violent criminals back onto the streets.
Republicans also stand for a relatively stable currency. On inflation, they did Biden a huge favor by blocking his multitrillion-dollar Build Back Better spending plan. With this money spigot turned off, lower demand will weaken inflation, and more working-age adults will start filling the record-high number of open jobs. Republicans would also support ending all the mask and vaccine mandates that are worsening the labor shortage, disrupting supply chains.
Republicans are far from perfect on policy, especially when their votes are compared to their rhetoric. After complaining about trillion-dollar deficits under former President Barack Obama, they failed to check spending under former President Donald Trump.
And far too many Republicans, while rhetorically promoting election integrity, also repeat the fiction that Trump won in 2020. State laws designed by Republicans to make voting easier and fraud harder are in order, as are changes designed to make sure all votes can be counted on election night. It is a travesty that California, for example, takes a month to count its votes. Delays provide opportunities for malfeasance and undermine public trust in elections. False claims about who won in 2020 only undermine the strong case Republicans otherwise make for administering elections thoroughly and rejecting the lax arrangements favored by Democrats.
Biden said during his press conference that he doesn’t believe in polls. So presumably, he doesn’t care that the latest polling shows a vast majority of voters trust Republicans over Democrats on “national security,” “border security,” “crime,” the “economy,” and “immigration.”
Voters know what they want and clearly understand that Republicans’ stances on these issues line up with theirs better than do those of Democrats. Biden asks what Republicans stand for, but the truth is that he doesn’t really want to know.
