Joe Biden might have been “irritated” about this news before Election Day. Still, he’s probably forgotten about it by now, not least because the Republican Party blew an opportunity to have a red wave year this cycle. The political winds couldn’t have been better for the GOP, with crime, inflation, an economic recession, an immigration crisis, and Biden’s dreadful approval ratings at their back—and they’ll probably leave 2022 just barely clinching the House. There’s still hope for a House majority, but it’ll be a tough slog. Even with Joe Biden dodging a beating by voters, who seem content with high inflation, crime, and overall societal decay—Joe knows he needs to get inflation under control. How he does it is an entirely different matter. Before we all voted on Tuesday, Bloomberg had a story about how the dementia-ridden president was not pleased with his staff for selling him that inflation was transitory:
The White House started to take inflation far more seriously as a political problem last fall, when polls showed the president’s approval rating was dipping as prices continued to rise. The president was irritated that his aides had assured him the inflation problem was “transitory,” according to two sources familiar with the discussions, an outgrowth of pandemic-induced shortages and other supply-chain kinks.
He also wondered whether his advisers had paid too little heed to warnings that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan would flood the economy with too much cash, acting as kindling for inflation. Among those lobbying for a smaller stimulus was Harvard University economics professor Larry Summers, who served under Obama alongside Biden and remains close with the former vice president. Even some of Biden’s economic aides privately had expressed concern about the size of the stimulus package before its passage, particularly the scope of the direct stimulus checks and the amount of state and local aid.
Biden, who usually appears jovial in public but is not shy about flashing his temper in front of his West Wing aides, took out his frustration on National Economic Council Director Brian Deese in meetings, according to three sources familiar with those discussions. Klain disputes this account.
Deese and others in the White House that misjudged the trajectory of prices are in good company: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a PhD economist who spent four years leading the Federal Reserve, has publicly admitted she got inflation wrong; so has Jerome Powell, who succeeded Yellen as Fed chair.
Being angry at Deese is a given since this man tried to gaslight us all by claiming that two consecutive quarters of economic contraction is no longer the definition of a recession. Yet, for all of Biden’s reported irritation, he’s probably feeling pretty good right now as the luckiest man in politics. He’s been unqualified to lead the nation since 2021, and voters keep him protected by not punishing the man or his party for the economic deterioration we’re witnessing.
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