The First Twelve Months

But first . . . this should be fun:

Longtime Trump inner circle confidante Stephanie Grisham to appear before 1/6 Committee.

. . . She resigned in response to the January 6 insurrection, and later published a book ironically titled, “I’ll Take Your Questions Now.” As press secretary Grisham never held even one press briefing.

. . . In 2021 Grisham warned if elected again Trump would “foment more violence” and revealed she is “terrified” of him running again. She described him as “erratic,” “delusional,” and a “narcissist.”

And now . . . a friend of a friend lifted facts from the Washington Post, mainly, to compile this (thanks George!):

The economy is going gangbusters. Yet Americans, particularly Republicans, express a gloom not matched by economic reality—or by their own spending behaviors. Polls and consumer-confidence indices show an economic pessimism as grim as when millions lost jobs in the pandemic shutdown. This is, in large part, because disinformation has prevailed.

“America’s economy improved more in Joe Biden’s first 12 months than any president during the past 50 years, notwithstanding the contrary media narrative contributing to dour public opinion,” Matthew Winkler, former editor in chief of Bloomberg News, wrote last week.

Holiday retail sales were the highest ever, jumping 8.5 percent from last year and nearly 11 percent from pre-pandemic 2019, as “consumers splurged throughout the season,” Mastercard reported Sunday.

The supply chain, while still an issue, was ameliorated by federal intervention from the Departments of Transportation, Commerce and Labor. Stores were stocked. Package deliveries were overwhelmingly on time. Inflation, though a serious concern, clearly didn’t deter shoppers. And holiday motorists found gas prices 14 cents a gallon lower than in November.

Among the gains:

·       The economy expanded an estimated 5.5 percent in 2021—the strongest since 1984 (fourth-quarter growth dramatically outpaced Europe and even China).

·       Unemployment plunged to 4.2 percent (unemployment claims down 80% since Biden took office, now at the lowest since Nixon).

·       U.S. stock markets outperformed the world. (The S&P 500 up nearly 30 percent.)

·       Corporate profits are the largest since 1950 and corporate debt the lowest in 30 years.

·       Consumer credit expanded.

·       Confidence among CEOs is the highest in 20 years.

·       The American Rescue Plan cut child poverty nearly in half.

·       Wages for the bottom quintile up 30%.

Of course, many more things have been achieved in the last eleven months that are almost too numerous to list—we’ve re-engaged the world on Climate Change (including rejoining The Paris Climate Accord), innumerable environmental protections have been restored and public lands, lakes and rivers have been preserved. Ties with NATO and our Asian Pacific allies and Canada have been repaired and strengthened. There’s also the rapid manufacture and distribution of vaccines, boosters, and PPEs, with well over 200 million Americans now fully vaccinated. And we’ve delivered more vaccines to the underdeveloped world than the rest of the developed nations combined. And, of course, there’s the historic Infrastructure Bill.

Basically, there’s a lot.

And while we’re on the subject of where we are and what’s been done by the new administration almost a year in, there is also this partial list of things the new president has NOT done. Peevish as this may be, here goes:

·       He hasn’t placed a relative into a position of power.

·       He hasn’t stayed up all night tweeting, even once.

·       He hasn’t gotten into a scandal with a porn star and used subordinates or shell companies to pay her off.

·       He hasn’t suggested that Covid might be treated with injectable disinfectants or “just a very powerful light.”

·       He hasn’t declared Neo-Nazis “very good people.”

·       He hasn’t been laughed at by the entire United Nations or mocked by the leaders of England, France and Canada at a Global Summit.

·       He hasn’t teargassed Americans gathered in peaceful protest or suggested “shooting them in the legs.”

·       He hasn’t fallen in love with Kim Jong-un or bragged about getting an incredibly big card from him.

·       He hasn’t carried on about giving the president of China “the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you have ever seen.”

·       He hasn’t asked his cabinet to publicly praise him, in his presence, on camera.

·       He hasn’t shut the government down trying to build a useless wall.

·       He hasn’t misappropriated money from the military budget and against the will of Congress to fund said wall.

·       He hasn’t called any ethnic group “murderers” or “rapists” or “animals,” nor claimed that an “infestation” of immigrants carrying “tremendous infectious disease” (including leprosy) are “pouring across our border.”

·       He hasn’t torn children from mothers’ arms and kept them penned in large kennels or sent them off to foster homes around the country with no records kept for their eventual reunification.

·       He hasn’t insulted any war hero or his/her family.

·       He hasn’t tossed paper towels to people in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane.

·       He hasn’t eroded our faith in democracy by telling us that our free elections are “rigged” and a “scam.”

·       He hasn’t declared himself a genius, let alone a very stable one.

Needless to say, one could go on.

Equally needless to say, much remains to be done — and we face urgent threats to our democracy.

But none of those threats are of Biden’s or Democrats’ doing — nor of Liz Cheney’s or Adam Kinzinger’s.

Even Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy can identify the catalyst of those threats.

If the second impeachment vote had been held by secret ballot, there are those who believe the 57-43 vote to convict would instead have been unanimous.