Biden Fucked Trump, Actually
Thanks to shitty media and our own attention spans, we've missed a LOT that Biden and Democrats built...
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As an independent news outlet, The Fucking News is inherently inclined to point out bad things. We’re the health inspector, not the restaurant reviewer.
So if we spend four years pointing out bad shit at an 82-year-old restaurant, it’s not because we want it replaced by Chez Sanders or Bernie’s Bistro, it’s because we want the restaurant to succeed and its patrons not to die from brucellosis. It’s definitely not because we secretly want McDonaldTrump to take over, infested with rats and oligarchs.
But part of TFN’s mission is also to steel Newsfuckers. To point out those areas where the gleam of hope shines through. And so, on the cusp of the second, mind-boggling, are-you-fucking-kidding-me Donald Trump presidency, I wanted to do a few things that might be helpful. One is to catalog just some of the victories won by Pres. Joe Biden and Democrats and non-Democrats at all levels.
One reason is to remind you Newsfuckers that Trump is not picking up from where he left off. Not at all.
We didn’t hear about a lot of progressive victories over the past four years because some were incrementalist or small — but they should be recognized in the cumulative. And there was no big, national kerfuffling over many of these. Which meant little coverage. And no cathartic victories. Some just passed easily with little or no notice! But we should take notice, because together they form a redoubt against Trumpism.
Plus there’s very little in Trump’s agenda that isn’t opposed by significant chunks of his own majority . And that which isn’t comes at its own cost. Are they gonna put transgender girls on boys teams? And “masculine” girls on girls teams?
Their worst policies are very dumb and the reason they’re dumb is that they lead to bad outcomes. Which will bite us, but bite them in the ass.
Another reason to catalog these victories is that many accomplishments of the past four years are, if not indelible, then barely delible. They’re now woven into law and culture in ways that will make them extremely difficult and politically costly to uproot.
And, never forget, the theocratic, misogynystic, homophobic, corporate-loving, climate-denying forces who elected Trump did not elect one of their own. Trump has shown he will sell them out when it suits him. And even in the areas where it looks like he has free rein, he does not.
Also, it’s worth keeping in mind that a good number of states aggressively outpaced the federal government’s progressive wins. There are multiple bluer oases out there to serve as bulwarks against reactionary polices and models of what thoroughly progressive communities look like.
This list is far from complete. If you think some achievements of the last four years deserve TFN-style snarky asides about how they actually suck, I’ll do that on occasion in the footnotes. If you just need an unalloyed pick-me-up right now, skip the footnotes.
It’s worth noting that none of these progressive achievements contributed to the losses on Election Day. And none of the centrist-chasing prevented them.
Climate/Environment Stuff
With $386 billion in incentives for private energy to speed up their pivot from fossil fuels, Democrats created and accelerated unstoppable momentum for sustainable energy, for the first time making it the better economic choice for consumers. This includes windmills, solar panels, geothermal energy, improved battery technology, and lots of incentives to trade gas guzzlers for electric vehicles.
The Guardian writes that the Inflation Reduction Act didn’t just allocate money for sustainable energy, it mandated more federal spending if consumer demand is there. So we could be talking as much as $800 billion, driving (sorry) $1.7 trillion in private investment dollars. Both Goldman Sachs and the AFL-CIO called it a “gamechanger.”1
Biden made a million acres around the Grand Canyon off limits by declaring it a national monument.
He also created the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.
And saved the Colorado River, I guess?!?
All together, Biden extended federal protection to more land and water than any president had in their first term for 60 years.
(More from the Association for Commuter Transportation.)
Social-Justice Stuff
Multiple states increased protections for transgender youth and gender-affirming care.
Biden appointed — and got confirmed! — a record number of federal judges who were women and/or ethnic or racial minorities.
Democrats expanded federal protections of reproductive rights — contraceptively and abortionly, especially in light of the Bush/Trump Supreme Court justices killing abortion as a federal right.
You can now buy birth-control pills over the counter as if they were condoms or something!
Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, enshrining into law — not just judicial rulings — the legal right to both same-sex and (if you can believe it) interracial marriages2.
Biden also pardoned a ton of people.3
Money Stuff
Author Franklin Foer told The Guardian that Biden’s rejection of neo-liberal economic policy made him “as a matter of substance … the most transformational president since [Ronald] Reagan.”
Democrats dropped the Clinton-Obama free-trade model. Biden utilized targeted tariffs and even blocked the Japanese purchase of U.S. Steel.
From the New York Times: “[Biden’s] administration was more aggressive about restraining corporate power than any in decades, blocking mergers, cracking down on ‘junk fees’ and regulating drug prices.”
The number of Americans without health insurance reached a record low: Just eight percent by one estimate that isn’t the estimate used for this Bloomberg chart:
During Biden’s presidency, the economy added more than 12 million jobs.
Unemployment rates hit a 50-year low.
Biden created a construction boom in domestic computer, electronic, and electrical manufacturing. Spending on that construction doubled.
Under Biden, job growth outpaced the rates of any other president.4 Thanks to Democratic policies, as these Bloomberg charts prove — because they’re charts! — Americans had more money in their pockets than ever to donate to Trump.
Democrats moved5 to regulate cryptocurrency. New regulations may not be all that we need, but the fights at least mean that if/when crypto blows up the economy, someone will be left standing to remind people that the pro-regulator forces tried to warn us.
The Biden administration broke up 6 monopolies.
Biden wiped out student loan debt for five million people.7
Democrats slapped $300 billion in new taxes on corporations, which somehow managed to survive despite their sobbing that they would not.
Democrats funded $80 billion8 in new hires by the Internal Revenue Service, tasking agents with going after rich assholes.
Biden signed an executive order allowing federal workers to engage in collective bargaining. Nice timing!
The administration saved hundreds of thousands of pension funds from cuts and from not-existing.
Democrats passed more than $1 billion in spending via the Older Americans Act to fund home-delivered meals and home-based services.
Democrats won the right for the government to negotiate drug prices using its massive leverage as a gigantic purchaser of drugs.
Democrats reduced the cost of insulin, capping it at $35/month.
The Biden Labor Department freed workers from non-compete clauses, which one out of five workers used to have, preventing them from getting jobs in their fields and preventing companies from hiring the best people.
The Biden Labor Department forced companies to recognize new unions if the company broke labor laws during the unionization votes.
The U.S. enforced trade laws preventing Mexico from using sham unions to satisfy trade treaties requiring Mexican factories to have real unions.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cracked down on airlines for fucking you over, and improved the kinds of refunds you can get.
The Inflation Reduction Act slapped a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicaid recipients.
Under Biden, post-COVID inflation stayed lower than in Europe and elsewhere, in large part thanks to the immigrant labor with which Biden helpfully supplied us.
Democrats and Biden enacted the CHIPS and Science Act, funneling $53 billion in incentives to stand up more U.S. manufacturing of the computer chips now found in everything, not only creating jobs but insulating U.S. supply chains from disruptions in other countries, with positive impacts for both jobs and national security. It also expanded access to STEM education.
Democrats enacted the Health Care Provider Protection Act, providing resources to address mental-health issues and behavioral conditions among the healthcare providers who had to deal with all those fucking assholes during COVID.
Health-insurance costs for 13 million people went down $800 per year, on average. Some plans cost less than $10 per month.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan gave millions of Americans $1,400, while federal unemployment benefits of $300/week were extended for 9.7 million people, $7.25 billion in new small-business loans went out, and state education departments got $128 billion.
One-hundred and 71 million households got stimulus checks to keep them afloat during COVID; working-class families got a tax cut, and 35 million families benefited from child tax credits, reducing child poverty to lower rates than ever in American history until Republicans and Joe Manchin united to reverse that.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act funded $284 billion for public transport, airports, road and bridge repairs, electric vehicles, clean(er) public transit, $65 billion to expand broadband access9, $73 billion to improve our power grids, and $55 billion for sewer lines and less poisonous tap water.
(More from the American Prospect.)
Crime Stuff
It is down from the post-COVID spike. Even by the metrics Trump uses to claim otherwise. And it’s at near-historic lows, not counting when COVID kept us indoors not murdering each other:
The Biden administration funded violence-interruption programs to help prevent people from resorting to violence when really what they need is a hug and/or reality check.
A basically pretend gun-control law did at least succeed in narrowing the so-called “boyfriend loophole,” helping to keep abusive shitheads who put their hands on their partners from also getting their hands on guns.
At least ten states have now banned semi-automatic rifles.
States are passing red-flag laws, empower police to take guns away from abusive people who have guns.
International Stuff
Uh…negotiated a cease-fire in Gaza?10
If Ukraine survives, it’ll be largely due not just to American aid but due to an international coalition of support for Ukraine that did not have to exist but came into being thanks in no small part to Biden.
Biden managed to stand up to China without letting the economic cold war turn into a military hot one.
Here’s a headline that I have no idea what it means and have no recollection of seeing anything about this, but that’s exactly the point of this exercise and besides it sounds insanely cool, so here’s the headline: “Preventing a cobalt crisis in Congo.”
Politics Stuff
Despite the historic pattern of getting your ass kicked in the elections two years after a presidential victory, Democrats managed to hold the Senate and reduce the Republican red wave in the House to a sad little pee stream.
Biden passed historic, multi-trillion-dollar shit in his first two years despite the Senate’s 50-50 split and despite 4% of his 50 being Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
The Biden White House was more welcoming to — and more inhabited by — progressives than any in generations. As centrist complainer Jonathan Chait complained, Biden “proceeded to staff his administration with officials loyal11 to Sens. Elizabeth] Warren and [Bernie] Sanders.”
Biden and the Democrats got 13 House Republicans and 19 Senate Republicans to put the “Bipartisan” in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, supporting and voting for it even though Trump was hurling feces at them from his feces-and-gold-and-ketchup-encrusted cage at Mar-a-Lago.
Biden and the Democrats got some Republicans to vote for a modest but biggest-in-decades gun control law. And the CHIPS Act.
In short…
Shortness of presidency is the main reason cited that the Biden presidency won’t have much of a legacy. And that’s a fair critique … for a centrist presidency. If you don’t do much, there’s no “it” for it to last.
But this post isn’t about things we’re losing because Biden is leaving. This is about keeping in mind how much of what Biden built was built to last and will still be standing after Trump is gone.
And there’s a lot that wasn’t even included here. (More from the AFT. And Politico. And President Joe Biden!) Lemme know in the comments what else belongs on the list!
Plus, remember that every single accomplishment here was achieved by people, actual humans — most of them in Washington, which is where good things happen, too! Most of these people are still around. Still fighting, still carrying torches for the causes and ideals embodied in their victories.
And Biden planted seeds. Seeds that will blossom into factories and roads — physical things that people will know came from government. That’s a lasting lesson, a hard-to-erase understanding of what government can do.
And even in battles he lost, Biden kept flames burning for another generation. He fought for free public college — legitimizing and sustaining that idea on the left.
Even Trump’s working-class faux populism might not have happened without Biden’s aggressive championing of blue-collar workers. Biden’s policies meant Trump had to up his rhetoric to make it seem like he, too, wasn’t about to appoint a record number of billionaires to his administration, which he is.
“President Biden probably would go down as one of the most effective presidents that centered the working class,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said.
From the New York Times’s David Leonhardt (gift link):
“[O]ne major part of Biden’s agenda has a decent chance of surviving. It was the idea that animated much of the legislation he signed — namely, that the federal government should take a more active role in both assisting and regulating the private sector than it did for much of the previous half-century.”
That’s an idea that’s hard to forget. And there’s a wing of MAGA that’s quite comfortable with it, so if Trump tries to kill it, it won’t die without a fight.
And everything Biden and the Democrats accomplished is all still out there, ammunition and bulwark all in one. Ready and waiting for us to use them.
Good things notwithstanding, this law has some very dangerous elements.
Four years later than he should have not counting Hunter, history’s greatest monster.
Yes, it helps to be in charge when the economy’s bouncing back from a pandemic’s massive job losses; but in fairness, that happened as robustly as it did thanks to Democratic policies.
Not enough or soon enough or successfully enough.
some
I can’t keep track anymore so it’s possible there are still some court battles going on over this. But, again, even choosing to have the fights politicized student-loan debt in ways that will last and inflect future policy and the lives of millions including, ahem, my son and my family!
Yes, it’s been whittled down over and over in budget negotiations. But most of it’s still there and it’s institutionalized the work of going after rich assholes. Which will make it more notable and noticeable to whatever extent Trump (tries) to undo it — wait’ll we see the estimates for how much it will cost taxpayers to fire the IRS agents who get us our revenues from rich assholes.
So more idiots could believe the stupid bullshit they see online.
Yeah, no, the decimation of Gaza is a shameful, criminal mark on the record of Biden and some of his top people that will haunt them for all their days.
Quite the unfounded smear to suggest these Biden staff weren’t loyal to the Constitution or Biden or even the principles espoused by Warren and Sanders.
Reading this from Germany, I feel the weight of America’s divisions and the stakes for its future. The essay highlights so many accomplishments of the Biden presidency, and yet, as I reflect, it’s clear that these facts, as impressive as they are, no longer hold the power they once did. The next 3 to 6 months are where the true story will unfold.
This is the point where the cracks will begin to open, and with them, an opportunity—an opportunity to let the light in and reclaim a democracy at risk of being lost. It’s not the achievements of the past four years that will determine the future, but the actions taken now, in the face of growing challenges and inevitable changes.
Yet here’s the crucial part: this cannot be done by mirroring the tactics of division or exclusion. True change will not come from othering or using the same measures as those who created the fractures. That path leads only to deeper divides.
The real strength lies in embodying what America has long aspired to be: kind, empathetic, compassionate, and rooted in values that align with the principles of the Constitution. This doesn’t mean it will be easy, and it doesn’t mean everyone can be reached. But I’m not speaking about the staunch believers of division. I’m speaking to the everyday people—the ones who didn’t vote because they felt both choices were unacceptable, or those who voted out of habit rather than conviction.
The past cannot be changed, but the future can. Change starts with humility, kindness, and humanity. It starts by embracing the cracks as places where light can enter, not through force, but through connection and vision.
From across the ocean, I watch with hope for what could emerge—not just for America, but for all of us who are impacted by the choices made in this critical moment.
Add to the list: Biden and his administration brought home more than 60 (it might be 75 but I can’t remember) Americans who were detained in other countries.
It was just last summer that Biden used his diplomacy expertise to coordinate the release of three American prisoners held by Russia! (Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva)