58 Comments

Harry Truman at the end of his presidency had about a 23% approval rating. He’s thought to be one of the best presidents today. Leave Biden alone Chris. You seem almost gleeful that he’s not doing well at the polls. Give it a rest.

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Shoot the messenger, nice!

It did not need to be this way, and it's very sad that it is. Much like my golf game, Biden's damage is totally 'self-inflicted'....

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On January 20 we are going to enter hell and you’re still beating up on Joe Biden. Fasten your seat belts. Biden’s tenure will be looked back on as the good old days.

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And yet somehow you survived the first Trump presidency. 🙄

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We survived because he wasn't sure what to do as POTUS (as would anybody reading this). Now he knows what to do to make zillions. He's gonna raise tariffs. He's picking all his pals for government positions, and will let them "run wild". He's threatening to leave NATO. He says he will end the war in Ukraine in one day (and we all know how he will do that). His best friend when he's POTUS will be a soon-to-be trillionaire. He will pardon insurrectionists on Day One.

He's going to deport millions, or says he will. He's threatening to use the Insurrection Act, when in 2017 he probably never heard of it. He will gut the EPA and similar agencies. And the SCOTUS has given him "immunity" to do whatever the hell he wants. So no, don't think it will be like the first term, and watch for an EXTREMELY bumpy ride.

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You are COMPLETELY correct, Richard, and I’ll be generous and say that James P is in “head-in-sand” mode!

Trump knows his way around whatever few “guardrails” are left, and his nominations make it *embarrassingly* clear that there will be absolutely NO “adults in the room”, like Tillerson, Esper, Kelly, even Meadows.

I think James P is likely just trying to justify his kitchen-table-issues vote for Trump, now that it’s completely clear to anyone paying attention that he LIED during his campaign and that he’s already starting to jettison his formerly sacrosanct “promises” (like “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard”. What happened to “When I win, I will immediately bring down prices, starting on day one."?)

As an agnostic, all i can say is I hope to god we survive this!

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Funny that you don’t seem to see that Chris’s legendary “unbiased” views have him continuing to beat up on Biden and continuing to pass off his comedic takes on Trump’s speeches/interviews as if they were hard-hitting high quality analysis.

When the “messenger” can’t acknowledge their *own* biases, what do you have?

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Nailed it!

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No kidding. Not subscribing to what he’s “building” here.

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Biden will leave office deeply unpopular. After four years of the dumpster fire that's coming he will be remembered as one of our finest presidents.

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He's recognized as one now, by historians anyway. The biggest thing he did wrong was become too old. Of course Trump is pretty old too, but we never hear about that. When was the last time, if ever, you heard that the guy coming in would be the oldest inaugurated as President?

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I'd say the biggest thing he did wrong was run for re-election.

I look at the infrastructure bill and getting Medicare to negotiate drug prices as two of his signature accomplishments, something previous presidents wanted and couldn't get.

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Not to excuse Biden, but he was to be a one-term POTUS until Trump decided to run again. That damn debate is what cost him. But yeah, if he had not run and let Harris be the candidate from the start of 2024, it likely would have been a different result.

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gee, Chris, are you going to follow Biden into retirement and continue to beat up on him? Only thing I'm commenting on is the Notable Quote - Chip Roy said "Call me crazy, but we should reduce the deficit and not pass stupid policies.” I will be watching to see if he votes to extend the trump tax cuts for the rich. Of course he will. Per the GOP, deficits can only be reduced by killing off programs people need to live on. And I predict the deficit will be more in 4 years than it is now.

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Agreed 💯

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I hope he does. Biden is terrible and deserves condemnation.

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I don't think nearly as many people care about approval ratings as the people who write about them.

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How can Biden be less popular than a rapist? Polls are still nonsense lol

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/19/trump-carroll-judge-rape/

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6dEdited

because americans prove time and time again just how dumb they are...and someone in the media continues to write about a president he didn't like...

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I guess people care more about the price of eggs (which won't go down anyway).

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Or, example two…. GOP wants to cut funding to the IRS, why? To save money, reduce the deficit. Back to the boss’s office…. Go into your boss’s office and advise him that you should drop the company’s program that for every $1 dollar spent returns $7 dollars to the company. What???? You want to cut the program that makes our company $7 for every dollar spent? You’re a moron, and you’re fired. [Sidebar, if you tell the boss cutting this program will make YOUR rich friends even richer, he might possibly hit you with a bat….]

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To this day I do not understand why Jimmy Carter had such low approval ratings. We'll certainly be hearing many discussions about that soon enough, I'm afraid, as he has been in hospice for some time. But I just don't get it. He was young (back then!) and likable, a family guy, unpretentious, thoughtful, and hard-working. He also tried to model a presidency that was the opposite of Nixon's corrupt, authoritarian regime, and did lots of innovative stuff in trying to reach out to the American public. He obviously also had all the same traits that went on to make him basically the best ex-president that we have ever had. SMH.

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Regarding Chip Roy’s comment — I’ve been in debt, we all have. You want to reduce your debt, two choices — spend less, earn more. The funny thing about the GOP for the past few decades, they talk reduce spending (never do) BUT they always want to also reduce the federal government’s income. Imagine going into your boss’s office, say you’re having a problem with too much debt and can you do me favor and CUT my salary…… Your boss would fire you on the spot for being a moron. I’ve been in a few meetings with GOP Congress people, their rationale is always the same, if you cut taxes (reduce the federal government’s income) the rising tide (the economy that will BOOM), will float all boats, the government will take in more money because more people are working and more will be earning more…. The key question asked at that point, has this ever worked before??? Answer, no it hasn’t ever, you’re a moron, you should be fired….

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If we really want to get the deficit and debt under control, we have to cut military spending significantly, cut domestic spending significantly and increase our tax rates significantly (yes the rich, but not just the rich). The last time we more or less made a step in the right direction was during the Clinton & Gingrich era.

And history hasn't been kind to countries that don't manage their finances well.

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Maybe we could sell some of our tanks to Russia (seems they are running out) that are parked in the desert or the forests of Germany because we keep making them even though we don’t need them; or we could claw back some of our tax dollars that went to the makers of the F-35 fighter jets, 10 years late and $150 billion over budget (what the boss would say about that one). Just read we’re going to make a bunch of new submarines too…. These are jobs to Congressional Districts around the country (I think parts of the F-35 are built in 40 different states). Going to be hard to seriously trim the defense budget (and I’m with you on that!), I would applaud efforts to decrease government waste (back to Clinton, Gore did a great job on this), and double check all the government programs requirements for benefits for savings and fix what’s not working (I wouldn’t eliminate them totally, there are people/kids that need them). When you look at the federal pie, the easy pickings in domestic spending to eliminate would hurt people, but not sure politicians will care if they go that route.

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Agreed. Defense spending cuts would be a very hard sell to senators and reps in states/districts where military hardware components are manufactured, or final products assembled.

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Biden Will eventually be looked on as a great president

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He is already.

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Regarding Biden, WTF do you expect when every single day since he took office, his immediate predecessor, Trump, had something negative to say about him, his policies, and the news media failed to cover all the good he was doing? Never has the previous POTUS been critical of his successor until Trump came along. WTF do you expect when the rightwing media from Fox to Bannon to Twitter hammered Biden day after day after day? WTF do you expect when more than 50% of the electorate has a reading level lower than 6th grade? History will be very kind to Biden because with the lens of time passed, he will be recognized for being at the helm to reverse the effects of COVID, keeping the economy humming along, getting an actual infrastructure deal done. Count on it!

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Good call. He should absolutely just abandon the presidency because people said mean things about him.

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oh lookie here - it's a MAGAt trying to show off his 6th grade education, sound intelligent and failing miserably. No Dumbo, my post was in reference to the nitwits who believe Trump, Fox, and the rightwing echo chamber.

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Please forgive me. With such poignant prose as “WTF” I should have realized I was conversing with a modern day Shakespeare. As to your point, I don’t believe it’s just “nitwits” on the right who are unsatisfied with Biden’s job approval. Furthermore,

I posit that his legacy will forever be tarnished by his terrible debate performance and his pardoning of not only his son, but some questionable other pardons as well. I could be wrong, for sure, as I never in a billion years would have believed that people would warm to George W. Bush, or that I would ever see Democrats campaigning with Liz Cheney and touting the endorsement of her father.

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Do you think he cares? I don’t.

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He's been in politics for 50+ years, and he's suffered the loss of a wife and 2 kids. He knows it's with the territory, and if it weren't for that crappy debate with Trump, he would have stayed in the race and he'd be back for another 4 years. Popular or not.

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The game Politics is known as fickle. Biden right now is definitely a lame duck president. Don't count him out though - historians take years before Presidents are judged for their legacy. Let's be real 2 days after Biden lost a lot in this country we're on a high. Have fuel prices lowered? Has food prices lowered? Has housing prices lowered? Incredible

I cannot stand Trump - however I pray we can all hold this country together.

An interesting opinion I sense from reading different articles - a lot in this country are pissed at the baby boomers. We have been described as selfish, profiting from post WW2. Achieving college degrees at low prices. Not worrying about health insurance and on and on. We hold the golden parachute.

I find this attitude insulting & so ignorant-

Yes housing was cheap - however from the 60's up to today there have been many cycles of inflation- Wall Street greed - bank loan schemes. To blame a whole generation for today's situation sounds like Trump - which I am sure he will use to chip away at SS.

I am glad that Republicans have won all 3 branches cuz the truth of the matter who are they going to blame when many programs are eliminated.

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About the charts: they are too light and too small. I can't read them at all and I skip them. My advice: improve or dump.

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Forgive if you already know this. But you can click on them and rot at your phone. It makes them a little easier to read.

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Agreed, they are definitely not mobile-friendly, particularly for older eyes like mine.

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I sympathize! I use my desktop for "So What" reading instead of my cellphone - wide-screen high-def monitor is a necessity vision-wise.

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Suddenly, I don’t like Chris Cillizza , and am unsubscribing now.

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I always say this but will repeat here: If your bar for subscribing is always agreeing with me, you shouldn’t subscribe. That’s not what I am aiming for.

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But which part is making Cdales dislike Chris Cillizza is the real question imo.

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You mean you don’t like being yelled at to subscribe to what he’s “building”? I’m with ya.

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Watched the Waxahatchee Tiny Desk earlier. Such a talent!

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I'm not a daily reader and posts like this make me want to read you less. Leave President Biden alone. In a few short weeks we will have a truly bad president; an embarrassment and a convicted felon. Concentrate on that Chris. Biden has many accomplishments he can be proud of. I won't list them but you know what they are. You have really become a bore focusing on such negative crap. Honestly how Biden and his family have gotten through the intense attacks on their character as well as other things; I don't know. But I'm proud to have voted for him. I won't be paying to read this rubbish. Merry Christmas.

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I read Chris less and less, not because I frequently disagree with him, as he seems to think is the *only* reason anyone would ever unsubscribe, and read him after I’ve read far more in-depth pieces, across the political spectrum, from JVL, Charlie Sykes, Bill Kristol and others to Simon Rosenberg and Scott Dworkin and everyone in between (like Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance).

I still subscribe for those moments of insight and/or humor.

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