Joe Biden’s presidency is just over a year old. Biden has embraced the old idea, established by the Democrats under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Republicans under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, that in a democracy, the federal government has a responsibility to keep the playing field level for all. It must regulate business to maintain competition and prevent corporations from abusing their employees, protect civil rights, provide a basic social safety net, and promote infrastructure.
Please send this to every newspaper, newsmagazine, news outlet in the country and elsewhere for publication. It is, by far and away, the best indictment of the Republican Party, and defense of President Biden, that I have read!
Thank you for outlining what a great job President Biden has done under some of the most trying and challenging conditions since FDR took over the disaster Republicans created from 1919 to 1929, or since Obama took over the disaster Republicans created from 2001 to 2008. It is amazing that nobody seems to understand that Republicans mostly generate profoundly large economic disasters that Democrats have to clean up.
Nobody seems to be willing to say what is true: Biden has done a wonderfully capable job in his first year in the most toxic and difficult environment since 1865.
I am just about to unsubscribe from NY Times because they are putting more and more right wing nuts on as "editorialists" to attempt to ensure that if Trump wins again they can say they are unbiased by publishing junk. They are taking the German approach to appeasement prior to Hitler starting the train runs.
Also, NPR, although they did do an amazing smash job in an interview with Trump recently, is also whipping on Biden.
Everyone seems to have their own version of "Let's Go Brandon".
So, Dr. Richardson, thank you for keeping your eye on the ACTUAL truth.
It is odd because my Republican sister often ends her emails with TRUTH at the end. But, the only place I can find a truly accurate accounting of reality today is....
right on this board.
Thank you for doing the work to make it happen Dr. Richardson. I/we appreciate your efforts and hope, when the "new" wears off and fatigue sets in you remember: There is no place else to go.
Heather, while tonight's piece is another wonderful "letter", this one-year recap would better serve democracy appearing as a guest opinion piece in WaPo or NYT. We are your choir and this is what we are not hearing in the press. Move it on to a bigger, louder choir?
With her keen historian's eye, Dr. Richardson has managed to see the big picture of Biden's first year and sum up beautifully what has transpired. I think we can get a bit myopic and tend to just narrow our sights on things as they occur day by day. Historians are used to seeing things on a broader scale, and using their sense of historical perspective--framing current events against the backdrop of past history--can take note of certain events which should perhaps command our attention. They take stock of events that might signal the beginning of a trend--as always with the past as a guide.
This Letter both elates and infuriates. We DO have some things to feel justifiably proud of, but the forces we are having to fight are also seemingly gaining ground. I think a rather good administration is becoming a victim of circumstances beyond its control. Yes, there have been missteps along the way, but, my God, those pale in comparison to the totally inept, complete incompetence of Biden's predecessor. I tend to think the MSM wants to go back to those palmy days of yore when the Mango Mussolini was outraging everything and everybody several times daily. It kept them busy and gave them something to do. No matter that it was trashing the country and making us the laughing stock of the world. Biden is boring. Good governance is boring. Boring, slow news days means less readers/viewers. Less bottom line. Less $$$.
We need to counter that and get the word out if the MSM won't. Spread things like this Letter and others like it as much as possible. Maybe we can get the truth out there somehow. Keep calling the Republicans what they are: a bunch of spineless cowards, devoid of any ethics or substance, who are set and determined to destroy this democracy. LISTEN TO THE HISTORIANS!! They are sounding the alarm because they've seen this script before and they know where this can lead.
An exquisite piece of writing which the Democrats should reproduce and spread far and wide. Thank you, Heather, for giving us all a reason to hold our heads up high. I hope that you will send it to President Biden, so that he knows that he is admired and appreciated. Ploughing through this year has been no small feat, and it has been accomplished with merit and grace.
As other writers have noted, this is an extraordinary post. It should be THE document Democrats cite over the coming months. Everyone who wants to keep our democracy alive should be handing it out to everyone they know, on supermarket lines, in parking lots,wherever. You are so articulate, so forceful and yet so calm as you present the facts. A true hero.
I wish you a good night's sleep tonight, Dr. Richardson. Thank you for your Herculean efforts to give us context for what we read in the news, and to present a true picture in the face of so much disinformation.
Another outstanding recap of where we are. Heather, this is excellent writing...once again. Thank you.
Based on the success described here, any normal democracy would be celebrating and the President's approval rating would be 70 or 80%. Because success is a good thing, right?
Not if you are engaged in a "culture war". The forces of primitive radical right wing authoritarian populism have been mined effectively by the Oligarchs who control this nation. Conspiracy nonsense has become accepted as fact by millions of Americans.
And that nonsense has been funded by the rich. TFG is the obvious example. But he only exists on the national stage because of one person who lives in Australia. Through his media puppets, Rupert Murdoch has committed libel and slander for several years. His money loop is amazingly effective and it is essentially a foreign takeover of America. His billions buttress a TV network that babbles lies and undermines the fabric of our country every single day. And the people who watch this garbage buy the products of the companies that advertise on his channel.
Murdoch and the companies that pay him (and send money to the members of Congress who participated in an attempted coup!) are effectively running this nation. They have shut down simple efforts at establishing voting rights and helping families with childcare. I repeat: they have effectively demonized voting rights and childcare.
There is talk of economic sanctions for Putin if he takes the next step into Ukraine. I suggest that Rupert Murdoch is more of a threat to our nation than Putin will ever be. Sanction HIM! Murdoch is the Genghis Khan of media and he slaughters the truth all day long. Hannity and Carlson "yell fire in a non-burning theater" and we do nothing. They get rich and the money loop continues it's despicable destruction of our "democracy".
I have been reading these letters for a year, but never posted. I graduated with a history degree many years ago, and greatly appreciate the historical perspective Dr. Richardson brings to this forum. The Letters, like this post tonight, are always enlightening but also infuriating and frightening. The Republican efforts to create an authoritarian regime is so obvious to me, perhaps because I grew up as a reform Jew, where teaching of the Holocaust was part of our curriculum. My friends had parents who were in concentration camps. I always wondered how so many people could believe such lies and thought it could never happen here. It was one of the letters (or maybe the podcast) that finally convinced me that it is my responsibility to help defend democracy. So, I tracked down the States Project, which I heard about at an activism workshop, and started my own Giving Circle for Arizona to change the balance of power in the Arizona House and Senate. The Republicans have a very small majority, but have used it to pass voter suppression bills and hire the Cyber Ninjas to wreak havoc on our election process. We have precious little time to save our democracy and I finally feel like I'm contributing something concrete to the effort. I'm so grateful for President Biden's efforts to use the federal government to protect all citizens, but we can also start from the bottom up. For anyone who wants information on the effort to change the balance of power at the state level, their website is statesproject.org
It doesn't help that the over-educated, under-intelligent, otherwise-unemployable trust fund babies of the Washington Press Corpse continue their "unbiased" reporting by making Republican lies the equivalent of actual facts and giving "both sides" equal weight lest the Republicans say they're the "liberal media." Which the Republicans do anyway, despite the fact the Press Corpse reporting gives them an edge they in no way deserve.
Always remember that Biden's negative numbers don't just come from Republican/Fox lies and propaganda. Reporting and opinion pieces in the "liberal" corporate media, very much including the New York Times and the Washington Post, CNN, NPR/PBS, and MSNBC, also bears a heavy responsibility.
What a superb post this evening, Heather. I only wish that it would appear in major media outlets across this country (and the world). The MSM seem to be dead set against Biden (of course look who owns the papers....) and through choices of words actually giving support to Republican lies and mischief. Not to call a lie a lie is a misuse of language; to fail to say that it is the Republicans who are opposed to voting rights (and say instead that the Democrats lost; of course they did, but WHO CAUSED IT?) I meant for this to be an appreciation of tonight's post with its magnificent summary of the truth of Biden's first year. Instead, I got a little carried away in the wrong direction. Apologies. We the People!! Peace and Courage to all.
One thing that concerns me on the credit President isn't getting from the electorate is the size of the mess he inherited from President Trump's dismantling and demoralizing so many of the institutions of the federal government. For instance, in ending the Afghan war he was honoring the word of the United States even if it came from President Trump's deal to get out of Afghanistan by May 1. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/04/973604904/trumps-deal-to-end-war-in-afghanistan-leaves-biden-with-a-terrible-situation The other part of this is the diminished intelligence available to the Biden administration that should have told him how fast the Taliban were going to sweep in. Then there is the Republican refusal to wear masks and get vaccination extending the pandemic and causing unnecessary death and extending the economic chaos it creates. There is also the number of Ambassadorships that went unfilled by the Trump administration. And let's mention the Wall where the Trump administration actually made the problem worse by removing aide to the countries that people were leaving out of desperation. We can also talk about the tax cuts for corporations with no incentives to trickle down their golden eggs in the form of higher wages. This is the common state of the country after Republican administrations. Look at the financial crisis President Bush left for President Obama. Then you see President Trump immediately taking credit for the Obama rising economy. It goes on and on. We need to cut President Biden some slack in having to repair so much before he could start moving forward. The total obstruction by the Republican Senators is a travesty of the first order. Our job now is to make sure the 1/3 of those Senators from being reelected! And, to hold onto the House and to work at the state and local level to overturn Republican legislatures and partisan thugs going after Secretary of State offices to control elections. Time for Action all!
This makes me swell with pride, yet sob with frustration. I hope and pray we can find away forward. Thank you, as ever, for laying it all out there. We’re here with you 🙏🏼❤️
Please send this to every newspaper, newsmagazine, news outlet in the country and elsewhere for publication. It is, by far and away, the best indictment of the Republican Party, and defense of President Biden, that I have read!
Thank you Dr. Richardson.
Thank you for outlining what a great job President Biden has done under some of the most trying and challenging conditions since FDR took over the disaster Republicans created from 1919 to 1929, or since Obama took over the disaster Republicans created from 2001 to 2008. It is amazing that nobody seems to understand that Republicans mostly generate profoundly large economic disasters that Democrats have to clean up.
Nobody seems to be willing to say what is true: Biden has done a wonderfully capable job in his first year in the most toxic and difficult environment since 1865.
I am just about to unsubscribe from NY Times because they are putting more and more right wing nuts on as "editorialists" to attempt to ensure that if Trump wins again they can say they are unbiased by publishing junk. They are taking the German approach to appeasement prior to Hitler starting the train runs.
Also, NPR, although they did do an amazing smash job in an interview with Trump recently, is also whipping on Biden.
Everyone seems to have their own version of "Let's Go Brandon".
So, Dr. Richardson, thank you for keeping your eye on the ACTUAL truth.
It is odd because my Republican sister often ends her emails with TRUTH at the end. But, the only place I can find a truly accurate accounting of reality today is....
right on this board.
Thank you for doing the work to make it happen Dr. Richardson. I/we appreciate your efforts and hope, when the "new" wears off and fatigue sets in you remember: There is no place else to go.
Mike
Heather, while tonight's piece is another wonderful "letter", this one-year recap would better serve democracy appearing as a guest opinion piece in WaPo or NYT. We are your choir and this is what we are not hearing in the press. Move it on to a bigger, louder choir?
With her keen historian's eye, Dr. Richardson has managed to see the big picture of Biden's first year and sum up beautifully what has transpired. I think we can get a bit myopic and tend to just narrow our sights on things as they occur day by day. Historians are used to seeing things on a broader scale, and using their sense of historical perspective--framing current events against the backdrop of past history--can take note of certain events which should perhaps command our attention. They take stock of events that might signal the beginning of a trend--as always with the past as a guide.
This Letter both elates and infuriates. We DO have some things to feel justifiably proud of, but the forces we are having to fight are also seemingly gaining ground. I think a rather good administration is becoming a victim of circumstances beyond its control. Yes, there have been missteps along the way, but, my God, those pale in comparison to the totally inept, complete incompetence of Biden's predecessor. I tend to think the MSM wants to go back to those palmy days of yore when the Mango Mussolini was outraging everything and everybody several times daily. It kept them busy and gave them something to do. No matter that it was trashing the country and making us the laughing stock of the world. Biden is boring. Good governance is boring. Boring, slow news days means less readers/viewers. Less bottom line. Less $$$.
We need to counter that and get the word out if the MSM won't. Spread things like this Letter and others like it as much as possible. Maybe we can get the truth out there somehow. Keep calling the Republicans what they are: a bunch of spineless cowards, devoid of any ethics or substance, who are set and determined to destroy this democracy. LISTEN TO THE HISTORIANS!! They are sounding the alarm because they've seen this script before and they know where this can lead.
An exquisite piece of writing which the Democrats should reproduce and spread far and wide. Thank you, Heather, for giving us all a reason to hold our heads up high. I hope that you will send it to President Biden, so that he knows that he is admired and appreciated. Ploughing through this year has been no small feat, and it has been accomplished with merit and grace.
As other writers have noted, this is an extraordinary post. It should be THE document Democrats cite over the coming months. Everyone who wants to keep our democracy alive should be handing it out to everyone they know, on supermarket lines, in parking lots,wherever. You are so articulate, so forceful and yet so calm as you present the facts. A true hero.
Your writing is beautiful and powerful. I wish the media would shift its focus to Biden's accomplishments.
I wish you a good night's sleep tonight, Dr. Richardson. Thank you for your Herculean efforts to give us context for what we read in the news, and to present a true picture in the face of so much disinformation.
Another outstanding recap of where we are. Heather, this is excellent writing...once again. Thank you.
Based on the success described here, any normal democracy would be celebrating and the President's approval rating would be 70 or 80%. Because success is a good thing, right?
Not if you are engaged in a "culture war". The forces of primitive radical right wing authoritarian populism have been mined effectively by the Oligarchs who control this nation. Conspiracy nonsense has become accepted as fact by millions of Americans.
And that nonsense has been funded by the rich. TFG is the obvious example. But he only exists on the national stage because of one person who lives in Australia. Through his media puppets, Rupert Murdoch has committed libel and slander for several years. His money loop is amazingly effective and it is essentially a foreign takeover of America. His billions buttress a TV network that babbles lies and undermines the fabric of our country every single day. And the people who watch this garbage buy the products of the companies that advertise on his channel.
Murdoch and the companies that pay him (and send money to the members of Congress who participated in an attempted coup!) are effectively running this nation. They have shut down simple efforts at establishing voting rights and helping families with childcare. I repeat: they have effectively demonized voting rights and childcare.
There is talk of economic sanctions for Putin if he takes the next step into Ukraine. I suggest that Rupert Murdoch is more of a threat to our nation than Putin will ever be. Sanction HIM! Murdoch is the Genghis Khan of media and he slaughters the truth all day long. Hannity and Carlson "yell fire in a non-burning theater" and we do nothing. They get rich and the money loop continues it's despicable destruction of our "democracy".
Yes, I am having a Peter Finch moment.
I have been reading these letters for a year, but never posted. I graduated with a history degree many years ago, and greatly appreciate the historical perspective Dr. Richardson brings to this forum. The Letters, like this post tonight, are always enlightening but also infuriating and frightening. The Republican efforts to create an authoritarian regime is so obvious to me, perhaps because I grew up as a reform Jew, where teaching of the Holocaust was part of our curriculum. My friends had parents who were in concentration camps. I always wondered how so many people could believe such lies and thought it could never happen here. It was one of the letters (or maybe the podcast) that finally convinced me that it is my responsibility to help defend democracy. So, I tracked down the States Project, which I heard about at an activism workshop, and started my own Giving Circle for Arizona to change the balance of power in the Arizona House and Senate. The Republicans have a very small majority, but have used it to pass voter suppression bills and hire the Cyber Ninjas to wreak havoc on our election process. We have precious little time to save our democracy and I finally feel like I'm contributing something concrete to the effort. I'm so grateful for President Biden's efforts to use the federal government to protect all citizens, but we can also start from the bottom up. For anyone who wants information on the effort to change the balance of power at the state level, their website is statesproject.org
It doesn't help that the over-educated, under-intelligent, otherwise-unemployable trust fund babies of the Washington Press Corpse continue their "unbiased" reporting by making Republican lies the equivalent of actual facts and giving "both sides" equal weight lest the Republicans say they're the "liberal media." Which the Republicans do anyway, despite the fact the Press Corpse reporting gives them an edge they in no way deserve.
Always remember that Biden's negative numbers don't just come from Republican/Fox lies and propaganda. Reporting and opinion pieces in the "liberal" corporate media, very much including the New York Times and the Washington Post, CNN, NPR/PBS, and MSNBC, also bears a heavy responsibility.
What a superb post this evening, Heather. I only wish that it would appear in major media outlets across this country (and the world). The MSM seem to be dead set against Biden (of course look who owns the papers....) and through choices of words actually giving support to Republican lies and mischief. Not to call a lie a lie is a misuse of language; to fail to say that it is the Republicans who are opposed to voting rights (and say instead that the Democrats lost; of course they did, but WHO CAUSED IT?) I meant for this to be an appreciation of tonight's post with its magnificent summary of the truth of Biden's first year. Instead, I got a little carried away in the wrong direction. Apologies. We the People!! Peace and Courage to all.
One thing that concerns me on the credit President isn't getting from the electorate is the size of the mess he inherited from President Trump's dismantling and demoralizing so many of the institutions of the federal government. For instance, in ending the Afghan war he was honoring the word of the United States even if it came from President Trump's deal to get out of Afghanistan by May 1. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/04/973604904/trumps-deal-to-end-war-in-afghanistan-leaves-biden-with-a-terrible-situation The other part of this is the diminished intelligence available to the Biden administration that should have told him how fast the Taliban were going to sweep in. Then there is the Republican refusal to wear masks and get vaccination extending the pandemic and causing unnecessary death and extending the economic chaos it creates. There is also the number of Ambassadorships that went unfilled by the Trump administration. And let's mention the Wall where the Trump administration actually made the problem worse by removing aide to the countries that people were leaving out of desperation. We can also talk about the tax cuts for corporations with no incentives to trickle down their golden eggs in the form of higher wages. This is the common state of the country after Republican administrations. Look at the financial crisis President Bush left for President Obama. Then you see President Trump immediately taking credit for the Obama rising economy. It goes on and on. We need to cut President Biden some slack in having to repair so much before he could start moving forward. The total obstruction by the Republican Senators is a travesty of the first order. Our job now is to make sure the 1/3 of those Senators from being reelected! And, to hold onto the House and to work at the state and local level to overturn Republican legislatures and partisan thugs going after Secretary of State offices to control elections. Time for Action all!
This makes me swell with pride, yet sob with frustration. I hope and pray we can find away forward. Thank you, as ever, for laying it all out there. We’re here with you 🙏🏼❤️
Thank you - so much easier to point out flaws than successes. Progress is hard; criticizing the effort is so much easier.