Biden won

While Trump continues to lie about how bad things are — he often describes the country as a fetid hellhole of mass unemployment, hyperinflation and out-of-control crime — Joe Biden continues to put up winning numbers in the real world. In case you missed Friday’s news: WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s economy accelerated last quarter at a strong 2.8% annual pace, with consumers and businesses helping drive growth despite the pressure of continually high interest rates.

Some key points: Consumer spending, the backbone of the U.S. economy, rose at a 2.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter. . . Business investment in equipment rose at its fastest pace in more than two years. . . . Inflation, which picked up unexpectedly at the start of the year, eased in the quarter.

From the Times: Taken together, the findings suggest that the economy remains on track for a rare “soft landing,” in which inflation eases without triggering a recession. That is something few forecasters considered likely when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates two years ago to combat inflation.

Trump and others will continue to lie about the state of the nation’s economy through November’s election. But they’ll never have the facts on their side. They won’t be able to change the objective historical record of the Biden years. Biden’s administration is far from perfect, but Trump’s claim that Biden’s policies have been ruinous for the nation are wrong.

Biden won. He won the 2020 election, despite the Big Lie. The midterm elections were much better for Democrats than anyone expected. Republicans like Maryland’s Larry Hogan like to say that “Washington is broken,” but it’s actually not. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill, pushed by Biden and congressional Democrats, passed with the support of 13 House Republicans and 19 Senate Republicans. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but getting 32 votes from just-say-no Republicans in a closely divided Congress was considered a major achievement.

The CHIPS and Science Act, to bolster the nation’s chip manufacturing and the semiconductor industry, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, and Biden signed it into law in August 2022.

No Republican in either the House or Senate voted for Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a comprehensive spending package designed to increase manufacturing jobs, advance clean energy and other climate initiatives, extend Obamacare subsidies and lower prescription drug prices.

No Republican in either the House or Senate voted for the American Rescue Plan, Biden’s first big initiative, to further help Americans emerge from the pandemic with billions for vaccines, to help schools reopen safely, to extend unemployment benefits, help low-income families with children — you know, all that good stuff that Democrats see as vital and Republicans generally see as reckless spending.

Unemployment has ticked up a bit but it’s still low, at 4.1%. More than 15 million jobs have been created since Biden took office.

Regarding crime, this year-over-year report came from the FBI last month: Reported violent crime decreased by 15.2 percent. Murder decreased by 26.4 percent, rape decreased by 25.7 percent, robbery decreased by 17.8 percent, and aggravated assault decreased by 12.5 percent. Reported property crime also decreased by 15.1 percent. A Poynter Institute analysis found that violent crime is now at a 50-year-low.

Biden won. He won on many fronts. He might not have won the Old Guy Campaign — he might have dropped out, leaving Trump as the oldest candidate to ever run for president — but he won the appreciation of millions of Americans by deciding to step aside rather than put the nation at risk of a second Trump presidency. The Trump/MAGA crowd will continue to lie about his record and ridicule him. But in the battle for an honorable legacy, they’ve lost. Joe Biden won.