“It’s All About The Mo-mentum, Baby”

Look, forget about the rockhead supporters of He-who-shall-not-be-named, they don’t matter right  now. This country is coming off of 4 long, sometimes endless years of racism, sexism, misogyny. inactivity, and dysfunction. You’re never going to change the minds of the 30% of knuckle draggers that stormed the Capitol, but that leaves a wide swath that can be swayed.

But it all comes down to one simple thing, progress, and lots of it. Remember, there was a large group of disaffected Democrats, independents and soft voters who chose to vote for Lord Voldemort in 2016. But they didn’t do it out of undying devotion to His Lowness, they voted for two things, change and progress. And right now, in the middle of a global pandemic, and a national economic meltdown they really don’t give a shit who gives it to them. him. And that’s the soft underbelly that Biden can exploit.

Biden needs to show progress on two fronts, and quickly. But he doesn’t have to provide a miracle cure, the vast majority of Americans in this country understand how deep and complex these problems are. But he needs to show progress. And it has to be substantial.

First, Biden needs to show serious progress on the coronavirus front. He doesn’t have to make it disappear, but he has to show serious improvement. I have already written that I honestly believe, with an assist from Dr. Anthony Fauci, that with the holiday travel surge behind us, and no major travel holidays until Memorial Day, the infection, hospitalization rate, and death rates are going to start to slowly but steadily go down. And for the last three days, the United States has topped over 1 million vaccinations in arms, on par with Biden’s goal. Even with glitches, with other vaccines already in the FDA pipeline for emergency approval, we can post the kind of vaccination numbers that show the population that we’re finally turning the corner.

The second front is on the economy. With his misbegotten belief that the stock market was the arbiter of all things economic, El Pendejo Presidente didn’t just drive us into a ditch, he plummeted us into the fucking San Andreas Fault! The stock market itself creates no jobs, it has no actual intrinsic value, it is nothing more than wealth being moved from one place to another. And while that’s going on, hundreds of thousands of small businesses, the true economic engine of the economy, have closed, throwing millions out of work.

Until we approach herd immunity, Biden can’t actually reverse the economic downslide, but he can start the recovery. Bet money into peoples pockets. Continuing the federal unemployment assistance, the $1400 dollar stimulus increase. all of those put money in peoples pockets, which they will likely spend at local businesses, helping them to survive, and avoid closing or laying off more workers. If Biden can follow through, and get schools back open again safely, then he can free all of those women to get back into the marketplace, and drive positive change. Biden can’t fix it immediately, but if he can get the weekly first time unemployment claims down to 400.000-600,000 from Traitor Tots 900,000-1.2 million, the results will show, and everybody will feel it.

There are two critical components as to why Biden must accomplish this. The first is his agenda. Biden has a slim majority in the House, and a razor thin majority in the Senate. If Biden can show real progress in the fight against the coronavirus, and can bring the unemployment numbers back onto what can pass for as an acceptable range, then he’s King Shit. If he can make the majority of Americans feel that these crises are under control, and progress is being made, his approval numbers are going to rise. And when they do, it makes it harder for McConnell to oppose things that Biden proposes that are popular with the widespread public.

The second reason is that, as much as you hate it, and as much as I hate it, the 2020 midterms are already on the horizon. And in normal times, the party in power tends to lose seats in the first midterms of a new administration. But this is not a normal time for out country.

Because I’m legally blind, I haven’t been able to do the kind of research that I’d like to do, but I’d love to know how many of the new GOP incumbents who beat Democrats in GOP swing districts in 2020 over Defund The Police that turned around and voted to  overturn the votes of millions of Americans on January the 6th, after the bloody assault of the Capitol building. These are all districts that went Democratic in 2018, and could well again in 2022.

Biden’s entire first term may well be defined by his first six months in office. If he can turn the economy around, and convince the American people that we have turned the corner on the coronavirus, then he places Mitch McConnell in a weakened position. And more importantly, he can increase his party’s chances to increase their majority in the 2022 midterm, and give him the wriggle room he needs to pass more of his agenda. The good news is that it is all actually possible, if Biden holds the course, and his new administration is as good as advertised.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like to check out President Evil, and the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork Orange . They comprise a pretty much daily report from the front of the 2016 GOP primaries, as well as the general election

Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35