Sometimes we're quick to blame an incoming president in the dawn of his first term for things that aren't fully his doing. Inheriting economic stagnation or a foreign diplomatic debacle are tough things to overcome, especially in a short amount of time.
Joe Biden's first year, however, which could go down in American lore as the worst first year in presidential history, is almost entirely self-made.
The Energy Crisis - Fuel prices checking in at $4.17 (the national average on 3/8) per gallon are entirely and squarely Joe Biden's doing. We have all of the petroleum and natural gas that we need, and plenty left over to export, right here in the states (*and a huge store in Pennsylvania) or close by that can be easily and efficiently transported to us. We can drill, refine, and ship this energy cleaner than anyone else in the world, yet Biden insists on importing it from Russia, Iran, and now Venezuela, all of which are tyrannical regimes. His reason for this idiotic policy is some kind of hyperbolic fairy tale about the climate.
Inflation - Several factors contribute to inflation, the likes of which we've not seen in at least 40 years right now in America. Among those are senseless regulations on businesses and individuals, higher taxes on business and individuals, big government spending habits, arbitrarily printing money to keep up with Government spending demands, and ridiculous restrictions that disrupt the supply chain - all of which Joe Biden is guilty of imposing. To add insult to injury, Biden weaponized OHSHA, and would have succeeded in following through if the Supreme Court would not have put a stop to it, in forcing businesses to require their employees to get a COVID shot in order to work.
Foreign Conflict - A. The evacuation of American Troops in Afghanistan was embarrassing. The plan was bad, the execution was bad, the communication was bad, and the result was bad. We left Americans hanging and we left Afghan allies hanging too. The situation could not have been handled worse by our President.
B. Russia invading Ukraine and the likely invasion of Taiwan by China are escalations that have not been met with good American leadership, rather weak and indecisive floundering. Entering into a potential war is a different topic, and I'm certainly not a war hawk, but Biden and his cabinet were too slow to impose economic sanctions and other means to put a stop to Putin's aggression. Say what you wish about Trump, but these escalations did not occur during his four-year term and that isn't a coincidence. It appears that Xi and Putin were waiting for a weak leader to act, and they got one in Joe Biden.
Illegal Immigration - Record numbers of illegal immigrants are pouring into the U.S. through our southern border. When interviewed, these immigrants are not bashful about why they're here on American soil illegally - because they've been welcomed by Joe Biden. This influx is easily controllable, the evidence being that the last administration did just that - controlled it. This failure could simply be reversed by returning to the policy and system of the last administration, but Joe Biden hasn't done that.
Crime - Many cities and locales are facing a sharp increase in crime. This can be directly attributed to the left's attack on our police, a position that Joe Biden has only recently backtracked on, nominally at least. Like-minded DA's across the U.S. aren't charging violent criminals under some unknown liberal philosophy, in doing so they're creating repeat offenders and making our streets and communities more dangerous.
Approval Rating - When the President is incapable of consistently making sense (both with policy decisions and stringing together coherent sentences) and refusing to answer simple questions from the media, there really is no surprise why he is not popular among Americans. Couple that with a bad economy, embarrassments abroad, and the bundling of pretty much every other thing that's crossed his desk, no one should be in the dark about his historically low approval ratings.
All of these problems are easily correctable. As I stated above, there are relatively simple remedies to each of these downfalls. But, if the first 15 months is any clue for the rest of Joe Biden's term, he probably won't act on these simple fixes. Let's just hope it doesn't drastically get worse.
-Joe D'Orsie