Wednesday, December 03, 2025
The Weave and the Merge
Yesterday was a weird and disturbing day at the White House. President Trump called Somali-Americans "garbage," and proclaimed that President Biden's grants of clemency were "void" if signed by autopen.
Every day, it seems, there are some provocations like this. But if you step back from the daily sturm and drang, there is something remarkable going on: Trump is becoming a lot like Biden--the caricature of Biden he is still obsessed with-- in some important ways.
First, both Biden and Trump are elderly men who suffer all that goes with that. Trump refers to Biden as "Sleepy Joe," but now it is Trump who seems to be dozing off at meetings.
Second, it seems that as his term proceeds Trump is increasingly surrounded by a small group of protective advisors who limit access to him. This was a predominant feature of the Biden administration, and not a good one.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, Trump is replicating one of Biden's worst strategic errors: insisting that inflation is under control when affordability issues are very real to people who don't live in gilded mansions. Here is what the New York Times reported from yesterday's cabinet meeting:
After ticking off what he claimed were trillions of dollars of investments and other economic accomplishments, Mr. Trump called the issue of affordability a “fake narrative” and “con job” created by Democrats to dupe the public.
Trump's words even contain Biden's frustration that people won't focus on what he wants them to see rather than what they actually see in their own lives.
Biden was wrong to run for a second term-- as IPLawGuy pointed out years before he made the decision, he was just too old. In the end, in a race with time, time always wins. And it is winning again.
