The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | Kimberley Strassel on Why Biden Presidency Looks a Lot Like Jimmy Carter Administration

Episode Date: July 20, 2023

President Joe Biden has a lot in common with one of his fellow Democratic White House predecessors, according to columnist and author Kimberley Strassel.  In her new book “The Biden Malaise: How America Bounces Back From Joe Biden's Dismal Repeat of the Jimmy Carter Years,” Strassel details the parallels between Jimmy Carter's 1977-1981 presidency and Biden’s today. Of course, after Carter came President Ronald Reagan, and while Strassel says there is no copy of Reagan running for president in 2024, candidates should learn from Reagan's optimism and vision for the country.  Strassel, a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the book and to offer her insights into how the U.S. can “bounce back” after the Biden presidency.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

inflation just is really it saps household wealth. Every time you have to go fill up your car, people don't like seeing disorder down at the southern border. They're now scared because of the crime that's out there. So this has left people feeling very unsettled. This is the digital podcast for Thursday, July 20th. I'm Virginia Allen. And that was author and columnist Kim Strassel. According to Kim, Biden has quite a lot in common with one of his predecessors,

especially when it comes to economic policy. Kim says that both President Joe Biden and President Jimmy Carter share a great deal in common. And in her new book, The Biden Malays How America Bounces Back from Joe Biden's Dismal Repeat of the Jimmy Carter years. Kim explains the parallels between Carter and what we're seeing from President Joe Biden today. Of course, after Carter came President Ronald Reagan. And while Kim says there's no copy of Reagan running for president in 2024, candidates can learn a thing or two from Reagan's positivity and his vision for the country. Stay tuned for our conversation after this.

Conservative women are problematic women. Why? Because we don't adhere to the agenda of the radical left. Every Thursday morning on the Problematic Women podcast, Kristen I, Cammer, Lauren Evans, and me, Virginia Allen, are joined by other conservative. women to break down the big issues and news you care about. Whether you're interested in hot takes and conversations on pop culture or what Congress is up to, problematic women has you covered. We sort through the news to keep you up to date on the issues that are a particular interest to

conservative leaning, that is problematic women. Find problematic women wherever you like to listen to podcasts and follow the show on Instagram. It is my pleasure today. to be joined by author and columnist Kimberly Strassel. Kimberly, thank you so much your time today. I'm so excited that we get to talk about your brand new book, The Biden Malays, How America Bounces Back from Joe Biden's Dismal Repeat of the Jimmy Carter years. Thanks for being with us. Oh, it's so great to be here, Virginia.

Thank you for having me. Well, this is going to be such an interesting conversation. As we talk about this brand new book, The Biden Malays, I'm so curious to know how, exactly you determined that you wanted to draw this direct comparison between the Jimmy Carter presidency and Joe Biden. What do those two presidents hold in common in your eyes? Well, that was really the fun part of this book, because at least on a top level, the comparisons are so eerie in so many ways. I mean, the same type of inflation, the same soaring energy prices, the same debacles on a foreign policy scale, high levels of crime. Also, a lot of people don't know this. Problems at the

border. Jimmy Carter was the only other modern president to have a run at the border, in this case, Florida because of the mayoral vote lift. But what made the research fund is realizing, and this is a central premise of the book, that despite all those top-level comparisons, the comparison is unfair to Jimmy Carter. Oh, wow. Because the way that we got to these places, is so different for the two presidencies and also I think far more damning for the current one. What was the timeline

after Joe Biden became president where you started thinking, wait a second. This looks familiar. We've done this before in history. Yeah, it was about a year in as inflation really started to hit its stride,

but also energy prices. And for all that Joe Biden has talked about, the Putin price hike, etc. energy and gas prices were rising far earlier than Russia invaded Ukraine. And as, you know, they continued to spend and spend, and other people started making this comparison as well, too. But it was when we got into the research that I realized just how much fun it would be to actually

not just compare, but to contrast these presidencies, which I think is really important for readers of this book, to understand why we're in the particular mess these days and not to just to slough it off as a repeat of the Carter years. Well, let's talk a little bit more about what you just said regarding the fact that it's not entirely fair to Carter, to call it a direct comparison. And one of the things that you talk about in the book is that Carter actually did some work to deregulate some aspects of the government. Have we seen any deregulation from President Biden? You know, a couple of things that make it a fair. one just big one, which I would note, is that Carter inherited a lot of his problems. You've got to remember that the 1970s, we were having the great inflation around the globe. We'd already had a global oil shock. It was the Cold War, so it was very unsettling sea on the world stage. He inherited all that, whereas Joe Biden inherited a pretty clean slate. But yes, then not only did Joe Biden get 1.4% inflation, low gas prices, we had just become a net exporter of oil in the

world, he managed to nonetheless destroy all of this. And that is in part because of what you say about regulation. We have never seen a regulator like Biden. And in particular in the ways that he's done it, he's done agency to agency regulation. But he's also really doubled down on the strategy of getting these super regulators. People like Lena Kahn at the Federal Trade Commission, Gary Gensler at the Securities and Exchange Commission, organizations that have the ability to put out rules that sweep in every corporate entity, no matter what their industry is.

And it's been very crushing. It's really hit demand because it unsettled the business sector, and that has helped feed into inflation as well, too. Okay, so. Sorry, it really hits supply. Sure, has it unsettled the sector, and that is fed into inflation as well. So even though we can't draw a direct comparison,

and say there's obviously these incredible similarities between what we're seeing between the Carter presidency and the Biden administration. Like you know, there's some differences. How far can we take the comparison, though? Because Carter was a one-term president. Biden says he's running for re-election. What do you think? Well, yeah, I think you just fit on the thing that really is important also in the book is regardless of how we got to these two terrible situations. in the 70s or now. And even though there were different types of missteps by both presidents, the reality is that what they messed up happens to be the type of issues that most annoy Americans and voters, you know, because they have to deal with it on a daily basis. Inflation just is really it's Saps household wealth. Every time you have to go fill up your car, people don't like seeing disorder down at the southern border. They're now scared because of the crime that's out there. So this has left people feeling very unsettled. And one of the things I try to do in the book is remind

everybody what came after Carter. And of course, that was that backlash, which created the environment that Ronald Reagan came into with a very clear message, with a sense of optimism versus the Malays. And he not only won that election in 1980, he changed electoral politics in this country for a generation. And I think that we could be at a similar moment now. Okay. Okay. Talk a little bit more about that because I think that that's such an interesting point that we have to talk about the implications not only of what's happening today, but how do policies both of what we saw under Carter and then today, how does that set the stage for future administrations? If you look at the polls, put aside elections we've had because there's a lot of focus on those, but just look at the polls. Jimmy, sorry, Joe Biden is even in a worse position right now than Jimmy Carter was when he was running for re-election. And that is a direct statement on these policies and how bad things are for so many Americans.

You've also begun to see some demographic shifts out there in the country in certain elections. And I specifically note some of the gubernatorial reelections in 2022, you know, Ron DeSantis in Florida. Brian Kemp in Georgia, Mike DeWine in Ohio, up at Kim Reynolds up in Iowa, they were elected by massive margins. And that was, and by a number of voting groups that don't normally vote Republican, right? I mean, urban voters, suburban female voters,

minority voters, Hispanic voters in particular, that to me suggests a great deal of distrust and unsettled feeling with, the Biden administration as policies. The question and the big moment, the question for free market, free people, voters is, as they go to the primaries, are they going to be wise enough to choose a nominee who has the ability to communicate a message and some optimism and capture that moment and bite people in from the other side the way Reagan did? Yeah. Yeah. Well, and you use that word optimism.

I love that you do and that you talk about this because I, I, think it's missing in our political plane today that we have everyone is so quick to give their laundry list of everything that's wrong in the country and that works for a little while but at the end of the day people want solutions they want hope they want to know it's going to get better and they don't just want to hear you bashing the other side and that's something that you point out that Reagan was able to do he was able to cast vision oh yeah and look let's be clear Donald Reagan didn't mince words about what ailed the country and the policies that had gone wrong. But what he did very effectively is also lay out an alternative future.

Okay. So he told people exactly what he was going to do to make it better. But also say, hey, these are the things in the country, too, that unite us. We all want to have a more prosperous future. We all want to see our kids be able to pay for their college education. You know, we all want to live in a safer world where I'm a very much. America isn't having to intervene in constant conflicts. We do that by being a force of strength in the world. And so these were the things that united us. And what I see right now in the field, and by the way, I think the conservative primary at the moment, there's such a number of talented people out there.

It should be kind of exciting to have that kind of debate. But I see a lot of people trying really hard to show that they have the fight, okay? and not so much talking about what brings us together. And again, that doesn't mean you can't criticize what's happened. But I think a lot of Americans would be drawn to a message of a better future. Yeah. Among the candidate pool, and I mean, let's talk about everybody, Republicans, Democrats. Are you seeing anyone that is able to have a little bit more of that broad picture to talk about, yes, these are the issues?

but also either is already or you could see potential for really having that ability to cast vision and to bring in positivity and to get people excited for America's future. Well, on the Democratic side, I think one thing that's really disappointing is that Joe Biden suggested he was going to be that person. And that's been another disappointment for the nation. He claimed that he was going to bring people together. This has been one of the more divisive presidencies that we have ever seen emanating from the White House. I also don't see how even if someone got in and challenged him that you could have that kind of message because it would require acknowledging that Biden policies are part of the problem. And I just don't see any of the Democratic candidates being willing to do that. Republican side, like I said, I think we still have a long way to go in the Republican primary. Lots of great voices.

I do see some people talking about optimism. but, you know, they're going to have to marry that as well with a policy agenda. And I'll be curious to see how that comes out. Again, I think a lot of them are sort of focused more at the moment of showing that they can throw a punch. But, you know, that's not necessarily. I mean, that's part of what helped Ron DeSantis win that storming victory in 2022. But a lot of it was his economic agenda. A lot of it was his deregulation agenda.

And so I'm still waiting to hear a little bit more of all of that. Like, what's your vision for the future to inspire people to your side? Yeah. Among our GOP candidates, what do you think is going to be the greatest challenge for whoever wins the nomination and is ultimately running against President Joe Biden? Well, the biggest challenge is going to be moving beyond strategy that Democrats have used so effectively over the past three or four years, which is to suggest that the party's nuts and that they're extremist and also to focus on these issues that are designed to scare people,

you know, like abortion, for instance, in some of the cultural issues claiming that if Republicans are in charge, you'll lose all your rights in the country. Because Democrats have done that effectively. And it is taken the focus away from that broad disclosures. contentment that you see across the country and from a focus on Joe Biden's policies. The book is The Biden Malays. Kim, as people buy it as they read it, what is your hope that they walk away with? Well, you know, I think there's something in here kind of for everyone. I think if you're younger, if you're under the age of 50, you probably don't really remember that Jimmy. I'm sorry, you don't remember. Guilty. Yeah. You were alive. Yes, exactly. So, well, you know, there's a lot of people that

are very engaged in politics, but they don't really know the history of that. I think there's some fun details in there for people. And also, again, that compare and contrast, really trying to put a focus on what it is that Joe Biden is done to get us in this particular mess, because that way we can learn from those mistakes. But what I really hope, too, is that those are reading it, are thinking really hard about the future, the kind of hole we've dug for ourselves. And the moment that we have to maybe remedy some of that and fix it and to think carefully as they go out there and do their voting and they're choosing. Excellent. The book is The Biden Malays, How America Bounces back from Joe Biden's Dismal Repeat of the Jimmy Carter Years is out now. You can get it wherever

books are sold. Kim, thank you so much your time today. We really appreciate it. Thank you. And with that, that's going to do it for today's show. Again, if you want to pick up a copy of Kimberly Strassel's book, The Biden Malays, How America Bounces Back from Joe Biden's dismal repeat of the Jimmy Carter years. You can pick one up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, wherever books are sold. It is out and available now. But with that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for being with us. If you've never had the chance to check out our evening show, it's right here in this same podcast feed where we keep you up to speed on the top news stories of the day. Also, make sure to take a moment to subscribe

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