Michael Whatleythe current chairman of the Republican National Committee, appeared on Fox News late last week to summarize what he sees as the fundamental question of the 2024 presidential election:
The RNC leader clearly had some grammatical issues near the end of the quote, but putting that aside, Whatley peddled a familiar refrain. Republicans are heavily invested in the idea that President Joe Biden will lose for the simple reason that the country was better off four years ago.
Indeed, Whatley can’t think of “a single metric” that has moved in the right direction when comparing 2020 and 2024.
Of course, if the RNC chair is genuinely interested in the underlying issue, he has all sorts of evidence to consider. Paul Krugman of the New York Times explained in a recent column than the Reagan era: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” The question is “almost ridiculously favorable to President Biden.”
Krugman’s list, of course, was only a sample. as we have discussedthere are many other related data points: uninsured rate improved under Biden. THE supply chain challenges improved under Biden. The cost of many prescription drugs improved under Biden. Infrastructure investments improved under Biden. THE budget deficit improved under Biden. United States murder rate improved under Biden.
The place of the United States in the world improved considerably after Biden replaced Trump in the White House.
Whatley would have Americans believe that there is “not a single indicator” that has improved over the past four years. If we’re being too literal about it, I suppose there’s some truth to that assessment – because there is a large number of measurements this shows how much better the United States is now than it was four years ago.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
