--:-- Sean Rameswaram: All signs seem to indicate that one week from today, the United States will break from recent tradition and have a peaceful transition of power. It felt like a good time to assess Joe Biden's presidency, which his staff would have you believe is one of the most consequential in American history. FDR-esque. I admire their loyalty to their boss, but I think Biden is a pretty mid-tier, mediocre president. I don't think he's awful. I don't think he's a horrible threat to freedom the way that you might hear on Truth Social. The main way I would describe Joe Biden is that he was an unusually weak president. And he was, in many important moments, loath to decide when we really needed a president to decide. And I think that ultimately made him less effective than he could have been in the moment. The good, the bad, and the Biden.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Vox's Dylan Matthews is going to help us assess on Today Explained. Support for Today Explained comes from BetterHelp. Let me tell you a true story. Last weekend, I got an email from a listener who wanted to discuss their problems with me. And I said, look, I don't think that this is about me personally. At least I hope it's not. Why don't you try BetterHelp.com slash Explained. Absolute truth. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Find the one with BetterHelp. The one is not me, guys. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com. That's BetterHelp.com. AI agents are getting pretty impressive. You might not even realize you're listening to one right now. We work 24-7 to resolve customer inquiries. No hold music. No canned answers. No frustration. Visit Sierra.ai to learn more.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explains Sean Ramos for I'm here with Dylan Matthews from Vox, who thinks President Biden was ultimately a weak president. So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let's talk for a moment about what he actually did, his major accomplishments and whether they'll be remembered in 10 years or not, starting with the American Rescue Plan. Remind us what that was and what Joe Biden did and didn't do in terms of, you know, the priorities there. So let's, in our heads, go back to January 2021. distribution. Violence sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation. Things are maybe starting to open up, but they kind of shouldn't. People are largely locked down. Offices are not reopened. The American Rescue Plan was Biden's sort of stimulus package for that moment. And it was a mix of a lot of different things. By the time all the money is distributed, it, 85% of American households will have gotten a $1,400 rescue checks. But there was a lot of other parts, too. They gave a lot of money to states to spend as they saw fit. There was a lot of funding for programs like food stamps, Medicaid. There was also an expansion of the child tax credit, which did a lot to cut poverty that year. That's the estimate. Child poverty will be cut in half as a consequence of what's in this Recovery Act. It was a very, very big package. It was about $1.9 trillion.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: It's one thing to pass a historic piece of legislation like the American Rescue Plan and it's quite another to implement it and the devil is in the details so biden's line was we this is what we need to to emerge from this catastrophe it was very much like we're in an emergency this is yes this is a massive bill but we need a massive bill to get out of this i want to be clear that like i was saying that in the moment a lot of people were saying that that in the moment. But there were people at the time who were saying, like, maybe this is too big. Larry Summers is probably the most famous of them, but was was warning that this was such a massive package that it would predictably cause inflation. And at the time, I thought that was ridiculous. I no longer think it was ridiculous. We made an episode titled How Dylan Got Inflation Wrong. Yeah, my brand as a journalist is I'm wrong a lot. I don't know why people keep paying me for that.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The good, the bad, and the Biden. Vox's Dylan Matthews is going to help us assess on Today Explained. Support for Today Explained comes from BetterHelp. Let me tell you a true story. Last weekend, I got an email from a listener who wanted to discuss their problems with me. And I said, look, I don't think that this is about me personally. At least I hope it's not. Why don't you try BetterHelp.com slash Explained. Absolute truth. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Find the one with BetterHelp. The one is not me, guys. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com. That's BetterHelp.com. AI agents are getting pretty impressive. You might not even realize you're listening to one right now. We work 24-7 to resolve customer inquiries. No hold music. No canned answers. No frustration. Visit Sierra.ai to learn more.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explains Sean Ramos for I'm here with Dylan Matthews from Vox, who thinks President Biden was ultimately a weak president. So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let's talk for a moment about what he actually did, his major accomplishments and whether they'll be remembered in 10 years or not, starting with the American Rescue Plan. Remind us what that was and what Joe Biden did and didn't do in terms of, you know, the priorities there. So let's, in our heads, go back to January 2021. distribution. Violence sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation. Things are maybe starting to open up, but they kind of shouldn't. People are largely locked down. Offices are not reopened. The American Rescue Plan was Biden's sort of stimulus package for that moment. And it was a mix of a lot of different things. By the time all the money is distributed, it, 85% of American households will have gotten a $1,400 rescue checks. But there was a lot of other parts, too. They gave a lot of money to states to spend as they saw fit. There was a lot of funding for programs like food stamps, Medicaid. There was also an expansion of the child tax credit, which did a lot to cut poverty that year. That's the estimate. Child poverty will be cut in half as a consequence of what's in this Recovery Act. It was a very, very big package. It was about $1.9 trillion.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: It's one thing to pass a historic piece of legislation like the American Rescue Plan and it's quite another to implement it and the devil is in the details so biden's line was we this is what we need to to emerge from this catastrophe it was very much like we're in an emergency this is yes this is a massive bill but we need a massive bill to get out of this i want to be clear that like i was saying that in the moment a lot of people were saying that that in the moment. But there were people at the time who were saying, like, maybe this is too big. Larry Summers is probably the most famous of them, but was was warning that this was such a massive package that it would predictably cause inflation. And at the time, I thought that was ridiculous. I no longer think it was ridiculous. We made an episode titled How Dylan Got Inflation Wrong. Yeah, my brand as a journalist is I'm wrong a lot. I don't know why people keep paying me for that.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The good, the bad, and the Biden. Vox's Dylan Matthews is going to help us assess on Today Explained. Support for Today Explained comes from BetterHelp. Let me tell you a true story. Last weekend, I got an email from a listener who wanted to discuss their problems with me. And I said, look, I don't think that this is about me personally. At least I hope it's not. Why don't you try BetterHelp.com slash Explained. Absolute truth. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Find the one with BetterHelp. The one is not me, guys. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com. That's BetterHelp.com. AI agents are getting pretty impressive. You might not even realize you're listening to one right now. We work 24-7 to resolve customer inquiries. No hold music. No canned answers. No frustration. Visit Sierra.ai to learn more.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explains Sean Ramos for I'm here with Dylan Matthews from Vox, who thinks President Biden was ultimately a weak president. So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let's talk for a moment about what he actually did, his major accomplishments and whether they'll be remembered in 10 years or not, starting with the American Rescue Plan. Remind us what that was and what Joe Biden did and didn't do in terms of, you know, the priorities there. So let's, in our heads, go back to January 2021. distribution. Violence sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation. Things are maybe starting to open up, but they kind of shouldn't. People are largely locked down. Offices are not reopened. The American Rescue Plan was Biden's sort of stimulus package for that moment. And it was a mix of a lot of different things. By the time all the money is distributed, it, 85% of American households will have gotten a $1,400 rescue checks. But there was a lot of other parts, too. They gave a lot of money to states to spend as they saw fit. There was a lot of funding for programs like food stamps, Medicaid. There was also an expansion of the child tax credit, which did a lot to cut poverty that year. That's the estimate. Child poverty will be cut in half as a consequence of what's in this Recovery Act. It was a very, very big package. It was about $1.9 trillion.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: It's one thing to pass a historic piece of legislation like the American Rescue Plan and it's quite another to implement it and the devil is in the details so biden's line was we this is what we need to to emerge from this catastrophe it was very much like we're in an emergency this is yes this is a massive bill but we need a massive bill to get out of this i want to be clear that like i was saying that in the moment a lot of people were saying that that in the moment. But there were people at the time who were saying, like, maybe this is too big. Larry Summers is probably the most famous of them, but was was warning that this was such a massive package that it would predictably cause inflation. And at the time, I thought that was ridiculous. I no longer think it was ridiculous. We made an episode titled How Dylan Got Inflation Wrong. Yeah, my brand as a journalist is I'm wrong a lot. I don't know why people keep paying me for that.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The good, the bad, and the Biden. Vox's Dylan Matthews is going to help us assess on Today Explained. Support for Today Explained comes from BetterHelp. Let me tell you a true story. Last weekend, I got an email from a listener who wanted to discuss their problems with me. And I said, look, I don't think that this is about me personally. At least I hope it's not. Why don't you try BetterHelp.com slash Explained. Absolute truth. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Find the one with BetterHelp. The one is not me, guys. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com. That's BetterHelp.com. AI agents are getting pretty impressive. You might not even realize you're listening to one right now. We work 24-7 to resolve customer inquiries. No hold music. No canned answers. No frustration. Visit Sierra.ai to learn more.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explains Sean Ramos for I'm here with Dylan Matthews from Vox, who thinks President Biden was ultimately a weak president. So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let's talk for a moment about what he actually did, his major accomplishments and whether they'll be remembered in 10 years or not, starting with the American Rescue Plan. Remind us what that was and what Joe Biden did and didn't do in terms of, you know, the priorities there. So let's, in our heads, go back to January 2021. distribution. Violence sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation. Things are maybe starting to open up, but they kind of shouldn't. People are largely locked down. Offices are not reopened. The American Rescue Plan was Biden's sort of stimulus package for that moment. And it was a mix of a lot of different things. By the time all the money is distributed, it, 85% of American households will have gotten a $1,400 rescue checks. But there was a lot of other parts, too. They gave a lot of money to states to spend as they saw fit. There was a lot of funding for programs like food stamps, Medicaid. There was also an expansion of the child tax credit, which did a lot to cut poverty that year. That's the estimate. Child poverty will be cut in half as a consequence of what's in this Recovery Act. It was a very, very big package. It was about $1.9 trillion.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: It's one thing to pass a historic piece of legislation like the American Rescue Plan and it's quite another to implement it and the devil is in the details so biden's line was we this is what we need to to emerge from this catastrophe it was very much like we're in an emergency this is yes this is a massive bill but we need a massive bill to get out of this i want to be clear that like i was saying that in the moment a lot of people were saying that that in the moment. But there were people at the time who were saying, like, maybe this is too big. Larry Summers is probably the most famous of them, but was was warning that this was such a massive package that it would predictably cause inflation. And at the time, I thought that was ridiculous. I no longer think it was ridiculous. We made an episode titled How Dylan Got Inflation Wrong. Yeah, my brand as a journalist is I'm wrong a lot. I don't know why people keep paying me for that.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The good, the bad, and the Biden. Vox's Dylan Matthews is going to help us assess on Today Explained. Support for Today Explained comes from BetterHelp. Let me tell you a true story. Last weekend, I got an email from a listener who wanted to discuss their problems with me. And I said, look, I don't think that this is about me personally. At least I hope it's not. Why don't you try BetterHelp.com slash Explained. Absolute truth. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Find the one with BetterHelp. The one is not me, guys. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com. That's BetterHelp.com. AI agents are getting pretty impressive. You might not even realize you're listening to one right now. We work 24-7 to resolve customer inquiries. No hold music. No canned answers. No frustration. Visit Sierra.ai to learn more.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explains Sean Ramos for I'm here with Dylan Matthews from Vox, who thinks President Biden was ultimately a weak president. So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let's talk for a moment about what he actually did, his major accomplishments and whether they'll be remembered in 10 years or not, starting with the American Rescue Plan. Remind us what that was and what Joe Biden did and didn't do in terms of, you know, the priorities there. So let's, in our heads, go back to January 2021. distribution. Violence sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation. Things are maybe starting to open up, but they kind of shouldn't. People are largely locked down. Offices are not reopened. The American Rescue Plan was Biden's sort of stimulus package for that moment. And it was a mix of a lot of different things. By the time all the money is distributed, it, 85% of American households will have gotten a $1,400 rescue checks. But there was a lot of other parts, too. They gave a lot of money to states to spend as they saw fit. There was a lot of funding for programs like food stamps, Medicaid. There was also an expansion of the child tax credit, which did a lot to cut poverty that year. That's the estimate. Child poverty will be cut in half as a consequence of what's in this Recovery Act. It was a very, very big package. It was about $1.9 trillion.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: It's one thing to pass a historic piece of legislation like the American Rescue Plan and it's quite another to implement it and the devil is in the details so biden's line was we this is what we need to to emerge from this catastrophe it was very much like we're in an emergency this is yes this is a massive bill but we need a massive bill to get out of this i want to be clear that like i was saying that in the moment a lot of people were saying that that in the moment. But there were people at the time who were saying, like, maybe this is too big. Larry Summers is probably the most famous of them, but was was warning that this was such a massive package that it would predictably cause inflation. And at the time, I thought that was ridiculous. I no longer think it was ridiculous. We made an episode titled How Dylan Got Inflation Wrong. Yeah, my brand as a journalist is I'm wrong a lot. I don't know why people keep paying me for that.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: So I think the there's there's sort of the causes of the weakness and there's the symptoms of the weakness. And I think the causes of the weakness, there is a bunch. Joe Biden is really old. Like, it's a hard thing to get around. Breaking news. Come on, man. And I think being the president is a very hard and demanding job. And the amount of energy and focus you're able to bring to it really affects how impactful you can be. Bill Clinton was famous for staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, like pouring over policy documents with aides, trying to sort things out. But Biden seems like he was perhaps the opposite extreme.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts. There's been some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that a lot of decisions got devolved down to his national security adviser or his economic counsel that ordinarily would be decisions for the president, that he had sort of good days and bad days, days when he could could hear stuff and days when he couldn't. The Wall Street Journal is out with a new bombshell report where they spoke to about 50 people or more involved in the Biden White House. According to the Journal, there were limits over who Biden spoke with and what they said to him. Going back to the start of his presidency, even cabinet members who were kept at arm's length. That's going to make you sort of weaker and less effective. But I think a lot of it also has to do with his position within the party. If you go back to the 2020 primary, it was not as though Joe Biden won a sweeping mandate that showed he was much more popular than everyone else running against him. I think that left him sort of owing a lot of people a lot of favors and who had to manage a lot of different factions. And I think that that put him in less of a good position to make difficult decisions and expect people to follow him.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The good, the bad,
