When historians gathered at the White House shortly after President Biden's inauguration, they discussed what makes a presidency consequential. Biden reportedly told one historian in attendance, "I'm no FDR, but..."
On this, Biden is right: He is no Franklin Delano Roosevelt, nor is he any of the other presidents to whom he has delusional hopes of being compared to, such as Lyndon Johnson or Abraham Lincoln. After just one year of complete Democrat rule, there is no denying that the average American is far worse off under the Biden administration.
Biden's desire for a consequential presidency has meant disastrous consequences for American families. The economic harm from his policies has been particularly devastating. For too many American families, rising costs for gas and groceries have shrunk household budgets. Consumer prices reached a 40-year high in January, while workers' wages failed to keep up. A University of Pennsylvania Wharton School analysis found Americans paid $3,500 more in 2021 as a result of runaway inflation, and currently, Americans are shelling out an estimated additional $276 per month for basic goods and services. Skyrocketing inflation hurts the middle and working classes the most, as they are least able to withstand rising prices.
Consequently, Biden's economic ratings are now worse than President Jimmy Carter's. How's that for a historical comparison? While Biden's destructive policies drive inflation and higher prices, his corrosive political agenda is costing many Americans their jobs. The Democrats' vaccine mandates have forced small businesses to fire employees while making many first responders and frontline workers choose between their medical freedom and providing for their families. Biden's attempted federal vaccine mandate put nearly 45 million jobs at risk and many small businesses in a position of losing employees at a time when so many are struggling to find workers.
Fortunately, the Republican National Committee, Republican Attorneys General, and small businesses across the country won a challenge to the Biden administration's job-killing mandate at the Supreme Court.
But defeats in court won't stop the Democrats' relentless quest for control. While children as young as 2-years-old are forced to wear masks in school, Democrats and leftist elites have hypocritically ditched their masks. Democrats cannot point to any science to continue forced masking of children in school, but in Democrat-run states across the country—with the backing of Biden—children are still forced to wear them.
The endless mandates, continued lockdowns, and failure to shut down the virus will be a key and sorry part of Biden's dismal legacy.
Biden is also making history by setting records for the number of illegal immigrants apprehended at the southern border. During his first year in office, nearly 2 million illegal immigrants were apprehended trying to enter the United States with hundreds of thousands more known to have escaped.
This increase in illegal border crossings into the United States is no accident, and it's not seasonal. Those entering our country illegally openly admit that Biden's policies gave them the green light to make the dangerous journey to the United States.
Biden refuses to go to the southern border, and his designated "border czar," Vice President Kamala Harris, made one hit-and-run visit to a location nowhere near the epicenter of the crisis.
The consequences of Democrat control in Washington have been costly. American families have experienced record-shattering inflation, a labor crunch and supply chain crisis, a historic implosion at the border, rising crime, emboldened enemies abroad, and continued mismanagement of COVID, including the forced masking of children. A new CNN poll found that six out of 10 voters disapprove of the job Biden is doing, and when asked "What has Biden done that you approve of?" a whopping 56 percent of those who disapproved said "nothing."
The political consequences of Biden's catastrophic failures will be felt in November, as Republicans have a providential opportunity to take back the House and Senate and establish much-needed checks on the Democrats' agenda. While cataclysmic left-wing policies flow from the nation's capital, Americans in red states are seeing opportunity, jobs, and a return to normalcy.
16 of the top 20 states for jobs recovered since the beginning of the pandemic are states with Republican governors. Additionally, 16 of the top 20 for the lowest unemployment are states with Republican leadership. Pro-growth, common-sense policies work—and they're making a meaningful difference in the lives of many Americans.
There are real human costs to Biden's disastrous agenda, but the ultimate cost to Biden will be voters throwing Democrats out of office in 2022. And that looks increasingly like something even Biden's woefully misguided vision of himself as a great leader won't be able to stop.
Monica Crowley served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 2019 to 2021.