According to a new Washington Post story, the Biden team is at its wit's end.
They don't know what to do to convince the American people that the economy is in good shape.
Of course, part of the reason they're failing so badly is because people know how much more they've had to pay for everything, and they see the high interest rates. Young people who would like to buy a home can't even do so in the current economy.
But they're still trying to sell this to us, such as by claiming Thanksgiving was cheaper this year. They leave out that it was more expensive than when Joe Biden came in and hit everything with Bidenflation. Their latest efforts were an example of how badly they are failing with the public.
As the administration tries to figure out how to improve its economic message, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients has held internal meetings over the last several weeks with top communications and economic officials, according to two people familiar with internal matters, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the discussions. (A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.) [....]The administration continues to be torn over how to respond to the negative polling.
One is to continue to try to convince people not to believe their own eyes and how much is going out of their wallets. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in that camp.
“I’m aware of that, and I think it’s our job to explain to Americans what President Biden has done to improve the economy,” she said last week. Except there's not much they can do there since Biden hasn't done anything. When he does try to sell "Bidenomics," he often talks about junk fees, as though that has anything to do with anything. While some inflation has gone down -- from the highest point it was at under Biden, it's still more than it was when he came in.
People know that, and they're not forgiving him; they don't appreciate being sold this fiction that there is no problem. Some aides see the problem of trying to sell everything is fine, when people know differently.
The other camp is the "blame it on the other guy" camp, which thinks "Biden should do more to concentrate on criticizing large corporations and Republicans for making average Americans’ economic circumstances worse." Except that hasn't been working so well either. People know things were better under former President Donald Trump prior to the pandemic.
“There’s a huge divide internally about whether we’re going to claim success or try to draw a contrast” with Republicans, said one Democratic consultant who has pushed White House officials to stop touting economic accomplishments and instead hammer the GOP’s economic plans. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private conversations.
“I don’t know how long we can keep doing this and expect a different result.”
They're sort of caught in a wick saw, damned if they do and damned if they don't, and nothing they're doing is working.
They're blaming social media for making people feel negative about things. So they're going back to what they've tried in the past: try to control the narrative.
Cause for concern: The Biden team is 'working with social media platforms to counter misinformation.' This time it seeks to 'counter' reports that food and other items cost a lot after Biden-era inflation. From WP: https://t.co/Zsx8ztHCn6
— Byron York (@ByronYork) November 26, 2023
The White House official said the administration is working with TikTok creators to tell positive stories of Biden’s economic stewardship, while also working with social media platforms to counter misinformation.
Isn't that just like the Biden administration? The problem isn't them, it's you, and they just need to control your media to explain it to you. But we've already had the Twitter Files, and trying to control things again is not going to work this time. That not only won't sell people on you improving the economy, it will convince them that once again you're trying to control the media. A very bad move.
This won't work either. If Bidenomics were successful, it would show and people would feel it--and they wouldn't need convincing--like it was under Trump (and people remember that).
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