OPINION:
Tuesday, Biden delivered a mind-numbingly dull State of the Union riddled with enough lies, deceitful statements, and red herrings to fill a bottomless pit with Washington Post Pinocchios.
During the course of his speech, Mr. Biden attempted to sell Americans on the benefits of his economic plan, which remains to be felt by the vast majority. Amidst his calls for bipartisanship, Mr. Biden used the address to promote blatant lies about conservative members of Congress and the previous administration, which was met with real-time fact-checking in the form of substantial booing. While Mr. Biden concluded that the State of the Union was strong, the America Biden touted during his address is vastly different from reality.
Joe’s tagline of the night was “finish the job.” If the job is diluting the wealth of the middle class, then Americans can rest easy knowing that Joe Biden is on track. In a recent poll by the Washington Post, 41% of Americans said that they are financially worse off under Mr. Biden than they were two years ago before he took office, which is the worst response to that question in 37 years of polling it. Mr. Biden did little to address this in his speech. Instead, he swore to veto any repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, which did more for million-dollar climate projects than actual inflation reduction.
Mr. Biden insisted that the American economy was in fantastic shape, citing “record job creation.” While it is true more jobs have been added since Mr. Biden took office, context is key. Millions left the workforce in 2020 because of the pandemic. They soon returned as the economy opened back up, meaning that the record 11.2 million jobs created between 2021 and 2022 is a historical rarity and not the result of Mr. Biden’s magic touch. Things look more bleak for Mr. Biden when you consider the fact that the labor force participation rate is still less than pre-pandemic levels.
During the address, Mr. Biden attempted another sleight of hand, bragging that “take-home pay” is up. While raw wages have risen every quarter under Joe Biden, this means nothing if everything is more expensive. Indeed, adjust for inflation, and all these gains vanish. And while real wage growth has outpaced inflation for the last two quarters, wages have only collectively risen by 10% while inflation has risen by 14% over the two years of the Biden administration. So, when it comes to Mr. Biden’s economy, everything he publicizes is either a half-truth or a two-foot climb out of a twenty-foot hole he created.
Later in his speech, Mr. Biden shifted his focus to the global stage, admitting that defending the U.S. reputation and sovereignty would be paramount to deter China in the years to come. Yet, he touted his delayed shoot-down of the Chinese balloon as an example of such action. If Mr. Biden believes that allowing a Chinese spy balloon to traverse our country and photograph military installations in 4k is ‘defending sovereignty,’ America is in deep trouble.
With how poorly that balloon situation was handled, it’s easy to imagine that China has stopped questioning what it can get away with and begun wondering if there is anything that it can’t.
Amidst Mr. Biden’s portion of the speech dedicated to climate policy, Mr. Biden made a passionate appeal to oil companies wondering why they were no longer drilling and investing in America. Biden quickly answered his own question when he unironically stated, “We will need oil for at least another ten years.”
Meanwhile, the crisis at the border has become so bad that Mr. Biden recognized the issue during the address. But his proposed solution is, of course, holding border security help hostage until Republicans agree to immigration reform that logically conflicts with stopping the crisis.
Hypocritically, Mr. Biden was still quick to accuse Republicans of preparing to use a default on American debt as a hostage in the upcoming debt ceiling battle, where Republicans hope to put an end to the Left’s poor spending habits.
So, the state of our Union, unfortunately, is not strong. In fact, it’s in one of the weakest conditions it has ever been in, and Mr. Biden knows it.
Every day the administration dodges questions, creates false narratives, and deflects responsibility from their mistakes, hoping that Americans will never notice.
For what feels like forever, Mr. Biden and the Left have continually relied on the false sense of accomplishment that comes with “not being the bad Republicans” instead of creating actual policy, and we have all paid the price. Rising wages can’t keep up with growing prices, America under Mr. Biden is committed to leftist anti-development policies while China grows without restraint, and crime has reached all-time highs.
Mr. Biden’s real America is a dismal place compared to the fantasy-filled country he paraded at the State of the Union.
• Matt Schlapp is chairman of Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC), the nation’s original grassroots conservative organization.
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