Biden says the economy’s just fine, but voters know otherwise

OPINION:

We all know President Biden, who just turned 81, is out of it. He has a hard time putting a sentence together, falls down a lot, and doesn’t know the difference between Taylor Swift and Britney Spears.

It can sometimes be amusing: What did stumbling, fumbling, bumbling Mr. Biden do this time?

But it can be dangerous, too. He is the most powerful man in the world (as weak and feeble as he is), and the world is blowing up all around us. The Middle East is on the verge of exploding, and the U.S. is in the middle of it all. Meanwhile, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin shows no sign of tiring in his attempt to expand his union.

Mr. Biden’s cluelessness is also dangerous here at home. Our octogenarian leader has no idea what average Americans are going through under his presidency — and he doesn’t appear to care.

The president took all of last week off. While we all worked through Wednesday to get a few days to spend with our families, Mr. Biden took his taxpayer-funded plane — crammed with family members — up to tony Nantucket, where he hung out in a $38 million compound provided by a billionaire donor.

With Americans held hostage in Gaza — and Americans at home being crushed by double-digit inflation — Mr. Biden went Christmas shopping. He strolled about town, dined out with his family, wandered through the shops and mingled with the Nantucket elite as the town Christmas tree was lit.

Meanwhile, we were all scrounging through the couch to find a few coins to put Thanksgiving dinner on the table. Prices have soared since Mr. Biden assumed the presidency. Consider this: A dinner for 10 cost $46.90 in 2020, then $53.31 in 2021, then $64.05 in 2022, according to the Farm Bureau’s 37th annual survey. That dropped to $61.17 this year — up nearly 31% since Mr. Biden was elected.

It doesn’t end there. Since Mr. Biden took office, airfare is up 21%, and gasoline prices are 86 cents per gallon higher. Compared with October 2020, when America was under a COVID-induced lockdown, prices in the consumer price index are up a scorching 18.2%.

The price of a dozen Grade-A eggs rose a mind-numbing 47% over the past three years. A pound of coffee is up to $6.18 from $4.52 in October 2020. White bread — up 50 cents to $2. Ground beef, bacon, sirloin steak and chicken — up more than 22%.

But Mumbly Joe — who became a multimillionaire as a career politician, paid by us — thinks everything is just great.

In a bizarre speech last week, Mr. Biden said we’re all OK. “Together, we made progress,” he said at the White House. “You know, from turkey to air travel to a tank of gas, costs went down and went down.”

Fact: Prices have gone down in the last few months. Fact: Prices are way up since Mr. Biden took office.

In his speech, Mr. Biden said it’s all about supply chains — that canard from the early days of Mr. Biden’s presidency.

“Did — did you ever think we’d be talking this much about supply chains?” Mr. Biden said. “No, but I’m serious. It’s critical. Everybody is beginning to figure it out. The average person knows what we’re talking — when we talk about supply chains. But when the supply chains were disrupted, we knew what — what trouble we had.”

OK, Joe.

Then Mr. Biden’s argument petered out. Instead, he decided to deride Republicans (whom he called “they”).

“Their plan would cut Social Security benefits. I thought we had this — they agreed not to do this a couple times. But they’re back at it. Benefits — average benefit cut would be 13% for people — for — for — by 13% — those that we can cut,” he said.

Huh?

It’s still nearly a year until Election Day, and Mr. Biden is already trotting out the lie that the GOP wants to cut Social Security. He saved that until the last month of the campaign in 2020, so for that to come out now is just weird. And desperate.

Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma cut through the chaff:.

“Last year, Joe Biden’s broken policy agenda generated the highest inflation in 40 years. Americans have faced 33 straight months of rising prices, with food costs increasing every month since Biden took office. Americans aren’t buying the spin,” he said.

But in Mr. Biden’s world — Christmas shopping in Nantucket while Americans are held hostage — it all makes sense.

So he’ll really be clueless when voters send him to retire in his seaside mansion in 2024.

• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on X @josephcurl.