The Naysayers And Doomscrollers

Created
Thu, 18/04/2024 - 08:00
Updated
Thu, 18/04/2024 - 08:00
Brian Beutler argues today in his newsletter (subscribe here) that even though the media has belatedly begun to acknowledge the booming Biden economy, we live in a world where there are too many people with vested interests in denying to allow Biden to have a “Morning In America” validation: Even as the mainstream press comes around, there are more than enough individuals and institutions with a rooting interest in denying the health of the economy to keep economic perceptions anchored way below where they’d be under a Republican president. Indeed, it would be remarkable if sentiment pokes above water before the year is out. If you’re wondering why I think that, here’s a rough-and-ready taxonomy of the doomsayers. THE REPUBLICAN GRASSROOTS I’m thinking of millions of partisan voters, mostly anonymous, who are so invested in GOP politics or movement conservatism or even just Donald Trump that they interpret Democratic rule as coterminous with apocalyptic decline. They huff right-wing media for hours a day. Their identities are wrapped up in their disdain for liberals, big cities, Hollywood, and the mainstream media. They can’t fathom the country succeeding under the opposing party so they assume it must be spiraling downward along every conceivable dimension. Sadly, these kinds of Republicans comprise the great majority of GOP voters. There are Democrats who have an equal-and-opposite worldview, but their numbers are lopsidedly small. When Donald Trump became president consumer sentiment among Democrats dipped slightly but spiked among Republicans. When Biden beat him, Democratic sentiment improved quite a…