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      Biden’s stern warning on extremism shows the rose-colored glasses are off

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      AnalysisBiden’s stern warning on extremism shows the rose-colored glasses are offDavid Smith in WashingtonThe president’s primetime speech named Trump and ‘Maga Republicans’ as a threat facing American democracy Joe Biden’s journey from idealist to realist continues. But it is not quite complete.After 36 years in the Senate, he stepped into the US presidency in 2021 as an apostle of bipartisanship, convinced that his authoritarian-minded predecessor Donald Trump would fade away and the Republican party would rediscover its bearings.By the start of this year he had come to understand that Trump’s malign influence still runs deep. “We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie,” Biden said on 6 January, the first anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol, stopping short of using Trump’s name.Biden warns US democracy imperiled by Trump and Maga extremistsRead moreThen, a month ago, a group of historians reportedly gathered in the White House map room for two hours to give the president a dire warning about the threats facing American democracy. They included Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America.Polls show a country still unravelling. More than two-fifths of Americans believe civil war is at least somewhat likely in the next decade, a share that increases to more than half among self-identified “strong Republicans”, according to research by YouGov and the Economist.Given that context, Biden used a primetime “soul of the nation” speech on Thursday night to deliver the starkest warning of his long career about the danger of Trump – whom he did name this time, – extremist “Maga” (Make America great again) Republicans and political violence.“This is a nation that rejects violence as a political tool,” he said. “We are still, at our core, a democracy. Yet history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader and the willingness to engage in political violence is fatal in a democracy.”It was pugnacious talk that many progressives, worried that Biden is trapped in a rose-tinted past, have been urging for a long time. It was also sure to enrage Trump and his allies although Biden, who recently called the Maga philosophy “semi-fascism”, did not repeat that f-word.But the speech also, perhaps understandably, tried to err on the side of optimism by drawing a distinction between Maga Republicans and mainstream Republicans. Biden cast the former as a weird rebel sect that opposes the rule of law, seeks to overturn elections and revels in violence. Maga has, he implied, imposed minority rule on a party of otherwise reasonable people.“Donald Trump and the Maga Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. Now, I want to be very clear up front: not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are Maga Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know, because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.”He continued: “But there’s no question that the Republican party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the Maga Republicans and that is a threat to this country.”Perhaps. The point is at least debatable after the past seven years. Numerous mainstream Republicans have retired or been purged, most recently congresswoman Liz Cheney. Polls show a majority of Republicans believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, both extremists, are the two leading contenders for the party nomination in 2024. There is no moderate alternative with any reasonable chance.In what may be a triumph of hope over experience, Biden still wants to believe that Maga is being enforced from the top down. But there is a case to be made that it comes from the bottom up, with millions of grassroots Republicans willing to buy into false conspiracy theories and vote for extremist midterm candidates. As Trump may discover to his cost, the base has taken on a life of its own.If Biden, with elaborate stagecraft at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the nation’s founding documents were written, was striving to isolate Maga and bring Democrats and democrats together to reject it, he may have more work to do. The right was bound to compare his critique to Hillary Clinton’s infamous 2016 “basket of deplorables” comment anyway.Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News network did not show the full speech and, when it did, questioned why Biden spoke against a dramatically lit “blood red” backdrop. Far-right host Tucker Carlson, the most watched prime time figure on cable news, sneered and deployed chyrons such as: “This is by far Biden’s most shameful moment.”The network’s 9pm bulletin added, “Biden vilifies millions of Americans”, “Biden uses primetime address to fuel more division” and “Clueless Biden spews hate in dark, dismal speech”.Biden has evolved a long way from the man who suggested that he could turn back the clock to a golden age of Democrats and Republicans debating together, dining together and respectfully agreeing to disagree. But in November’s midterm elections, or in 2024’s presidential poll, his harshest lesson may yet be to come.TopicsJoe BidenBiden administrationDemocratsRepublicansUS politicsanalysisReuse this content More

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      Biden speech: ‘Democracy is under assault’ from election deniers and political violence, president warns – as it happened

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      That’s all from us tonight.Joe Biden spoke for just over 20 minutes tonight, offering a rare primetime address that forecasted the midterm elections as a battle for the nation’s soul. In what very much came across as a campaign speech, the president stuck a dark, stern tone – building on a new, more direct approach he’s recently taken in attacking Donald Trump and his allies.Here are some key takeaways:
      Speaking in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall – where the Declaration of Independence and the US constitution were signed – back lit in red, white and blue, and played on and off by the Marine band playing anthems from the 1800s – the night really played up patriotism. “America is an idea,” he said at one point, flanked by Marines at parade rest. “The most powerful idea in the history of the world.” Throughout his address, Biden evoked the founding ideals of the country, and aligned himself with them – casting Trump and extremist Republicans as an existential threat to the nation. “I know your hearts. And I know our history,” he said, addressing the “American people”. “This is a nation that honors our constitution,” he said.
      The president issued stern warnings that the integrity of American elections was vulnerable. Condemning Trump and other Republicans who have denied the legitimacy of the 2020 elections – and have threatened to do so in the midterms, Biden asked Americans to join him in resisting election misinformation and the rollback of voting rights. “We can’t let the integrity of our elections be undermined,” he said. “We can’t allow violence to be normalized in this country,” he added, referencing the January 6 insurrection.
      Biden – who usually makes couched references to “the former guy” and his “predecessor” – explicitly named and called out Donald Trump tonight. Trump and the “Maga (Make America great again)” Republicans “represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic”, Biden said. Hedging that “not every Republican” is an extremist, he added: “There’s no question that the Republican party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump.” The president even made reference to the commotion surrounding the Justice Department’s discovery that Trump was holding on to classified documents – something he’s largely avoided discussing. Biden’s directness tonight was a culmination of a new, aggressive approach he’s taken recently in aiming to marginalize Trump’s agenda.
      Biden also touted his and Democrats’ policy goals, urging Americans to “vote, vote, vote”. The speech tonight was presented as an official address – but it also very much came off as a campaign appeal. During a jarringly optimistic segment in an otherwise dark speech, Biden touted reforming healthcare, combatting climate change and addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. “I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future,” he said. “We’re going to end cancer as we know it. We’re going to create millions of new jobs in the clean energy economy. We’re going to think big, we’re going to make the 21st century another American century.”
      Biden may have missed an opportunity to highlight outrage over the supreme court’s decision to revoke the constitutional right to abortion. The issue energized Democrats ahead of the midterm, and abortion rights advocates have expressed frustration at Biden and other Democrats for not speaking more directly and forcefully about it. Biden did mention that “Maga Republicans” want to take the country “backwards to an America where there is no right to choose. No right to privacy. No right to contraception.” But he lost a chance to play the issue up as an urgent example of rights at stake.
      The scenes from tonight’s speechOne quick note just for my UK readers …You may have been confused as to why God Save the Queen was playing as Biden walked off the stage. Some of my British colleagues certainly were.What you actually heard was the American patriotic song My Country, Tis of Thee. It was written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831 – and is sung to the same melody as God Save the Queen.As an American editor said, “Guess we’re united in more ways than one!’One thing that was conspicuously missing from the speech tonight: the issue of abortion.In recent weeks, public backlash against the supreme court’s decision to revoke the constitutional right to abortion has energized Democrats ahead of the midterm. Biden did mention that “Maga Republicans” want to take the country “backwards to an America where there is no right to choose. No right to privacy. No right to contraception.” He also mentioned that the right to marriage equality was under threat.(In concurring opinion in the case that resulted in the right to abortion being overturned, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the rights to same-sex marriage and the right for couples to use contraception should be reconsidered.)But abortion rights advocates have expressed frustration at Biden and other Democrats for not speaking about abortion more directly and forcefully, given that the majority of Americans support the right – and the issue has proved to be energizing in the primaries so far.This sort of prime time address from the president is rare. But it’s unclear what its impact will be.Several major networks did not cary the broadcast. NBC showed Law and Order, CBS aired Young Sheldon, and ABC had Press Your Luck on.And then there was Fox News, which seemed to jump the gun a bit:it … hasn’t happened yet? pic.twitter.com/zCPIQ1X30w— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 2, 2022
      Biden’s speech has concluded.Stay tuned for more analysis and reflections from me and the Guardian politics team.Thee second half of the speech struck an entirely different tone, evoking Democrats’ successes and goals in reforming healthcare, combatting climate change and addressing the Covid-19 pandemic:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future… We’re going to end cancer as we know it. We’re going to create millions of new jobs in the clean energy economy. We’re going to think big we’re going to make 21st century another American Century.Protesters outside Independence Hall were shouting “Let’s go, Brandon,” which Biden was able to brush off.Biden addressed them, saying: “They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy.”And followed with a quip that such protestors have never suffered from “good manners”.And there it is: “I ran for president because I believe we’re in a battle for the soul of this nation. I still believe that to be true,” Biden said, in a speech that is seeming very much like a campaign speech.“America is defined by the sacred proposition that all are created equal in the image of God, that all are entitled to be treated with decency, dignity and respect that all deserve justice in a shot at lives are a consequence,” he said. “Democracy makes all these things possible.”“No matter what the white supremacists and extremists say,” Biden continued, “I made a bet on you, the American people, and that bet is paying off.”The president also evoked the “darkness” of the Charlottesville white nationalist rally that he has said upset him so much, it compelled him to run for president.Raising his voice, Biden warns that “we can’t let the integrity of our elections be undermined” – adding that doing so leads down a “path to chaos”.“Democracy endures only if we the people respect the guardrails of the Republic,” he says.The tone has so far been stern, and dark. “Throughout our history, Americans often made the greatest progress coming out of some of our darkest moments,” Biden said – transitioning. Invoking his “soul of the nation” theme from his presidential campaign, Biden says that Maga forces “are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose. No right to privacy. No right to contraception, no right to marry.”These forces “promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence” are a threat “to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country”, he continues.“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault,” Biden dives in. “We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise. So tonight, I’ve come to this place where it all began to speak as plainly as I can to the nation, about the threats we face, about the power we have in our own hands to meet these threats, and about the incredible future that lies in front of us.”Hedging that “not every Republican” is an extremist, he singles out “Donald Trump and Maga Republicans”.The president has historically avoided calling out Trump by name – often couching references to his “predecessor”. But in recent appearances, he has struck a more aggressive tone, and willingness to more directly attack Trump and Republicans.Trump and his supporters represents an “extremism that threatens the foundations of our Republic”, he said. Biden has begun his address from outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed.Walking out to the tune of Hail to the Chief, Biden began: “I speak to you tonight from sacred ground in America.”And just in: the January 6 committee is requesting testimony from Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally and former House speaker.In a letter sent today, the committee said it is interested in emails between Gingrich and former Trump senior advisers, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, that the committee said provided input on advertisements repeating election lies.“These advertising efforts were not designed to encourage voting for a particular candidate. Instead, these efforts attempted to cast doubt on the outcome of the election after voting had already taken place,” committee chairman Bennie Thompson,wrote.“They encouraged members of the public to contact their state officials and pressure them to challenge and overturn the results of the election. To that end, these advertisements were intentionally aired in the days leading up to December 14, 2020, the day electors from each state met to cast their votes for president and vice-president.”Biden’s speech on threats to democracy comes as investigations into Donald Trump and the January 6 insurrection intensify.Two former Trump White House lawyers – Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin, will be testifying this week before a grand just investigating the insurrection. The House January 6 select committee is continuing its digging, interviewing senior Trump officials. Once its investigation concludes, the decision over whether to file criminal charges against Trump will be made by the US Department of Justice.Meanwhile the South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham will also have to testify before the special grand jury in Georgia in a criminal case related to allegations that Trump illegally attempted to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results.Moreover, my colleague Sam Levine reported earlier today:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Trump said he would pardon and apologize to those who participated in the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6 if he were elected to the White House again.
      “I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” he told Wendy Bell, a conservative radio host on Thursday. “I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons, full pardons.”
      Five people died in connection with the attack and more than 140 law enforcement officers were injured. More than 875 people have been charged with crimes related to January 6, according to an NPR tracker. 370 people have pleaded guilty to crimes so far.
      Trump also said he was offering financial support to some of those involved in the attack. “I am financially supporting people that are incredible and they were in my office actually two days ago, so they’re very much in my mind,” Trump said. “It’s a disgrace what they’ve done to them. What they’ve done to these people is disgraceful.”
      It was not immediately clear what the extent of Trump’s financial assistance was.The former president has indicated he plans to run again in 2024.Biden will be delivering his speech from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – where American democracy was born.Thursday’s primetime speech is the second of three visits by the president in less than a week to battleground Pennsylvania, home to several consequential races this election season.In the US Senate race, Mehmet Oz, the Trump-backed heart surgeon turned celebrity doctor, is squaring off against the state’s lieutenant governor, Democrat John Fetterman, in a contest that could determine which party controls the chamber, evenly divided at present.Meanwhile, Democrats have warned about the risks of Doug Mastriano, the far-right Republican nominee for governor, a leading figure in Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Pennsylvania who helped shuttle people on 6 January to Trump’s Washington DC rally that preceded the attack on the US capitol.In Pennsylvania, the governor appoints the secretary of state, giving the next governor enormous sway over how the 2024 presidential election is conducted in the state. Mastriano faces Democrat Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s attorney general.In a speech not far from Biden’s birthplace of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, the US president lashed out at “Maga Republicans in Congress” over their attacks on the FBI after agents seized boxes of classified documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month. The remarks were designed to counter Republican attacks on Democrats as “soft on crime”, with Biden casting his opponents’ rhetoric as a threat to law enforcement and the rule of law.“The idea you turn on a television and see senior senators and congressmen saying, ‘If such and such happens there’ll be blood on the street’?” he said in Wilkes-Barre. “Where the hell are we?”Good evening, and welcome to the Guardian’s US politics liveblog, primetime edition.We’ll be bringing you live updates and analysis tonight, as Joe Biden addresses the country. The president is expected to speak about threats to American democracy, and “the power we have in our own hands to meet those threats”, according to excerpts of his speech that the White House has shared with the media.In recent weeks, Biden has unleashed an uncharacteristically energetic, aggressive line of attack against Republicans allied with Donald Trump, and the party’s willingness to erode democratic rights and personal freedoms.As my colleague Lauren Gambino reports, Biden is expected to evoke a battle for the “soul of the nation”, reviving a theme from his presidential campaign, and build on public backlash against the supreme court’s decision to end the constitutional right to abortion.Here’s our main report on the night ahead:Biden to warn ‘extremist’ Republicans loyal to Trump threaten US democracy Read more More

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      Biden to give primetime address on the ‘battle for the soul of the nation’

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      Biden to give primetime address on the ‘battle for the soul of the nation’The speech, outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, will highlight how America’s standing – and democracy – are at stake Joe Biden will deliver a primetime address on Thursday about “the continued battle for the soul of the nation”, the White House has said.Calling the speech a major address, the White House said Biden would discuss how America’s standing in the world and its own democracy are at stake.‘He’s like an upside down iceberg’: historian Jon Meacham on Joe BidenRead moreThe speech will take place in Philadelphia and comes two months before midterm elections in which Democrats will attempt to hold Congress, while Republican supporters of Donald Trump’s big lie attempt to win seats, governor’s mansions and key electoral posts in the states.Biden will speak outside Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, where Abraham Lincoln delivered a key speech before the civil war in 1861, and where the 16th president’s body was displayed to the public after he was assassinated four years later.Next door to Independence Hall is Congress Hall, where Congress sat between 1790 and 1800, while Philadelphia was the temporary US capital. This year, Democrats have growing hope of holding the House and the Senate.The White House said Biden would “talk about the progress we have made as a nation to protect our democracy, but how our rights and freedoms are still under attack. And he will make clear who is fighting for those rights, fighting for those freedoms, and fighting for our democracy.”The speech was announced on Monday as Republicans complained about Biden’s recent characterisation of Trump and his supporters as “semi-fascists”, in their refusal to accept the 2020 election result.On Sunday, Chris Sununu, governor of New Hampshire and a relative moderate, told CNN: “The fact that the president would go out and just insult half of America [and] effectively call half of America semi-fascist, he’s trying to stir up controversy. He’s trying to stir up this anti-Republican sentiment right before the election. It’s horribly inappropriate.”Biden has also warned Americans about “ultra-Maga Republicans”, a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.Biden’s liking for the phrase “the soul of the nation” is well established. Derived from the title of a book by the historian Jon Meacham – The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, published in 2018 – the phrase or variants have appeared in Biden’s speeches and remarks for some time.In July 2021, Biden spoke at the National Constitution Center, about “protecting the sacred, constitutional right to vote”.He said then: “We did it in 2020. The battle for the soul of America – in that battle, the people voted. Democracy prevailed. Our constitution held. We have to do it again.”Meacham has advised Biden and has attended White House discussions with other historians.In May, Meacham said such discussion “was not about, ‘How do I shape my legacy?’ It was, ‘How have previous presidents dealt with fundamental crises’ … it was, ‘How do you articulate a case for democracy with all its inherent messiness?’”Nonetheless, Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, recently advertised the president’s interest in his place in history.The Biden administration, Klain said, had “delivered the largest economic recovery plan since [Franklin D] Roosevelt, the largest infrastructure plan since [Dwight D] Eisenhower, the most judges confirmed since [John F] Kennedy, the second-largest healthcare bill since [Lyndon B] Johnson, and the largest climate change bill in history.”Klain also pointed to “the first time we’ve done gun control since President [Bill] Clinton was here, the first time ever an African American woman [Ketanji Brown Jackson] has been put on the US supreme court.“I think it’s a record to take to the American people,” he said.‘What it means to be an American’: Abraham Lincoln and a nation dividedRead moreIt was not immediately clear if Biden would make reference in this week’s address to another historical use of Independence Hall with strong relevance in modern-day America: in the long aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the protests for racial justice it inspired.As the historian Ted Widmer said in 2020, in the 1850s the hall was “used as a holding pen for African Americans who were being recaptured [after escaping from slavery].“They would make it to Philadelphia and to freedom in the Underground Railroad, and then they would be recaptured, often even if they were legitimately free, they would be incarcerated in a jail inside the Independence Hall, and sent back into the south.“So that building had become tainted in the eyes of a lot of Americans.”TopicsJoe BidenBiden administrationUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      The lesson from Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness? Go big or go home | Hamilton Nolan

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      The lesson from Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness? Go big or go homeHamilton NolanBiden will get backlash from Republicans whether he does a little or a lot – so you might as well do a lot Politics is not like regular life; it’s worse. Things that are held as treasured virtues in the normal world are often political liabilities. We’ve all just been served with a shining example of how reflexive moderation – which is good when estimating measurements for recipes, or having drinks at a work party – becomes the tendency of a political fool. The wellbeing of countless Americans has long been sacrificed on the altar of moderation by the Democratic party, and all the Democrats win for it is maximal disgust.Share your views on Biden’s student loan forgiveness policy for millionsRead moreThis week Joe Biden announced that he will be canceling $10,000 in federal student loan debt (or $20,000 for Pell grant recipients) for people who earn under $125,000 a year. This policy is both unquestionably wise, and unquestionably a half-measure. There has long been a movement on the left to cancel all student debt, and even Democratic stalwarts like Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren were pushing for the cancellation of $50,000 in debt. Joe Biden was pulled towards this action, in large part, by his inability to get other, bigger economic policies through Congress. But even in taking unilateral action, he has succumbed to the overwhelming tendency of Clintonian Democrats to cut any good policy idea in half and call it political wisdom.And what did Biden earn for his unforced, personal decision to keep this program much smaller than it could have been? Within a day, mainstream Republican pundits and politicians called the policy an executive “coup”, “an abuse of the law”, “utterly revolting”, and a “fuck you to every financially responsible person”. Republicans in Congress screeched that it would cause wild and uncontrolled borrowing, and Mitch McConnell, predictably, called it “socialism”.In other words, Republicans – whose party has spent the past 50 years single-mindedly crushing worker power and funneling all of our nation’s proceeds to the rich – suddenly became very concerned that this policy might be regressive in its benefits. The party that prevented the passage of any broader measures that might have relieved not just student debt, but housing and healthcare costs and poverty wages, is now alarmed that this policy does not address all of those other matters. Republicans have taken one day off of trying to eradicate labor unions and destroy public education and put poor people in jail to theatrically moan about how this is unfair to all of the hardworking folks who didn’t go to college. Whatever.Here is the very simple lesson to take from this episode: you will get all of the backlash whether you do a little, or a lot. So do a lot. What is this loan forgiveness policy really driving at? It is, at its core, one small step on the road to a world in which America has free, high-quality, public higher education for all. We are not dreaming of a world in which student loan debt is somewhat smaller, but rather a world in which student loan debt does not need to exist. That is the goal we should reach. When, after many years of struggle, we get a chance to take a step down that road, make it a big step. To do otherwise is stupid. By slashing the debt relief number far down from what it could have been, Biden is acting like a man who is forced to rush into a burning building to save two kittens, and decides to break it up into two trips so his arms don’t get tired. Hey, buddy: let’s just get this thing done all at once.Incredibly, this basic truth of how politics works seems to forever elude Democrats. The issue of healthcare is an obvious parallel here. Free public healthcare – Medicare for all – is the intuitive, compassionate and eminently achievable goal that all of our peers in the wealthy western world have already built. So naturally, that goal is considered a fringe position in the Democratic party. Instead, Democrats have spent decades in the excruciating process of building and defending Obamacare, an insufficient half-measure that has cost the same amount of political capital and prompted the same amount of political opposition that Medicare for all would have, while leaving in place most of the ruinous flaws of our broken system. This resolute determination to never propose full solutions to our problems is proudly embraced by Democratic leadership and packaged into campaign ads as “reasonableness” and “moderation”.Of all of the perversities in American politics, the most frustrating is its conviction that idealism is a weakness. The conflation of defeatism with wisdom means that expressing the belief that we should just do what needs to be done in order to make the world a just place is enough to convince the political world that the speaker is a rube. This is ironic, because the very opposite is true, as anyone who has ever accomplished something ambitious can tell you. There is nothing more foolish than negotiating against yourself. That woeful quality has long been the hallmark of Democrats, who are like timid children who long to express themselves but are too scared to ever stray from the tepid crowd.What do we need? Public ownership of public goods for the public benefit. Public education, public healthcare, public transportation, public art. We are all the public, and helping the public is good. That’s called socialism, folks. Republicans will accuse the Democrats of it no matter what. Might as well stop shuffling along, and get right to it.
      Hamilton Nolan is a writer based in New York
      TopicsJoe BidenOpinionUS politicsBiden administrationUS student debtDemocratscommentReuse this content More

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      ‘Democrats have their mojo’: has the tide shifted for Biden and his party?

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      ‘Democrats have their mojo’: has the tide shifted for Biden and his party?A flurry of wins – passage of a climate and healthcare package, and the Inflation Reduction Act – give hope for the midterm elections Joe Biden has transformed his rough July into a jubilant August. Last month, the US president was drowning in negative headlines about his handling of numerous crises, from the war in Ukraine to record-high gas prices and the apparent demise of his signature legislative proposal.Now, as the summer draws to a close, Biden is riding high, powered by the passage of Democrats’ climate and healthcare package and glimmers of hope for his party’s prospects in the midterm elections. That optimism was on vivid display on Thursday, as Biden took the stage for a rally held by the Democratic National Committee in Rockville, Maryland.Biden’s chief of staff says president is comparable to historic predecessorsRead more“We’ve come a long way in 18 months. Covid no longer controls our lives. A record number of Americans are working,” Biden told the cheering crowd. “We never gave up. We never gave in. We’re delivering for the American people now.”Biden’s speech offered a preview of Democrats’ closing message to voters as they enter the final sprint leading up to the November elections. With the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law and Roe v Wade overturned by the conservative-led supreme court, Democrats believe they have a successful strategy to win re-election this fall, and they are prepared to defy previous predictions of a Republican shellacking.“At the top of the year, it was almost like Democrats were counted out, and most were preparing for the absolute worst,” said Anthony Robinson, political director of the National Democratic Training Committee. “I think that we’re in a completely, completely different headspace going into the midterms. There’s still a lot to do, but I think there’s a definite shift in the tide.”This week saw fresh indicators that Democrats may be able to avoid the widespread losses usually suffered by the president’s party in the midterms. Democrat Pat Ryan narrowly won a special congressional election in upstate New York on Tuesday, giving him the chance to represent a bellwether district that flipped from supporting Donald Trump in 2016 to backing Biden in 2020. Democrats have similarly outperformed expectations in other recent special elections in Nebraska and Minnesota.Ryan focused his campaign on the need to protect abortion rights in the wake of the Roe reversal, which ended the federal right to abortion access. Democrats say Ryan’s campaign could provide a playbook to other candidates looking to motivate voters to go to the polls in November.“I think that he found what resonated in his community and met people where they are,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t about a bunch of figures and numbers. It was just about the raw emotion and that people’s lives are at stake. That’s something that I think is important to everyone.”The passage of Democrats’ spending package has also helped mitigate concerns that candidates would have little to campaign on, despite the party’s control of the White House and Congress. The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law last week, includes $369bn in funds to reduce America’s planet-heating emissions and several provisions aimed at lowering healthcare costs, particularly for Medicare recipients.“Democrats have their mojo after passing numerous policies that will tangibly impact people’s lives, and now the key is to really sell it with confidence before the midterms,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Lowering prescription drug prices, lowering healthcare costs and making water and air healthier for people’s kids is a very good message to take to voters who wonder, does it matter if I vote Democrat or vote at all?”Biden continued the string of victories on Wednesday, as he signed an executive order to cancel at least $10,000 in student loan debt for millions of borrowers. The order fell far short of what progressives had demanded, but even Democrats who had pushed for more debt cancellation celebrated the news.“At the end of the day, Biden exceeded the expectations of most progressives on what he would do on student debt,” Green said. “If people want more, they’re certainly not going to get it with Republicans. But this is going to wipe out debt completely for about 20 million people and be a giant chunk out of their debt for many others.”Before Thursday’s rally, Biden met Democratic donors for a $1m fundraiser, where he attacked Donald Trump and his Republican predecessor’s party loyalists and voter base.“We’re seeing now either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme Maga agenda,” he said, referring to Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign slogan. “It’s not just Trump … It’s almost semi-fascism,” Biden added.As Biden has enjoyed this recent wave of wins, his approval rating has ticked up as well, although it remains underwater. A Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday found that 41% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, marking the first reading above 40% since early June.Earlier this month, Democrats overtook Republicans on the generic congressional ballot for the first time since last November, according to FiveThirtyEight.Those developments have led some election forecasters to shift their predictions for the November elections. FiveThirtyEight’s forecast model suggests Democrats are now slightly favored to maintain control of the Senate, and the Cook Political Report downgraded its outlook for Republican gains in the House after Ryan’s victory in New York.But Republicans are still favored to regain control of the House, reflecting the strong headwinds that Democrats face as they look toward November. Republicans secured several key victories in redistricting battles, giving them a more favorable House map. Considering Democrats’ extremely narrow majority in the House, redistricting alone may provide enough of an advantage for Republicans to recapture the lower chamber.Americans’ anxiety over the economy presents additional challenges for Democrats. Inflation is higher than it has been in more than 40 years, squeezing families’ budgets amid concerns that the US has entered a recession. An NBC News poll taken this month found that 74% of voters believe the country is on the wrong track, marking the fifth month in a row that the reading was over 70%.Republicans remain confident that the pessimistic national mood will convince voters to reject Democrats in November, and they predicted that the student debt cancelation would end up backfiring on Biden. Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, attacked the policy as a “bailout for the wealthy”.“Biden’s bailout unfairly punishes Americans who saved for college or made a different career choice, and voters see right through this short-sighted, poorly veiled vote-buy,” McDaniel said on Wednesday.Democrats acknowledge they still have their work cut out for them over the next three months, which is more than enough time for Republicans to address their sudden reversal in fortune. But as he addressed an exuberant crowd chanting “four more years”, Biden seemed more ready than ever to overcome historical trends and protect his party’s majorities in Congress this fall.“‘We the people’ are the first words of our constitution, and ‘we the people’ will still determine the destiny of America. If ‘we the people’ stand together, we will prevail,” Biden said on Thursday. “We just have to keep the faith. We just have to persevere. We just have to vote.”Reuters contributed reportingTopicsJoe BidenDemocratsBiden administrationUS politicsUS midterm elections 2022newsReuse this content More

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      Biden says his student loan relief is ‘life-changing’. Will it fix the system’s inequities?

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      Biden says his student loan relief is ‘life-changing’. Will it fix the system’s inequities?The initiative’s income cap and unclear bureaucratic process could fail to address the racial disparities that already exist01:15As Joe Biden announced the details of his plan to help those with student loan debt, Kat Welbeck wrestled with the idea. For millions of Americans, the unprecedented relief would be “life-changing”, especially for low-income and Black and Latino Americans, who are disproportionately saddled with decades-long debt, she said.But the plans’ income cap on who can receive cancellation, and its unclear bureaucratic process for Americans seeking debt relief could perpetuate the inequities that underpin the nation’s student loan system, Welbeck, director of advocacy and civil rights counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center, said.Student loan forgiveness: what you need to know about Biden’s planRead more“While a $10,000 cancellation is so meaningful for millions of student loan borrowers, there’s a lot that’s still to be done to fix this student debt crisis,” Welbeck says.On Wednesday, the White House released its long-anticipated plan on how to tackle the nation’s mounting $1.6tn student loan debt, accounting for more than 43 million people, with almost a third owing less than $10,000, according to federal data.The initiative would cancel up to $10,000 in debt for borrowers who earn less than $125,000 a year ($250,000 for married couples). Borrowers whose low income level qualified them for a Pell Grant will receive up to $20,000 in relief. The White House also extended a pause for “one final time” on student loan payments through January.The White House has projected that the plan would eliminate full debt balances for 20 million Americans and that 90% of debt relief dollars would go toward people with incomes less than $75,000. The White House also touted it as an effort to “advance racial equity”, pointing to its targeted relief for those who received Pell Grants. Officials noted that Black Americans were twice as likely to receive such grants as white Americans.Senator Elizabeth Warren, who, like others, have advocated for cancelling at least $50,000 in student debt, praised the administration’s plan as “transformative for the lives of working people all across the country” and would “help narrow the racial wealth gap among borrowers”.Still, some argue that the cancellation of just $10,000 for most borrowers would fail to substantially affect the racial disparities within the student loan system. Black and Latino borrowers disproportionately come from poorer households and, as a result, take on more debt than white Americans. At the same time, white American households have, on average, 10 times the wealth of Black households.Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, which had been advocating for cancellation of $50,000, wrote in an op-ed that Biden’s plan would “do little to help” Black Americans who, on average, hold nearly twice as much student debt as white borrowers. “Canceling just $10,000 of debt is like pouring a bucket of ice water on a forest fire,” he said. Canceling $10,000 in student debt when the average white borrower is $12,000 in debt, while Black women hold on average over $52,000 isn’t just unacceptable, it’s structural racism.— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) August 23, 2022
      The emphasis on income in the White House’s cap represents a possible barrier that could exclude borrowers of color who meet the income threshold yet their families lack the wealth to tackle the debt, Welbeck says. A June 2020 report from the Student Borrower Protection Center found that 90% of Black Americans and 72% of Latino Americans took out student loans, a far cry from the 66% of white Americans.And 20 years after graduating college, the median Black borrower still owed 95% of their original debt while the median white borrower paid down the same amount. For Latinos, after 12 years, they owed 83% of their original debt, more than the white borrower over the same time.Given that Black and Latino Americans typically earn less than white Americans, borrowers of color will start from behind without the intergenerational wealth available to reduce the debt they already hold.“So if you’re already coming from a lower-wealth household, you now have more debt, and then that cuts into opportunities for you to build wealth for the next generation,” Welback says. “You might see higher-income households that are Black or Latino, but that does not take away the fact that you still have those wealth disparities.”Student loan forgiveness: what does it mean for the US debt crisis?Read moreHistorically, the education department has complicated access to loan forgiveness through the programs it creates, such as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for non-profit and public service workers seeking relief and the borrower defense program for those who were defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges.The White House initiative does nothing to address private student loan debt, which accounts for more than $140bn in debt. Although Latino borrowers were more than twice as likely to report struggling with private student loan debt as white borrowers, Black borrowers were a staggering four times as likely to fall behind on private debt payments, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center.An application process could make it harder for people to access relief, Welbeck says. But recent decisions by the education department to automatically discharge debts for hundreds of thousands of students who attended ITT Technical Institute and Corinthian Colleges, two for-profit college chains that imploded, show that a widespread relief without bureaucratic hurdles is possible. The two debt cancellations at the for-profit institutions amounted to roughly $10bn affecting more than 700,000 students.“The student debt crisis is a result of the longstanding history of racial discrimination that we have in our country, and it continues to perpetuate them,” Welback says. “So until we address student debt as a civil rights crisis, we’re not going to be able to make meaningful gains toward equity.”TopicsUS student debtBiden administrationUS student financeRaceJoe BidenUS politicsUS educationnewsReuse this content More

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      I’m 65 and have $300,000 in student debt. I and other older debtors are going on strike | Lystra Small-Clouden

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      I’m 65 and have $300,000 in student debt. I and other older debtors are going on strikeLystra Small-CloudenWe know that this debt won’t go away – for us or Americans of any age – unless we stand up and fight it On Wednesday, the White House announced its long-awaited debt cancellation plan. Joe Biden will erase $10,000 for borrowers who make under $125,000 a year, and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. The federal student loan payment moratorium will also be extended until December 31.Sadly, this news does almost nothing for me and millions of others. It falls far short of what economic and racial justice demands. That’s why I have joined over 250 people, all over age 50, who are pledging to strike our student loans when payments resume. Our numbers are growing every day.Most people think of the student loan crisis as a problem affecting young people. As a 65-year-old woman, however, I am actually among the fastest-growing demographic of student debtors. We know that this debt won’t go away – for us or Americans of any age – unless we stand up and fight it. That’s why we’re prepared to strike.I have over $300,000 in student debt. The burden is negatively affecting my emotional and physical existence. You may wonder how it is possible to accumulate such a large amount of student debt, so let me explain.As a single, Black, immigrant woman, I always told my four kids that education was the most important part of their upbringing. But it didn’t take me long to realize that I was hardly following my own advice: I was not comfortable advising my children to achieve the highest level of education when I myself didn’t. I am a mentor, educator and adviser to my kids. I wanted my mentorship and advice to be built on a strong educational and intellectual foundation.In January 2010 I began a doctoral degree program in human resources management. My biggest mistake was enrolling in a for-profit school. I did achieve my academic goals in August 2016. That feeling of success was short-lived, however. After graduation, I had to begin repaying student loans.My school didn’t play fairly with me while I pursued my doctoral degree. The administrators changed the length of my program from three to six years. They actively steered me away from my research interest in the effects of slavery and globalization, adding more time to my program of study. Meanwhile, I continued to pay. From an initial loan payoff of $75,000 per year, my debt rose to $300,000.Then my children started college. Because of my own debt, I was unable to qualify for parent loans to help my younger two children pay for their undergraduate studies. I was also unable to plan for the future. I exhausted my retirement funds trying to repay these loans and have not been able to replenish them because, as a good citizen, I prioritized repaying my student loans above all else.Biden must cancel all student loan debt, including for those with graduate degrees | Derecka PurnellRead moreMy debt is an economic drain but it’s also an emotional one. I have been stressing over it for 12 years now, and the stress has taken a very real toll on my physical health. I suffer from hypertension and high cholesterol and recently had emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder due to digestive issues caused by unnecessary stress. I spend a lot of time thinking about the fact that I am 65 years old, with projected loan repayments for the next 21 years of my life – meaning I will be 86 when I pay them off. When you are burdened by student debt, there is no quality of personal or work life. You are stuck at home – foregoing vacations, visiting family and friends, professional conferences, everything.Like so many debtors, I’ve found it hard to see a way out. As an older person, I’ve often felt particularly alone as a student debtor. When I learned of the Debt Collective, the nation’s first debtors’ union, I realized I was not alone. I found others with similar stories and experiences, including many other older people. As a group, we understand that we’re stronger together. And we are taking action. If Biden won’t cancel our debt, we will go on strike.I joined the 50-over-50 debt strike to make sure that the world knows that older debtors exist, and that we are growing in number. Because student loans are structured as a debt trap, there are more and more older debtors every day. My fellow strikers and I can’t pay – and won’t. We shouldn’t have to take money from our retirement to pay for college. I accumulated this massive student debt because of the inhumane policies of lending institutions and for-profit schools, and the lack of support and intervention from government agencies. Biden has the power to cancel student debt for all of us, automatically and immediately. Why isn’t he using it?I am pleading with Joe Biden: please make things right – by cancelling all student debt.TopicsUS politicsOpinionJoe BidenBiden administrationDebt reliefUS student debtHigher educationHigher education policycommentReuse this content More

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      Student loan forgiveness: what does it mean for the US debt crisis?

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      ExplainerStudent loan forgiveness: what does it mean for the US debt crisis? The $1.7tn debt has become a hot political issues as midterm elections approachAmerica’s students have a debt problem. A big one. More than 45 million Americans – more than the population of California – now owe a collective $1.7tn in student debt.The vast majority of the money is owed to the federal government, which has been backing or directly offering student loans for higher education since 1958. While student loans are not new in the United States, the amount of student debt has more than tripled over the last 16 years.For the first time in history, the federal government will cancel a large swath of student debt to address the crisis. On Wednesday, Joe Biden announced borrowers who make less than $125,000 a year will see $10,000 shaved off their debt. Most borrowers will qualify for some cancellation. For at least 15 million, that means complete erasure of their debt.Student debt will remain a hot political issue. Understanding the impact of such a dramatic policy requires unpacking the student debt crisis, beginning with its origins.How the student debt crisis startedIn 1957 the Soviet Union successfully launching the first earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik. With the cold war raging the federal government feared the US education system was failing to produce enough scientists and engineers to compete with the Soviets and, in 1958, started handing out student loans through the National Defense Education Act.Nearly a decade later, the Higher Education Act of 1965 allowed more people to take out loans as the federal government promised to pay back banks for any loans that were not repaid.“It all started from this choice, which I think was a terrible choice, to decide that as a policy matter we should support higher education … by giving [students] an opportunity to get a loan,” said Dalié Jimenez, professor of law and director of the Student Loan Law Initiative at the University of California at Irvine. “It was just a terrible mistake.”Starting in 2010, the federal government started directly lending money to student borrowers. In the wake of the Great Recession, the amount of student debt began to increase rapidly. Colleges were seeing increased enrollment as people left the workforce to go back to school. States slashed their higher education budgets, leading to higher tuition. More students were turning to for-profit colleges, which tend to be more expensive than public colleges.Over the last few years, the amount of grant aid, which does not need to be paid back, has risen. Yet despite this appearance of more financial support for students to attend college, the cost of attendance has remained the same.Two line charts comparing the gap between the listed price and what it actually costs to attend public and non-profit private institutions.The cost of attending public college has actually increased at a higher rate than the cost to attend a private college. The net cost of attendance for four-year public colleges, which takes into account any grants students receive, went from $17,500 in 2006 to $20,210 in 2016, according to data from College Board.Line chart of the costs of public and private non-profit increasing and then slightly decreasing from 2006-07 to 2020-21 school years.“That era 10 years ago was a really formative moment for producing a lot of debt that’s still out there,” said Kevin Miller, associate director for higher education at the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Economic Policy Project. “The cost of college attendance has gone up a lot while household incomes in the United States haven’t … there’s a real sense that if grant, state or institutional aid isn’t filling the gap, that just leaves debt as the only option.”What student debt looks like todayFor the 2021-2022 school year, the average cost of tuition and fees for a four-year public college is $10,740. The cost is nearly quadrupled for private institutions, at an average of $38,070. Even with grant aid, the cost of attendance is an average of $19,230 for public institutions and $32,720 at private schools.Estimates put the average debt of those in the class of 2019 who took out student loans at $28,950. The number is close to the maximum $31,000 that students who are dependents of parents or guardians can borrow from the federal government to fund undergraduate education.Area chart of student debt increasing from Q1 2006 to Q1 2022.Continuing racial wealth disparities are reflected in who has to take out loans to fund college. About half of Black college students take out student loans, compared with 40% of white students. Black Americans owe an average of $25,000 more in debt than their white counterparts and are more likely to be behind on their payments.Despite the amount of debt many students need to take on to attend college, nearly 20 million Americans still enroll in college every year. While earnings can depend on a person’s industry, those with a bachelor’s degrees earn 75% more in their lifetime than those with just a high school diploma.“The message is you have to get a college degree. It’s not just a rhetorical message, it’s an actual truth that if you don’t have a college degree, particularly if you are Black or brown … you will not be able to get a job that is better than your parents’,” Jimenez said.Those with graduate and professional degrees earn even more, but the price for an advanced degree is even higher. A good chunk of student debt – about 40% – is held by those who took out loans to pay for graduate school.What the government has done to address student debtAfter over a year of deliberation, the White House announced on Wednesday the largest student debt cancellation in US history. Federal borrowers making under $125,000 will see $10,000 of their debt forgiven. The policy represents a fulfillment of a promise Biden made on the campaign trail to cancel $10,000 of student debt.Until Wednesday, the most substantial policy addressing student debt was first implemented by the Trump administration, which paused student loan payments and interest accrual at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Both Trump and Biden extended the pause over the last two years, and it is now set to expire on 31 August.Since the beginning of this year, Biden has announced a slate of additional policies alongside the pause extension. Those who have defaulted or are delinquent on their federal student loans will be returned to good standing. Biden forgave $415m in student debt for borrowers who attended predatory for-profit schools.His administration also announced changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which forgives the student loans of borrowers who are non-profit and government employees after 10 years of debt or after 120 payments are made. Over 113,000 borrowers with a cumulative $6.8bn in debt are now eligible for forgiveness. Over the years, the program has been under much criticism, as relief through the program was rare and borrowers were often deemed not qualified for logistical reasons.The debate over debt forgivenessRepublicans have been using student debt as a talking point against Biden as the midterm elections approach.Senator Mitt Romney suggested that Democrats canceling student loans is a way of bribing voters. “Other bribe suggestions: Forgive auto loans? Forgive credit card debt? Forgive mortgages?” he wrote on Twitter. JD Vance (who went to Yale Law School) told the Washington Post that “Biden essentially wants blue-collar workers like truck drivers – who didn’t have the luxury of going to college to get drunk for four years – to bail out a bunch of upper-middle-class kids.”The reality is that the student loans of those in the highest income quartile – people making more than $97,000 – do make up a third of all outstanding student debt. But many low-income Americans also have student debt, though the amount of debt they have is smaller. Those making below $27,000 a year make up 17% of all borrowers, but their loans comprise 12% of all the outstanding debt.An income threshold could be a way for the government to target forgiveness to those who need it most. But some have pointed out that an income ceiling does not take into consideration a person’s wealth.“You’re looking at a snapshot of what your income was this year or last year, that tells you very little,” Jimenez said. “If your family has no wealth, you’re very differently situated from someone who has family wealth or personal wealth from previous careers.”Those who have been advocating for student debt cancellation say that $10,000 in forgiveness will not be enough to address the breadth of the crisis. Democratic lawmakers, including Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called on Biden to cancel up to $50,000.“I don’t believe in a cutoff, especially for so many of the frontline workers who are drowning in debt and would likely be excluded from relief,” Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Post. “Canceling $50,000 in debt is where you really make a dent in inequality and the racial gap. $10,000 isn’t.”Ending the student debt crisis for goodEven though millions will now see debt cancellation, future college students will continue to take out loans – and at higher interest rates. Tackling the price tag of college will come with its own complications, but advocates say it will be necessary to ensure student debt does not get worse.While Biden’s plan for free community college was killed along with the rest of the social and climate spending bill that was making its way through Congress, some efforts for better college funding are happening at the local level.In March, the governor of New Mexico signed a bill that would use $75m in state funds to cover tuition and fees for undergraduate students at two- and four-year colleges. Drives for similar government support have been seen in Pennsylvania, California and Maine.“The cost of college is too high for a lot of students to manage without debt. Making it so that students can go without debt or take less debt in the first place is the thing that we really need to be focusing on,” Miller said. “What about the next generation or the one after that?”
      This article was amended. An earlier version stated that student debt had doubled over 16 years. In fact, it has more than tripled.
      TopicsUS student debtUS personal financeEconomicsBiden administrationUS politicsexplainersReuse this content More