President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I didn't say anything about the "poorest states."

I know people want to turn this into rooting for a team. ... if only those people in Mississippi voted for Democrats, the state wouldn't be poor.

Politicians don't affect people's household finances at that kind of granular level, especially at the state and local level. Even at the national level, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and Jay Powell have had a gazillion times more impact on what I am talking about than any of the presidents we had over the last 2 decades.

Michigan has the most financially distressed people in the country. It's not the poorest state. It has a darling governor from the Democratic Party. It voted for Bill Clinton twice, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama twice (but by narrower and narrower margins). ... and then Donald Trump in 2016, the first time it had voted red for president since 1988. It was in play against Biden (it shouldn't have even been close after 4 years of Donald Trump) and it's a dead heat right now with him against Harris.

20 years ago a Democratic Party candidate like Kamala Harris would have carried Michigan easily. Against a complete shit show like Donald Trump (who would never have been on a ballot in the first place, but the increasing discontent with the national politicians we have gotten over that time are what made him viable for so many people), she'd have carried it in a landslide.

In Q1 2024, Michigan had the most accounts per person in financial distress. ... meaning accounts where the account holder was temporarily allowed to not make payments due to financial difficulty. It's precisely the reason Donald Trump is viable there. If you don't think that is what is driving this election, nothing else I say is going to convince you of the reality. The only thing making her viable is that it's Donald Trump. The only think making him viable is that she's the same old thing that people had already been tuning out as they have fallen behind.