This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.
“President Joe Biden’s team is increasingly taking extraordinary steps to minimize disruptions from pro-Palestinian protests at his events by making them smaller, withholding their precise locations from the media and the public until he arrives, avoiding college campuses and, in at least one instance, considering hiring a private company to vet attendees.” —An NBC News report describing the nature of one of Biden’s recent campaign pivots.
President Joe Biden is about to give his fourth State of the Union address, and he doesn’t seem too concerned about the prospect that it could be his last. Just look to the crazy-making calm of his inner circle, which seems content to dismiss current polling and bet that the electorate will “choose normal” at the ballot box this fall. (Remind me how 2016 turned out, again?)
Everyone else who cares about the state of our union, however, has been especially alarmed as of late.
Biden is still tied with or trailing Donald Trump in the polls, and his overall approval rating remains troublingly low. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that a “majority” of Biden’s 2020 coalition now perceives him as “too old to lead the country effectively.” The electorate at large remains largely unaware of the genuinely historic accomplishments Biden has achieved on popular issues like economic recovery, infrastructure protection, climate change, and gun control. Super Tuesday saw more important states for Biden—North Carolina and Minnesota—rack up impressive voting margins for “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary, adding tangible numbers to the national disaffection over Biden’s stance on the........