Thread by @JakeSherman

>@PunchbowlNews AM: The Biden Governing Doctrine

Four months in a few points about @JoeBiden

→ Relearning Washington. Biden campaigned for the presidency having what he described as a deep set of relationships with Republicans, combined with real insight into how they think.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden But he quickly learned that his view of D.C. is tinted with sepia. The Republicans in Congress now don’t resemble the Republicans he knew in the ‘80s, ‘90s, or early 2000s. They are, for the most part, uninterested in working with him. Biden has learned that quickly.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden His WH has been somewhat smart in targeting the rank-and-file instead of the GOP leadership. @SenCapito for example, carries a different kind of heft than @LeaderMcConnell. She also has her own thoughts on what’s achievable.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell And it turns out that the relationships that are proving most fruitful for Biden are new ones.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell → Bipartisanship -- when it suits him. We can’t tell you how many conversations we’ve had with Republicans who think that Biden overstates the importance of his interactions across the aisle.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell Here’s an example from Thursday. Biden signed into law the anti-Asian hate crime bill, which was the subject of a good deal of bipartisan haggling on Capitol Hill. But when the photo op came, there were just Democrats behind him in the picture.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell → No saber rattling. We just watched Biden handle his first major foreign policy crisis: a bloody 11-day showdown between Israel and Hamas. There were no threats or demands issued from the Oval Office, no Twitter broadsides.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell Despite growing pressure from Hill Democrats to publicly intervene, Biden dealt with it his way -- behind the scenes. In a half-dozen calls with @Netanyahu, Biden pressed the longtime Israeli leader to scale back the IDF military campaign in Gaza while pledging U.S. support

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell @netanyahu In public, Biden tacitly pushed for a cease-fire, which irritated Rs. The US blocked any action by the U.N. Security Council against Israel, & admin officials -- including Biden & Blinken -- held hectic talks with Egyptian President Sisi and other regional allies on the crisis.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell @netanyahu → The Swerve Man. We’ve been trying to come up with a description of Biden’s approach to big issues. He moves right, then left. He tacks back and forth. Mostly left, but not always. He takes it issue by issue, but in reality, Biden is a swerver.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell @netanyahu Biden gave progressives nearly everything they wanted on the American Rescue Plan, and followed that up with even more in the American Jobs Plan and American Family Plan. But when @SenSchumer er (D-N.Y.) and @SenWarren pressed him to wipe out student loan debt, Biden said no.

@PunchbowlNews @JoeBiden @SenCapito @LeaderMcConnell @netanyahu @SenSchumer @SenWarren Biden initially won praise from immigration advocates for canceling former President Donald Trump’s border wall and canceling the travel ban. Biden has also introduced a broad immigration plan that includes a path to citizenship for undocmented immigrants.

But when Biden decided to keep in place a Trump administration cap of 15,000 refugees for the rest of this fiscal year, it led to an explosion of anger from immigration advocates, who screamed that he was going back on a campaign promise.

Within two weeks, Biden issued a new executive order -- the United States would accept 62,500 refugees in FY 2020, and 125,000 in 2021. It’s not clear if the administration can make this goal, but Biden defused a problem with his left.

Biden has been pressed by the left to expand the Supreme Court. He doesn’t like the idea, so what did he do? He named a commission to study it.

He’s called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines as the country has faced a wave of mass shootings, yet Biden knows there’s no way to get it through a 50-50 Senate.

And he’s spoken publicly about reforming the filibuster, and acknowledges its being “abused.” Yet the 36-year-Senate veteran hasn't called for its outright end.