Thread by @JeffRoushPoetry

As various media outlets report breathlessly on a Biden White House mired in a multitude of “crises,” it’s worth taking a step back to look at the nation he took over and the tasks ahead. We should hold him accountable, but that accounting should be more than a current snapshot.

I have often talked about Biden’s initial task as being that of Janitor-in-Chief, cleaning up messes first, but it’s more than that. As he works to lift the nation up, the prior administration’s incompetence and sabotage mean he has to climb from some steep deficits.

The budget deficit is one layer. Trump and the GOP Congress with which he started not only failed to do anything for the nation, but cut deeply into national revenues by cutting taxes—specifically, for those who could most afford to pay them. The national debt ballooned.

More critically, Biden inherited trust deficits. Globally, allies no longer trust America to look out for their interests, and countries everywhere don’t think America feels obligated to keep its word. On treaties, contracts, or promises.

The only international beneficiaries are authoritarians and despots. The prior administration coddled strongmen and gave them tacit—if not full-throated—approval to crack down on opposition and crank up atrocities, knowing the U.S. would not stand in the way.

Here in America, faith in our democracy and our government has faded. The GOP has attacked elections and is working to reduce voter rights and participation. Trump decimated agencies through cuts and by putting in agency heads who opposed the very reasons those agencies exist.

America also abandoned even the pretense of standing up for human rights. Trump weakened or cut protections for minorities, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and asylum seekers, all as part of a callous politics based on bullying and division.

In short, the already Herculean task of being president of this country is now one of restoring order and trust, re-creating faith in our ability to function as a nation. This is going to take more time. Biden and Democrats must rebuild a nation, almost from the ground up.

And the GOP is gleefully opposing any effort to accomplish these tasks. It celebrates everything not yet done and impedes progress on even the most basic functions of Congress. With Democrats not moving completely in lockstep, more elections and larger majorities are required.

Again, we should hold the current administration accountable. Demand action against insurrectionists, and firm responses to the flouting of congressional authority. Push for more on voting rights. As citizens, this is part of OUR duty to our country.

But before we throw up our hands on Biden, remember: he is 9 months in to a restoration of democracy’s foundations after a 4-year earthquake—with aftershocks still reverberating. The last thing we need is to attack him and intentionally put the nation back on the fault line.