River News: Our View

So there he was, the President of the United States, taking questions on one of the gravest of international situations, the Israeli war of defense against the murderous Hamas terrorists, and that in and of itself was unusual since Biden likes to avoid questions.

What wasn’t unusual was the setting. While one might expect a president to discuss a serious international conflict from the White House situation room, or to solemnly address the nation from the Oval Office, the American flag bravely behind him, that was not the case.

No, not at all. Instead, Biden was standing in an ice cream shop, eating a cone with comedian Seth Meyers. He opined on the war while standing child-like eating his sweet treat, one of the president’s favorite props. It’s an apt one — he has the cognitive capabilities of a very young child eating ice cream.

But the image broadcast by the administration was more sinister. Engaging in a serious discussion of issues facing Americans while eating ice cream trivializes the matter. It shows that the administration simply doesn’t take Americans seriously enough to communicate with any earnestness. 

It’s like telling the nation that the country just defaulted on its debt while on a resort beach sipping champagne — or eating gourmet ice cream. 

To be sure, this is a tone deaf administration that simply has no idea what average Americans must endure on a daily basis. 

The president may be eating a lot of ice cream — if his press is any indication — but ice cream, gourmet or otherwise, is increasingly no longer on the shopping list for many Americans as grocery inflation continues to gut the average consumer’s pocketbook.

Indeed, while the elites continue to tout a slowing rate of inflation, and simultaneously grumble that Americans aren’t appreciative, they miss the reason nobody is happy: Grocery prices haven’t come down, rent inflation continues unchecked, and even overall inflation came in hotter than expected in January, forcing the Federal Reserve to hold back on lowering sky-high interest rates that have put stresses on credit card debt and made home ownership unaffordable for millions.

That’s why Americans are unhappy, and yet Joe Biden continually beams into our living rooms from ice cream shops, as if it is all one big Sunday social.

To him, a man very comfortable with his Chinese-made family fortune, it is a joke, only America is not laughing.

All of which brings us to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers. There’s another one wallowing in elitism and playing it funny for the masses. As it turns out, there’s a well-known photo of him in Milwaukee with the president, and what were the pair doing? 

Eating ice cream, of course.

Last week, the governor was fresh off a veto of a GOP tax cut for families making less than $150,000. The vetoed tax cuts would also have exempt up to $150,000 of retirement income from income taxes and increased the married couple credit. 

We think state Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said it best: “The Governor made the unilateral decision that middle class families — including single moms who make $28,000, retired Wisconsinites, and married couples — are doing just fine and don’t need tax relief. Frankly, that’s a slap in the face to the majority of Wisconsin.”

We might add that this is the third time Evers has vetoed a tax cut for people making less than $150,000. Many of those people are seniors living on fixed incomes who must shop at the grocery stores where base-line prices for daily goods such as eggs, meat, cooking oils, and nonalcoholic drinks continue to rise.

It would be bad enough if Democrats Joe Biden and Tony Evers just dismissed all the agony with the wave of an ice cream cone, but they continue to pursue policies that make it harder and harder for households to keep up.

Biden often tries to pin the cause of inflation on business. It’s all because of corporate greed, he will say as he shifts into campaign mode.

Indeed, last week, the administration announced the creation of a “strike force” to “stop illegal corporate behavior that hikes prices on American families through anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices.”

Never mind the obscene amounts of free money the administration pumped into the system over the past several years. 

Just look around and you will see that local governments are still spending the vast amounts of pandemic money they received, much of it on unnecessary projects, the cost of which should have been debated in public. That needless spending continues to drive prices ever higher.

Never mind the tightening of the regulatory noose around the necks of American businesses. There are the major regulations being formulated that will drive prices higher — new efficiency standards for appliances, to cite just one example — but there are hundreds of smaller regulations that will have pernicious effects. 

For example, as The Wall Street Journal observes, new rules limiting bank overdraft and credit-card late fees will reduce the availability of free checking.

On and on it goes. Here in Wisconsin, the governor ignores GOP efforts to put more money in the pockets of the state’s residents in a time when prices for food and services continue to rise faster than they did prior to Biden becoming president.

Maybe they know something we don’t. According to the latest New York Times poll — and this is not a poll they like — not only does Donald Trump have his largest lead in a Times poll ever, but he is attracting the support of 46 percent of Hispanics and 23 percent of Blacks.

If Trump gets anywhere near those numbers, Biden is toast. And yet they smirk and smile as they eat ice cream. They think they have the election in the bag, and they might.

All sorts of things could go right for them. Trump could immolate himself with his mouth; or worse, he could be convicted and go to jail. The Democrats are betting they would gain more votes than they would lose.

They are also betting a gallon of chocolate-chip that the Fed will lower interest rates before election day, easing the pain of consumer debt. They actually believe they can sell their message to the public that Trump caused the border invasion. And there is always the abortion issue to save the day.

All of this may work, but all of it is also very, very risky. 

But then there is this: 

The one thing Democrats can’t spin is the pain of inflation. 

Americans see it every day when they go to the grocery store. They see it when they fill their cars with gas, or pay their rent. They suffer when they can’t make the budget stretch anymore to pay for basics like garbage pick-up or septic pumping — all the kinds of services in which rampant inflation has yet to be curbed. And we have not even touched on the cost of health care.

This kind of budget pain is exactly why Trump has the support of 23 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Hispanics, and we suspect, as always has been the case, the polls are understating Trump’s support among all population groups.

There’s also one big thing the Democrats can’t make us unsee. That’s the image of Joe Biden and Tony Evers smugly eating ice cream and yucking it up while we roam the grocery store aisles looking for the cheapest store brands.

They can’t make us unsee the fact that they eat ice cream, while we eat noodles. 

That stark divide, that image of elitism versus everyone else, is the single most important factor in this election, if only people will keep it in their sights until November. Given the economy, they will be hard pressed not to.

We all scream for ice cream, but all we get is raman. That’s not a diet destined to go down well in November.