Joe Biden: How he changed America – and where it all went wrong

Read time: 5 mins

In brief…

• Joe Biden’s time as US president has come to an end, and despite making huge economic improvements in America, he may be remembered more for his mistakes along the way.
• The News Agents say that, like Jimmy Carter and George W Bush, he may only be remembered for his positive impact in the long-term.
• For now, they say, he may have to settle to being remembered as a “bit-part” in the story of Donald Trump.

What’s the story?

When Joe Biden won the 2020 US election, it came with a wave of optimism, positivity and ‘We did it Joe’ Kamala Harris memes.

Now, as he makes his exit from The White House – preceded and followed Donald Trump presidencies – it’s in slightly less celebratory times.

“Four years ago, Joe Biden was the man who was talking about America United, about polarisation ending, about the country, about the country coming back together again,” says Jon Sopel, as The News Agents look back on the Democrat’s time in The White House, ahead of the second Trump inauguration.

“If that was his aim, he's failed.”

Lewis Goodall adds that while Biden was able to "bury" Trump when he came to power in 2020, he wasn't able to "extinguish" the MAGA Republican. His inauguration in 2021 came just weeks after the Washington insurrection, when the action of Trump supporters led to the deaths of five people, and 174 being injured.

How did Biden change America for the better?

Under Biden’s presidency, there were a huge number of positive changes for America. Millions signed up for Obamacare, and the number of people without health insurance dropped to just 7.2%.

The cost of living will return to pre-pandemic levels, and billions were spent on transitioning US energy to green resources after rejoining the Paris climate agreements.

Violent crimes have fallen, there has been a rise in 'real wages' for lower-income workers, and salaries are rising faster than inflation.

"These are big achievements, there are no two ways about that," says Lewis.

"Did the American public really understand what the links were between them? Not always."

But due to the long-term nature of some of these changes, he believes much of the credit for the changes they bring to society will end up falling in the lap of Trump.

"I think people thought he would be a centrist figure who would just hold the fort," adds Jon.

"Biden wanted to have his own place in history with a much more ambitious, much more progressive bent to it than I think people had thought would be the case when he was running to be president."

Jon says that from the moment Biden entered The White House, he was making major changes to how America was run – especially after the "chaos" of the first Trump administration. He says staff described the change as "amazing" due to the introduction of a chain of command, process, and order to the day-to-day operations.

What went wrong?

But while there were clear successes to Biden's presidency, many were at a broad economic level. In the homes of Americans, things may have appeared very different.

During his presidency there was an increase in the price of household essentials such as eggs, infant formula and Covid tests were hard to get hold of, and the abortion protections of Roe v Wade were rolled back. These were all things that affected the day-to-day lives of Americans far more than hitting Net Zero or the number of people signing up for Obamacare.

And public opinion shifted permanently after Biden's 2024 debate with Donald Trump, when the world saw a very different man to the one who had previously dominated previous televised clashes with his political adversary.

Lewis says there is a "tragedy" to the summer debate, which raised serious concerns about his physical and mental health, as well as his ability to continue as president until the end of the year, let alone through a second term.

"I do think that was a big, understated part of the Democrats' loss in 2024," says Lewis.

"I do think a lot of Americans felt that they had been misled – they could see they had been misled.

"His officials said, day after day, week after week, the President's fine, he's the strongest person in the room."

In a social media age, Jon Sopel adds, it was impossible to hide Biden's increasing frailty and mental decline.

How will Biden be remembered?

Although chapters may not be written right now about Biden's successes, The News Agents believe in the long term, he will be remembered for his values, and the positive impact he had on the US.

"That is the core of Joe Biden, the decency, the upholder of traditional values," says Jon.

"He's an institutionalist by nature, he reveres the institutions that make America great, whereas Donald Trump has so often seemed to want to burn those institutions down."

And now Trump, The News Agents say, may be the one to see the benefits of Biden's institutionalist decency.

"Trump is now going to inherit an economy which is growing really well," Jon continues.

"There are all sorts of pieces of legislation that I bet Trump won't undo, although he has decried, for example, the inflation Reduction Act.

"It's leading to the building of all sorts of factories across America. where they're doing environmental protection. It's creating 1000s and 1000s of jobs."

Jon says that, like previous presidents Jimmy Carter and George W Bush – who left office with poor reputations among US citizens, but have had their status re-assessed in the years since – it may take time for Biden to get the appreciation he deserves for his time as president.

"I just think in narrow political terms that he's going to be treated harshly, because he stayed around too long, past his sell-by date."

That, he adds, was a big miscalculation.

"The great Churchill quote is that history is written by the winners, and I'm going to be the one writing it," Jon adds.

"I don't think Biden is going to have that chance to write the history as he would want it done."

Instead, they both say, he may (for now) be remembered as a bit-part in the story of Donald Trump.

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