GOP Says Biden in Chaos – with WaPo Help

Not that I give a bloated goat fart in hell what the Republicans think, but does the Washington Post have to help them pass gas? Top left front page:

Biden’s America: Democrats see competence, Republicans see chaos

President Biden’s administration by the middle of last week was confronted with images of long lines at gas pumps. The Middle East had erupted in violence. Headlines were warning that fears of inflation could threaten a fragile economy.

None of these were brought on by Biden’s actions, as the story gets around to mentioning later. But first it has to play “on the one hand  . . . but on the other hand”:

A president who prides himself on choreography and planning has seen in recent days a burst of unexpected events that showcase the need for political agility. The White House is approaching the problems — all politically sensitive — with a degree of calm and caution, even as some allies want Biden to be more forceful before events spiral further.

As Biden and his aides seek to project steadiness, many Republicans are offering an alternative interpretation: The world is increasingly engulfed in chaos on Biden’s watch as gas prices surge, crime rates rise, border crossings grow and the costs of consumer goods threaten to spike.

Actually, if you read the whole article carefully, it does try to make Biden come out ahead in the argument.

With a steady stream of public updates, Biden’s team sought to convey that it was on top of the [pipeline] problem. One official said the White House has a working communications strategy for sudden challenges, and one of its cornerstones is disclosing their actions in real time.

So administration officials last week launched a blitz on local news networks and made frequent calls to governors, with a number of Republican leaders joining them in urging calm.

But at the same time, it gives a lot of space to GOP gripers:

Republicans are not waiting that long to cast judgment. On cable channels, in the hallways of Congress and in battleground states, they are increasingly gravitating toward one word — chaos — to sum up the early days of Biden’s presidency, suggesting he is failing to rise to the occasion.

“The border is in chaos, there’s a gas crisis, inflation crisis, our allies have been undermined, and trillions in new taxes have been proposed,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) tweeted on Friday.

“It is a crisis. It’s chaos. It is a catastrophe,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said at a news conference about the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Biden Administration Creates Country of Chaos,” read an email sent out by the Iowa Republican Party.

And then there’s the closer:

OK, the Post story does point out that the GOP is focusing on crisis because none of its other attacks on Biden are working. Part of their message, which the Post didn’t mention, is that Biden is just too old and too little energy for the job. Mush McCarthy’s crack about Biden not having as much energy as Trump wasn’t just a bit more ass-kissing; it was meant to lead into the chaos message. What was Trump’s hours of “executive time” for, then?

More to the point, where were these same Republicans when former guy was making fake chaos to distract from his inability to handle real chaos?

Trump thrived on chaos — which the Post story never mentions:

Trump Said He Likes “Chaos” . . . (Mar 2018)

But the American public doesn’t:

Looks Like Americans Prefer Biden’s Competence to Trump’s Chaos (Apr 2021)

Biden doesn’t make chaos, he just deals with real chaos when it happens. Cooling things down isn’t as flashy and exciting as blowing things up, however. And a lot of cooling has to happen behind closed doors. If you show your hand too soon, you can blow it

But it doesn’t make for dramatic headlines while he’s doing it. Maybe the mainstream media likes chaos because it sells. Make that another argument that capitalism is ruining everything.