Politics
Column: Joe Biden's empathy was his superpower in 2020. Can he find it again in 2024?
Whatever happened to the empathetic Joe Biden who won the 2020 presidential election?
Some days it feels as if that kindly Uncle Joe has been replaced by a cranky old pol annoyed at voters who don’t give him credit for a strong economy.
Last week, when the Labor Department reported that inflation had ticked up to 3.5%, probably delaying a cut in interest rates, Biden didn’t offer much solace.
“We have dramatically reduced inflation from 9%,” he said. “We’re better situated than we were when we took office.” That’s true, but it’s cold comfort to consumers and home buyers.
Joe Biden puts his arm around supporter Diana Feige after speaking during an event in Keene, N.H., during the 2020 presidential campaign.
(Michael Dwyer / Associated Press)
A week earlier, when a reporter asked Biden what he would tell Americans stressed by high prices, the president replied: “I’d say we have the best economy in the world. We have got to make it better.”
It’s a theme he’s been sounding for months. In his State of the Union address, he extolled the U.S. economy as “the envy of the world.”
But a chorus of Democratic strategists say it’s the wrong message, mainly because it’s missing the element that was once Biden’s political superpower: empathy.
“You can’t tell people they’re better off than they think they are,” said Mark Mellman, a veteran political consultant. “It’s important to acknowledge their pain. Otherwise it comes across as a signal that you don’t understand their lives.”
“I wouldn’t go out there and extol the miracle of the Biden economy,” said David Axelrod, who helped Barack Obama win two presidential elections.
“The right strategy is to say, ‘Look, we’ve made a lot of progress … [but] the way people experience this economy is the way I did when I was growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania,’” Axelrod said in an interview with conservative pundit Bill Kristol. “‘How much did you pay for the groceries? How do you afford the gas, the rent? These continue to be a problem and I’m fighting that fight.’”
“The message needs to start with empathy and focus on prices, which is the issue that matters most to voters,” said Stanley Greenberg, who helped Bill Clinton win the presidency in 1992. Otherwise, he said, “people just get angrier and angrier.”
During the 2020 campaign, when Americans were reeling from the human and economic costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden spoke often of his personal history — his upbringing in a family of modest means, the death of his first wife and baby daughter in a 1972 highway crash, the 2015 death of his son Beau — and his feeling of kinship with others who suffered losses.
Biden’s campaign wasn’t shy about drawing attention to the contrast with then-President Trump, who seemed more intent on dismissing the pandemic’s impact. “Empathy is on the ballot,” Jill Biden, soon to be first lady, said on Twitter. But those empathetic moments seem to have become less frequent since Biden became president.
Biden does acknowledge that the economy still has problems, but not nearly as often as he stresses that his policies are succeeding.
“We have more to do. I get it,” he said in Arizona last month. “But no question, our plan of delivering for the American people is working right now.”
It’s also true that the economy has been improving over the last two years, with strong growth, job creation and — in recent months — wage increases. When Biden took office in 2021, the economy had begun to recover from the pandemic, but unemployment was still over 6%. Since then, more than 15 million jobs have been created and the unemployment rate has stayed below 4% for more than two years.
But Biden has reaped little political benefit from those positive trends, mostly because inflation, which peaked at 9% in 2022, has led to persistently high prices and mortgage rates.
Voters are in a sour mood. An Economist/YouGov poll released last week found that 67% of Americans believe the country is “on the wrong track” and 39% believe the economy is in a recession. (It isn’t.) Only 20% say they believe the economy will improve if Biden is reelected. Twice as many, 44%, said they believe the economy will get better if Trump wins.
The president still gets some credit for empathy, but less than before. In 2020, the Quinnipiac poll reported that 61% of voters said they believed Biden “cares about the average American”; this year, the same poll found that number had declined to 51%. (Trump trailed at 42% on the topic in both 2020 and this year.)
Inflation is a frustrating problem for any president. There’s little he can do to reduce grocery or gas prices. A president isn’t supposed to put pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and probably wouldn’t succeed if he tried.
So Biden has tried to show voters that he’s doing the best he can, working to push prices down in areas where the federal government does have sway. One of his favorite talking points is his sponsorship of the 2022 law that allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices and capped the monthly cost of insulin at $35; Biden says he’ll try to expand the law’s reach if he’s reelected.
But the critical strategists say there’s more he can do, especially if he can reactivate his superpower.
“I think he can win with a message that starts with empathy, saying ‘I know high prices are killing people,’ and goes on to talk about higher taxes for billionaires and corporations,” Greenberg said. “Let Joe be Joe.”
“Bottom line: Be more like Joe from Scranton and less like President Biden from Washington,” Axelrod said.
Biden aides say, sometimes in unprintable language, that they don’t need so much free advice. Politico reported last year that the president called Axelrod “a prick.”
And yet, they might be listening.
This week, Biden is launching a three-day “economy tour” of Pennsylvania, and he’ll begin by talking about taxes. His first stop: Scranton.
Politics
US military announces another deadly strike against ‘narco-terrorists’
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The U.S. military announced another deadly strike against a vessel that it alleges was involved in “narco-trafficking” efforts.
“On April 19, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” U.S. Southern Command indicated in a post on X.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the post continued.
US MILITARY KILLS 2 SUSPECTED CARTEL OPERATIVES IN LATEST EASTERN PACIFIC LETHAL STRIKE, SOUTHCOM SAYS
The U.S. military announced that it killed three “narco-terrorists” in a strike in the Caribbean on Sunday, April 19, 2026. (@Soutcom via X)
SOUTHCOM indicated that the attack killed three men.
“Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the post noted.
President Donald Trump’s administration has carried out dozens of deadly strikes against vessels of alleged “narco-terrorists.”
US MILITARY CONDUCTS MORE DEADLY STRIKES AGAINST VESSELS OF ALLEGED ‘NARCO-TERRORISTS’
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis L. Donovan, nominee for commander of U.S. Southern Command, testifies during his Senate confirmatino hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 15, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
In a completely different part of the world, amid ongoing tensions between America and Iran, the U.S. attacked an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on April 19.
“Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots enroute to Bandar Abbas, Iran. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade,” U.S. Central Command noted.
US SEIZES IRANIAN SHIP AFTER OPENING FIRE; PAKISTAN TALKS IN DOUBT
President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room. Spruance disabled Touska’s propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska’s engine room. U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody,” CENTCOM noted.
Politics
Uproar over mama bear killing could help launch a state wildlife coexistence program
SACRAMENTO — A month after a public uproar over a mama bear being euthanized after swiping at a resident in Monrovia, state lawmakers are considering mandating the use of nonlethal ways to help allow wildlife and humans to coexist.
Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas) said she believes the bear’s death, and the state’s decision to kill four wolves last year that were preying on cattle, raised public concern.
“That made everybody realize we have to do better here,” she told The Times on Thursday. “We need to recognize the importance of seeing ourselves, humans, as part of a larger ecosystem that includes animals and plants and our world and trying to protect it.”
Senate Bill 1135, introduced by Blakespear, would direct the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to create the Wildlife Coexistence Program, which would provide public education, offer technical assistance and maintain a statewide incident reporting system. It would help communities deploy nonlethal devices to deter predators, like barriers or noise and light machines.
At a legislative hearing on Tuesday, Blakespear told the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water that a three-year state initiative offering similar services was seeing positive results — until it was discontinued two years ago after funding ran dry. She said it was time to implement a permanent program.
“Human population growth, habitat loss and the growth of industry across California inevitably leads to interaction between humans and wildlife,” Blakespear told legislators. “No two animal species are the same and each has unique behavior patterns and territories. SB 1135 recognizes these differences and gives communities the tools to prevent conflict and respond when it occurs.”
The bill would also rename a state program that reimburses ranchers who lose livestock to wolves, calling it the Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program. It would require ranchers seeking compensation to show they were using nonlethal deterrents approved by the department.
Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) stressed that life in rural areas is different than living in a city. She said some families and cattle ranchers have a genuine fear of predators.
“When these baby calves drop on the ground and then two wolves start ripping them apart, it’s not the prettiest thing you’ve ever witnessed,” said Grove, who abstained from voting on the measure. “These wolves are not puppies.”
More than 30 organizations are supporting the legislation, including the National Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife, California State Assn. of Counties, Animal Legal Defense Fund and Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife.
The California Farm Bureau and the California Cattlemen’s Assn. are in opposition due to concerns over funding.
Last month, Blakespear sent a letter to the chair of the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review requesting $48.8 million to implement the legislation, with $25 million earmarked for addressing wolf encounters. Half of the money for wolf conflicts would go toward deterrents; the remainder would compensate ranchers for their losses.
Kirk Wilbur, vice president of government affairs cattlemen’s association, said the organization is concerned about that division of funding — especially if funding is reduced.
Wilbur told legislators Tuesday that the organization supports some aspects of the bill and was having productive conversations with Blakespear to address their concerns.
The bill ultimately passed the committee with a 5-to-1 vote and now heads to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
Human wildlife conflicts have made headlines in California recently, with a bear refusing to leave a basement for weeks in Altadena and a mama bear dubbed Blondie crossing paths last month with a woman walking her dog in Monrovia.
Blondie swiped the woman’s leg, and was subsequently euthanized by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Her two cubs were sent to the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center. The bear’s death upset many in the community, as thousands had signed a petition calling for other solutions, like relocation.
Deadly wildlife attacks on humans, however, are rare in California.
There have been six reported human fatalities from mountain lions since 1890, according to the state Fish and Wildlife Department. The agency recorded one human fatality from a coyote in 1981 and another fatality from a black bear in 2023. The department has no recorded human fatalities from gray wolves.
Politics
Trump ally diGenova tapped to lead DOJ probe into Brennan over Russia probe origins
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The Justice Department is turning to former Trump attorney Joeseph diGenova to spearhead a probe into ex-CIA Director John Brennan and others over the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, as the department reshuffles leadership of the sprawling inquiry.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has tapped diGenova to serve as counsel overseeing the matter, according to a New York Times report, putting a former Trump attorney in a key role in the high-profile probe. A federal grand jury seated in Miami has been impaneled since late last year.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
DOJ ACTIVELY PREPARING TO ISSUE GRAND JURY SUBPOENAS RELATING TO JOHN BRENNAN INVESTIGATION: SOURCES
Joseph diGenova represented President Donald Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)
DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who represented Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, has repeatedly accused Brennan of misconduct tied to the origins of the Russia probe—allegations that have not resulted in criminal charges.
He also said in a 2018 appearance on Fox News that Brennan colluded with the FBI and DOJ to frame Trump.
The origins of the Russia investigation have been the subject of ongoing scrutiny by Trump allies, who have argued that intelligence and law enforcement officials improperly launched the probe.
BRENNAN INDICTMENT COULD COME WITHIN ‘WEEKS’ AS PROSECUTORS REQUEST OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS
Joseph diGenova has previously said that ex-CIA chief John Brennan colluded with the FBI and DOJ to frame Trump. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)
DiGenova’s appointment follows the ouster of Maria Medetis Long, a national security prosecutor in the South Florida U.S. attorney’s office. She had been overseeing the inquiry, including a false statements probe related to Brennan and broader conspiracy-related investigations.
As the investigation continues, federal investigators have issued subpoenas seeking information related to intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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John Brennan has denied any wrongdoing related to the Russia investigation. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Brennan has previously denied wrongdoing related to the Russia investigation and has defended the intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election.
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