The Point: A truly awful week for Joe Biden

View this email in your browser   September 3, 2021  | by Chris Cillizza, Lauren Dezenski and Sonnet Swire Programming note: The Point will not publish on Monday because of the Labor Day holiday. The newsletter will be back in your inbox on Tuesday. Have a great long weekend! A truly awful week for Joe Biden This is a week President Joe Biden would like to forget. But Republicans won't let that happen anytime soon. Consider the body blows he took this week:   1. The US ended its military presence in Afghanistan on Tuesday. While Biden spoke several times this week in an attempt to spin the withdrawal, the suicide bomber who took 13 American military lives last week and those of at least 170 others, coupled with the overall chaos of the pullout, reflected very poorly on him and his administration.   2. The economy -- plagued by the coronavirus Delta variant -- stalled badly last month. Just 235,000 jobs were created in August, the lowest number in more than six months. (Economists had expected more than 700,000 jobs to be created in August.)   3. Sen. Joe Manchin, a critical moderate Democrat from West Virginia, said Thursday that he believed his party needed to take a "strategic pause" in its efforts to pass a $3.5 trillion stimulus package that Biden has cast as necessary to lift the country out of the economic hole Covid-19 dug for it. Without Manchin on board, Democrats lack the 50 votes they need to pass the stimulus bill unless and until they can convince a Republican senator to cross the aisle, which, um, isn't likely.   4. A new national poll from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist showed Biden's overall job approval dipping to just 43%, with 51% disapproving. Even more worrisome for Biden? The percentage of people "strongly" disapproving of how he is doing the job (41%) is more than double the number (19%) "strongly" approving of his job performance.    Any one -- or two -- of those developments would make for a bad week for ANY president. All four at once equal a truly awful week.   Biden, as his allies will note, still has plenty of time to rebound before the 2022 midterm elections, when his party will try to hold its narrow majorities in the House and Senate.   But a week like this has a tendency to linger in the political ether. Biden has to find ways to change the subject to more friendly political territory -- like, say, the abortion decision from the Supreme Court this week.   The Point: Every president has a week or two during their terms where everything, it seems, goes wrong. But, very few -- at least ones that get reelected -- have more than one or two.   -- Chris QUOTE OF THE DAY "The most pernicious thing about the Texas law, it sort of creates a vigilante system." -- President Biden on the Texas law that bans abortion for women about six weeks into pregnancy, pointing specifically to a provision allowing individuals to take civil action against someone who helps a woman get an abortion after six weeks. THE WEEK IN 13 HEADLINES This week, President Biden's infrastructure agenda took a backseat as the last US troops left Afghanistan and Hurricane Ida devastated both the Gulf Coast and the Northeast, while the Supreme Court allowed a restrictive new abortion law to stand in Texas – effectively outlawing most abortions sought in the state.   Monday The last US military planes have left Afghanistan, marking the end of the United States' longest war January 6 committee to ask telecommunications companies to preserve phone records of members of Congress who participated in 'Stop the Steal' rally Tuesday Biden gives a defiant defense of the withdrawal from Afghanistan: 'I was not extending a forever exit' CDC asks the unvaccinated not to travel this weekend and says even vaccinated need to weigh the risk Wednesday 'Majority' of Afghans who worked for the US and applied for visas were likely left behind, State Department official says Biden blasts Texas' 6-week abortion ban as 'extreme' and violation of a constitutional right Thursday Supreme Court denies request to stop Texas 6-week abortion ban, with John Roberts and liberals dissenting Biden says he'll press Congress on infrastructure after wildfires and Ida wreak havoc on US: 'The climate crisis is here' Kevin McCarthy among GOP lawmakers whose phone records January 6 select committee asks to be preserved Manchin upends Democrats' push to enact Biden's agenda this month, calling for 'pause' on $3.5 trillion bill Friday Biden pledges to support communities ravaged by Hurricane Ida: 'I promise to have your backs until this gets done' Senate Judiciary Committee to hold hearing on Supreme Court's abortion ruling and 'shadow docket'  Biden administration's September 20 booster rollout may be scaled back to just Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at first LAUREN'S GOOD READS Some Democrats see the Texas anti-abortion law as a way to galvanize their base ahead of the midterms, Axios reports. One went so far as to call it a "massive political gift" to the party.   Not great! The Washington Post reports that misinformation on Facebook got six times more clicks than factual news during the 2020 election, according to a new study.   Organized crime's latest target: CVS and The Home Depot. Thieves are then selling stolen goods on sites like Amazon. More in The Wall Street Journal.   In the Military Times, how the "Super Bazooka" got its name.   What a headline, via NBC News: "Peppa Pig trolls Kanye West on Twitter over mediocre Pitchfork review."   Bitcoin uses more energy than many countries. The New York Times explores how it's even possible.   In The Cut: The beautiful language of braids. Goodbye, hot vax summer. Hello, Dad TV fall. MUSICAL INTERLUDE Let's roll into this long weekend with new ABBA!! Lauren is particularly a fan of "I Still Have Faith in You." TOP TWEETS 1. The Nevada caucuses are coming 2. "Message received" 3. Not great!  4. Delta? Meet mu 5. "Healthy birds have more robust mustaches" ONE BIG APPOINTMENT President Biden tapped former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell as the temporary point person to oversee the administration's Afghan evacuee resettlement effort in the United States, the White House announced Friday.  You are receiving this message because you subscribed to CNN's The Point with Chris Cillizza newsletter. Unsubscribe from this list Check out other CNN Newsletters Create your CNN Account Share the Point Newsletter Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get The Point in your inbox.   Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris Cillizza and Lauren Dezenski. You can follow Chris and Lauren on Twitter and connect with The Point on: Our mailing address is: One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303   Copyright © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., All rights reserved.

Share This :

Editor