Major legislative or economic developments now more often lock in existing views rather than upend them, narrowing the space for presidents to translate action into broad public credit. For both Trump and Biden, that shift has quietly broken a core assumption of modern presidential politics: that results, once achieved, will be rewarded. “In one year we’ve taken a dead and crippled country,” Trump said in an address to the nation last week. Biden sought more credit for steering the country out of the covid-19 pandemic, and sidestepping a recession many economists predicted as inevitable. Following a disastrous debate performance against Trump, Biden announced that he would not seek reelection, and threw his weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris 107 days before the election.

Source: Washington Post April 11, 2026 19:31 UTC