Opinions varied, which made us more excited to read them after Redditor HannibalGoddamnIt asked the online community:
"Dear Americans of Reddit, how do you find this first year of Biden's presidency compared to Trump's?"
"Instead of taxing the rich..."
"Well, there is pretty much one thing that's continuing to make me mad. It's that Biden lowered the threshold from $20,000 to $600 to get a 1099-K form."
"Instead of taxing the rich, they want to go after the gig economy (like door dash, or Uber) or small time eBay sellers to nickel and dime them to death. Most people using these platforms are doing so as a side gig to make enough money to support their families. So let's go after those people and not the billionaires, right Biden?"
ColtsFanNY
To which this person replied:
"Guess it's good for my local card shop. Before the change I could sell for 80-90% of market value through various platforms. After fees I'd come out ahead of my local stores trade in value."
"Now, taxes plus fees means I barely make more, and dealing with shipping and customer problems just isn't worth the hassle. Now I just trade in for straight cash."
Weasel_Boy
"During the first year..."
"During the first year of Trump’s administration the majority of news headlines were about Trump."
"During the first year of Biden’s administration the majority of news headlines were about Trump."
st11es
To which this person replied:
"It’s actually kind of scary because Biden has done some things that need to be brought up but it’s like a radio silence around him. Unless it’s about his pets."
Legeto
"At least 90% of people..."
"At least 90% of people couldn't even tell you 5 things that the president has done since taking office, let alone give a good opinion on a president's performance. For some reason everyone cares a lot about the election process, and then completely ignores what the elected president does beyond that point."
HellizBlazer
To which this person replied:
"To be fair, that’s partly the point of a republic: vote some people in to deal with these problems since we don’t have the time and most aren’t qualified/educated enough on every world problem."
"Still, people should actually learn what a president does and pay attention to what they do, not just what happens to occur while they are president; although, it’s probably more important to focus on congress members that represent you."
selfproclaimedtot
"He expanded..."
"He expanded Bears Ears National Monument and so that’s a plus. Besides that, not much to say."
jebhebmeb
To which this person replied:
"He's also gotten a ton of judges confirmed. When it comes time to evaluate all the racial gerrymandering bills from red states, that's gonna matter."
gsfgh
"The minimum wage..."
"The minimum wage was supposed to go up. Still waiting."
The_Sad_Whore
To which this person replied:
"Plus he promised to eliminate $10K in student debt immediately and then just…. Didn’t. With no explanation."
OOOOOOO
"Meanwhile..."
"Trumps first year was breaking news nearly every day about how awful and evil the man was and how he was destroying our democracy. I bought into it all. Looking back, policy-wise, his first year was pretty basic and may have been good for our country. Optics wise, his presidency was a dumpster fire."
"Meanwhile, Biden’s first year has been the opposite. His policies are terrible. The country seems to actually be worse off than it was when trump left (this of course could be trumps fault to some extent, although Biden did campaign on how the buck stops with him). Meanwhile he gets handled with kid gloves by the media, for the most part."
IAmANobodyMA
To which this person replied:
"The Biden administration is quickly becoming a disaster. It's as if they are intentionally trying to make things worse. They are not held accountable by the majority of the news media - the same news media who knowingly lied about the Trump administration. A lot of folks are turning on the Democratic party, so the midterms should be interesting."
dee_berg
"He's managed..."
"He managed to make it a whole year without committing obstruction of justice, so that's a positive."
grombleduke
To which this person replied:
"The bar is so low."
sacrificialfck
"I feel like..."
"Is one year really long enough to see any true outcomes of changes though?"
"I feel like, if we think about it, a lot of changes that are put in place during a president’s time in office take years to make some kind of difference and then the current president gets blamed for consequences of some previous leader’s actions/decisions."
courtenax
To which this person replied:
"Is 4 years even enough either? How much can an administration even get done in that time? The other world leaders just laugh and wait it out for the next president."
BarrettBuilt
"The cost..."
"The cost of living part hit us all really hard. People who I knew were well off got slammed hard. Everyone is really struggling now. Meat prices are awful and so is gas. Groceries are looking the same as my truck payment now."
CuriousWrangler
To which this person replied:
"Where I live gas has gone from a 4 year low of $1.12/gal to a current $3.10/gal. Supply didn't shrink, so I can only assume lockdowns affected refining and distribution."
Wundei
"I just wanted..."
"I just wanted a return to the normal problems of government, not having to worry so much about itchy trigger fingers, massive grifting/corruption, gross incompetence, and boorish performances."
"So I guess I got what I wanted. Do I wish Biden were better? Yeah, of course. But given the state of politics in Congress, I didn't expect much."
thenextvinnie
To which this person replied:
"So good that I can go back to ignoring the White House."
Singlewomanspot
And there you have it. Many of the discussions were conducted in good spirits.
Sure, a few disagreed and some were perhaps harsher than others.
That said, there is no denying that much needs to change in the United States before it can be whole again.
Have some thoughts of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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