Election
Bidenomics: What Middle-Class Joe Means for Business and the Economy
President-elect Biden will probably bring a less confrontational tone on trade, a return to the Paris climate accord, and help for Americans who aren’t rich.
Biden on Nov. 2.
Photographer: Kevin Lamarque/ReutersThis article is for subscribers only.
President-elect Joe Biden will take office in January facing a pandemic, a vulnerable economy, a divided Congress, and a solid portion of the electorate that’s been convinced by President Trump that the election was stolen.
What will he do—better yet, what can he do? He can’t claim a mandate for the Democrats’ progressive campaign platform: The race was close and was mainly a referendum on Trump’s personality, not the Democrats’ agenda. By nature Biden is a healer and a bridge-builder, not a change agent. And if he does push to enact his party’s most ambitious ideas, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the likely Senate majority leader, will stand in the way.