The Biden administration’s unveiling of a National Gender Strategy came amid growing anger at the president’s seemingly out-of-touch agenda.
SO WHAT
Democrats’ woke rhetoric seems to be wearing thin as everyday life gets worse for many.
WHAT HAPPENED
The White House on Friday rolled out America’s first National Gender Strategy, a 42-page plan to promote “ender equity and equality” at home and abroad.
In the name of helping “our nation close pernicious gender gaps,” the Biden administration promised to bolster wage discrimination laws and wage transparency, tackle “gender-based-violence” and fight for abortion rights and healthcare access.
- “Intersectional Approach”: The White House said it would champion “equity” not just for women and girls but also for “persons of color,” disabled people, religious minorities, rural and poor Americans and transgender, “gender nonbinary,” “gender nonconforming,” and other “LGBTQI+” persons.
- President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said in a letter accompanying the strategy that it was a “bold and united response” to “the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression” and particularly “deepened” gender- and race-based inequities.
THE REACTION
Mainstream media outlets gave the White House’s announcement credulous coverage, with Forbes writing, “The lofty goals highlighted in the national strategy reveal the administration is serious about their commitment to gender equity.”
- Prominent Democrats, including former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, cheered on Twitter.
Conservative Biden critics, however, said the White House had yet again proved that it doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about America’s real problems.
- “Multiple humanitarian crises in the last few months (Afghanistan & Border), skyrocketing inflation, stalled supply lines, energy prices through the roof, China doing Taiwan flybys and testing hypersonic missiles and ‘Gender Strategy’ is what they’re focused on,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr. “You awake yet?”
- “America: ‘Hey, what can we do about rising gas prices?’ said Rep Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Twitter. “The Biden Administration: ‘Have you heard about our National Gender Strategy?'”
- “The Biden gender strategy is a tired reiteration of longstanding Democratic Party strategy: convince most Americans that they’re oppressed minorities, and that only federal action can right all wrongs,” argued the National Review editors. “In reality, American women are largely alarmed by the same cascade of woes that concern men … The gender strategy won’t deflect the public’s attention from the Biden administration’s abysmal record on all of the above.”
Trump also highlighted a tweet by Matt Whitlock, a Republican operative, connecting the gender strategy to a recent CNN analysis attributing Biden’s historically low approval ratings to his unpopular priorities.
THE SITUATION
Just 37% of Americans said the Biden administration was focusing on the issues they care a lot about, like the economy and the border, according to an October CBS News/YouGov poll cited last week by CNN’s Harry Enten.
- Sixty percent said Biden was not focused enough on inflation, and, per a newer Morning Consult/Politico poll, 62% of registered voters blamed the president’s policies for rising prices.
- Minorities of respondents wanted Biden to focus more on climate change (31%) and economic inequality (41%)
Gender and racial equity did not make the CBS News/YouGov list of Americans’ top concerns, but women increasingly outlive men and outperform men in school, as the National Review editorial noted.
- With murder surging nationwide, nearly 80% of homicide victims are men.
Meanwhile, almost 25% of adults in the U.S. saw their financial situation deteriorate last year — the highest rate since the Federal Reserve began asking the question in 2014 — and Americans are facing goods shortages and unprecedented prices ahead of the holidays.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson predicted earlier this month that Biden’s failure to take seriously the needs of everyday Americans would lead to continued “economic decline” and “a profound political reset in this country.”
- When the country becomes poorer, Carlson predicted, the public will stop tolerating Democrats’ “endless woke garbage” and start demanding competent “America First” governance.
