Who did it better? Comparing Trump and Biden's first two years as President

One did better than the other
How does Biden stack up against Trump?
Embroiled in controversy
This isn't supposed to happen
It makes no difference whose fault it was
Trump facing his own inquiries over classified documents
Trump's beginnings
Trump's government shutdown
Trump making concessions
Funding the border wall
So how did Trump’s first two years go?
The first 100 days
Michael Flynn and the Russia probe
Chaos at every turn
Trump's disastrous first year
Trump's second year was better than the first
What happened under Trump
Trump had his good moments
8158 false claims
Biden's first years in office
Biden's first 100 days
Scoring big early wins
Biden was popular at first but it wouldn't last
Biden's fall from favor
Chaos in Kabul
The Afghanistan withdrawal
Biden's lowest polling numbers
Recovering from disaster
An approval rating that won't grow
A difficult first two years for both presidents
But Biden can still rebound
One did better than the other

Donald Trump was a bit of a wrecking ball when he entered office in 2017 and the first two years of his presidency were a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Joe Biden also had a rocky start to his presidency.

How does Biden stack up against Trump?

But how do Biden's first two years in the White house stack up against the former president's first twenty-four months in office? Biden did have a lot of successes but he also suffered some major failures that have affected his presidency.

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Embroiled in controversy

Just like Trump, Biden entered his third year in office embroiled in a big classified documents controversy after secret Obama-era documents were discovered in his home. This mired Biden's reputation at a time when he could least afford it. 

This isn't supposed to happen

“When that information is found, it diminishes the stature of any person who is in possession of it, because it’s not supposed to happen,” Senator D. Durbin told the hosts of CNN’s State of the Union at the time. 

It makes no difference whose fault it was

“Whether it was the fault of a staffer or an attorney, it makes no difference. The elected official bears ultimate responsibility,” the Illinois Democrat added. But how did this affect Biden compared to Trump's classified documents problem?

Trump facing his own inquiries over classified documents

Funnily enough, Trump was facing his own inquiries into the handling of classified documents in late 2022 after the National Archives and Records Administration blasted him publically for not returning a number of the sensitive files after he left office. 

Trump's beginnings

But two years into Trump's presidency, the former president was suffering from a much more complicated scandal than the mere mishandling of confidential documents.

Trump's government shutdown

Trump was facing the longest government shutdown in modern American history and it didn't turn out well for him at the time. 

Trump making concessions

Over 800,000 government employees went without pay for more than a month according to a 2019 Politico report.

Funding the border wall

The shutdown chaos only ended after Trump conceded his demands for congress to include extra cash to help fund his absurd border wall project.

So how did Trump’s first two years go?

Trump started his presidency with the false claim that his inauguration drew the largest crowd in American history, and the lies only got larger and more absured from that point on. 

The first 100 days

In his first 100 days, Trump signed a number of Executive Orders that rolled back several Obama-era regulations, sparked widespread criticism for his travel ban that targeted Muslim countries, and introduced a set of tax laws that favored the extremely wealthy. 

Michael Flynn and the Russia probe

Michael Flynn also resigned in the first 100 days of Trump's presidency after his dealings with Russia were revealed, a controversy that helped spark Robert Muller's special investigation later in Trump’s presidency. 

Chaos at every turn

The rest of Trump’s next two years were chaos as every week he seemed to be embroiled in a new scandal from something he did or said. 

Trump's disastrous first year

Trump’s first year was a public opinion disaster,” wrote Bloomberg journalist Jonathan Bernstein in a 2019 article, “he was almost always the lowest-ranked president.”

Trump's second year was better than the first

“His second year was better,” Bernstein added. “He rallied into the low 40s for most of the year, sometimes even moving up a bit higher as we reached a point in their presidencies where one of Trump’s predecessors had slumped.”

What happened under Trump

Bernstein went on to point out that during the first two years of his presidency, the U.S. deficit got worse, America’s trade deficit increased, and financial markets dropped significantly. 

Trump had his good moments

It wasn’t all bad though. Under Trump, regulation in the U.S. actually increased, manufacturing job gains accelerated, and illegal immigration levels at the southern border began tapering off. 

8158 false claims

But in the end, Trump was still Trump. The man made "8158 false or misleading claims" in his first two years in office according to the Washington Post, which didn't sit well with most Americans. 

Biden's first years in office

On the other hand, Biden’s first two years in office weren’t as chaotic as Trump’s but they still tested what the American people were willing to deal with from their Commander-in-Chief. 

Biden's first 100 days

In Biden’s first 100 days, he was fairly popular with the American people as he got down to the business of governing without all the drama of the previous four years. 

Scoring big early wins

“Biden entered the White House with an expansive agenda that includes taming the coronavirus, reshaping the economic recovery, overhauling climate policy and rethinking the power of tech companies,” according to Politico.

Biden was popular at first but it wouldn't last

Unfortunately, Biden’s early popularity wouldn’t last as misstep after misstep caused Americans to lose faith in his administration. 

Biden's fall from favor

Biden’s fall from grace started with his administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, a complicated holdover policy agreed to during the Trump era that would turn into a complete disaster for the Biden administration. 

Chaos in Kabul

Images of chaos at Kabul airport were reminiscent of the Fall of Saigon and the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemen ended Biden’s honeymoon with the American people. 

The Afghanistan withdrawal

“Following the Afghanistan withdrawal, Biden's approval rating fell below 50 percent,” wrote Newsweek's Ewan Palmer, “and he has not been above that level since.”

Biden's lowest polling numbers

In July 2022, Biden’s polling numbers fell to just 38 percent as an underperforming economy and constant reminders about his old age made him an easy target for angry Americans. 

Recovering from disaster

Miraculously, Biden was able to recover from the disaster in Afghanistan and ended up “winning” in the November 2022 congressional elections in a major rebuke of Trump-style politics, but it hasn’t helped his popularity. 

An approval rating that won't grow

“Even in the wake of the positive midterm results,” wrote Palmer, “Biden's approval rating has remained in the low 40s until his two-year anniversary as president.”

A difficult first two years for both presidents

In the end, it would seem that both Trump and Biden had a difficult first two years in office but for radically different reasons. Biden may have performed a little better but only because his administration didn't have all the media chaos. 

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But Biden can still rebound

Biden still has time to rebound from his first two years, however, and it will be interesting to see how things unfold with Biden's remaining time in office now that Trump has all but secured the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. 

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