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WSJ looks at how the relationship between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris evolved. From the faltering start when Harris was contesting for the presidential nomination and made sharp debate comments on segregationist senators and Biden, to her entry into the White House as Vice President dissolving her political action committees and not bringing her election people to the White House. The first assignment was on immigration and the White House asking Harris to tell Central Americans not to come to the US border did not exactly work out. Guatemala was in the middle of a drought affecting its agriculture and sending more people from the affected regions to the US Border. That message did not work and Harris came under criticism. There was less contact with Biden during the years 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.   Gradually though the president came to listen to Harris and set up a weekly lunch meeting. When Supreme Court nominations were to be made Biden relied on Harris's advice. Ketanji Jackson nomination to the Supreme Court came out of these talks with Harris. Then came Roe and Wade and the president who was not outspoken on this issue realized that Harris was better at communicating a common vision of what America stood for and the importance of reproductive freedoms. When Hamas attacked Israel, the response of Netanyahu was leading to an humanitarian disaster. President Biden listened to Harris describe the need for a Palestinian state and it building peace with Israel as the only real solution to the crisis. Biden sent Harris three times to the Munich Security Conference, and each year she met Mr. Zelensky and discussed the Ukraine issues with European leaders. Then came the debate performance and Democrats questioning Biden's health. Harris remained steadfast in her support till the end and on July 23 after announcing his withdrawal the previous day Biden told Kamala as he addressed Wilmington headquarters staff- "I'm watching you kid. I love ya." And Harris said "I love you." ...

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US president Biden makes the decision not to run for reelection. He endorses Kama Harris to run as nominee of the Democratic party.

My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this. 

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With inflation up, cost of living increase, the $15 per hour wage in high cost of living states such as California and New York does not go very far in tackling cost of living in 2026. Astoundingly 20 states many in the SOuth still follow the $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage that has not changed since 2009. Axios shows the minimum wage by state. In Michigan workers in youth age earn 85% of the minimum wage of $12.80 and hour. As workers lost leverage with the decline of trade unions since the 1990's administrations of Clinton, Bush, Obama, the situation is a difficult one for lower wage workers in many states. The lower wages in retail and hospitality industries also creates downward pressure on all wages which have not kept up till recently in auto and other manufacturing industries. Outshoring increased pressures over the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations and as Democrats failed to do much about outshoring, it took a Republican DJT and Democrat Biden who followed to reverse the trend and create a push for higher wages. This also has failed as inflation surged during 2022-2023 and outshoring created new problems in sourcing parts from overseas in autos and other industries. The middle class is also not much better off and engineers making $90,000 a year are also living from paycheck to paycheck, with less access to housing that has gone up in price and become less affordable. This cost of living surge and the open borders migration pressure on public services led to DJT's reelection in 2025. ...

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California gets 75% of its oil from imports and one third of imports from refineries dependent on Hormuz Straits. 20% of jet fuel comes from South Korean refineries, and 25% of gasoline from South Korean, Indian and Taiwanese refineries. This means things can get very tight if the war continues in the Middle East. This could happen as South Korean, Indian and Taiwanese refineries become low in their own stocks and export much less. California has not benefitted from the shale revolution in the Permian basin as pipelines do not exist for transporting that oil. Shipping oil on tanker ships from Texas to California costs more than shipping oil to California from Asian refineries. Over 20 years California lost 50% of its oil refining capacity by creating conditions averse to the oil industry, instead of adopting a two pronged approach of shifting to renewable energy with some flexibility for fossil fuels hat was adopted by the federal Biden administration, also run by Democrats. As a result Chevron which was California based for 144 years shifted its headquarters to Houston,Texas. There are no signs Governor Newsom, a Democrat is reversing his position to show more flexibility on fossil fuels during a transition phase to renewable energy.  ...

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Border crossings and encounters have fallen to 83,000 under president Biden with unilateral action by Biden in the absence of the Republican Lankford Biden legislation that would have shut the Border down. Border crossings of 83,000 are close to the border crossings that reached 74,000 under president Trump even with the building of a border wall. This was achieved with the support of the Mexican president and with Biden's action to effectively close the Border. The best action would have been to implement the legislation that Republican senator Lankford negotiated with Biden by February 2024 and which was allowed to languish in Congress by new Speaker Mike Johnson under the advice of the former president, which is incomprehensible as it is the first time in decades both parties came on to the same page to slow or diminish migrant entry into the US and remake the asylum laws. Many Republicans and Democrats protested this action of the new Speaker. It was a historic and missed opportunity to fix the Border once and for all, and took the courage of Senator Lankford and Biden. For this action Lankford goes down as a senator who belongs in Kennedy's Profiles of Courage, a book of Congressional leaders since 1800 whose courage and leadership have made America the leading democracy and industrialized nation that has won the respect of the world. ...

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Joe Manchin, (Democrat) is using his one vote in a 50-50 split US Senate to holdup president Biden's domestic agenda and on climate change. Democrats tried over the last year to negotiate with him. Now they say they have had enough after the latest disappointment with Mr. Manchin.

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Janet Protasiewicz, a Democrat, wins 55% to 45% for Republican Daniel Kelly in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. This gives Democrats a one vote majority in the Supreme Court. It will mean a challenge of a 1849 abortion law and the redrawing of the electoral maps that gives Republicans  a majority in the state assembly. The governor is Democrat Tony Evers and the legislature in Wisconsin has a Republican majority.  States in the midwest such as Michigan and Wisconsin played a part in Mr. Trump's gain of the presidency. Since then Ohio has moved into the Republican side, and the close contests are in places like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Colorado moved to the Democratic side. Just 40,000 votes in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin separated Biden from Trump in the election of 2020 even though Biden had 7 million more votes than Biden because of the Electoral College system which goes by state's won. In 2016 Trump and Biden were separated by just 80,000 votes.   ...

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Would a generic Democrat do better? Mr. Biden's weakness is with less engaged voters says this analysis of a Times Siena poll showing less support in battleground states. One queer aspect of this poll is that Kamala Harris does slightly better because she does better with non white voters. Mr. Biden does well with white voters retaining all of his support achieved in the 2020 election with white voters. Another queer aspect of this poll is that a so called generic Democrat would win by large margins of over 5% in most of the battleground states over Mr. Trump, in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Another queer aspect of the poll is that Michigan has all three- the Governor's position, the State Assembly and other positions in the hands of Democrats who have performed well in the state.

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The Maduro government and its predecessors caused the largest refugee crisis in the history of Latin America. The opposition leader won the last election in 2024 and the results were not respected by the Maduro regime. About 8 million people, a third of the country were turned into refugees, and inflation reached over 300% making life difficult in a nation with abundant oil resources. Millions of Venezuelans crossed the Mexican border into the US during the Biden administration, aggravating the migration crisis, and leading to the defeat of the Democrats and a plan under the Republicans to tackle migration. This included the return of Venezuelans in the US and in other parts of Latin America including Peru, Chile, to their home country. Much of Venezuela's infrastructure and public services has "rotted" and the cost of living makes life extremely difficult for all Venezuelans. Venezuela is an example of what happens under utopian socialist schemes, and how military and inept governance can ruin a country blessed with natural resoures.     ...

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In a 50-50 Senate to pass president Biden's $3.6 trillion Families and Workers plan requires the vote of Kyrsten Simema, Democrat of Arizona. Simema is the lone holdout in the plan to raise $540 billion by increasing corporate tax rates to pay for part of the plan. Tax rate increases on capital gains would raise nearly $300 billion. A law passed by president Trump lowered corporate tax rates to 21% which would go up to 26.5% under the Biden plan. The top individual rate lowered to 37% would go up to 39.6% and capital gains rate from 23.8% to 28.8% under the Biden plan. Democrats say these new rates are fair considering how much wealth distribution is skewed and how much workers and families have failed to benefit in the policies pursued by different administrations since Reagan, through Bush, Clinton, Obama and Trump.

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This report in WSJ looks at the Biden education, healthcare and climate change plan. It is part of the Families and Workers Plan put forward by president Biden for $3.6 trillion. This figure has now been lowered to $2 trillion and may drop crucial provisions for education such as the cost free community college which poses serious risks for working class families unable to afford community college, and skews education access even further to higher income families. It also lowers college attendance of American men, which is falling to alarming levels. The reason the plans are being whittled down is the 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and the failure of Republicans and two Democrat senators Manchin of West Virginia, Sinema of Arizona to support community college access. Parts of the current bill support child care, access to affordable housing and in home care for elderly Americans. New elections for Senate and House of Representatives in 2022 would have to settle the issues related to financing assistance for families and workers as the Senate today is divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. A separate Bipartisan Infrastructure package has the support of all in the US Congress to build bridges and roads, other infrastructure badly neglected by different administrations over the last 2 decades. ...

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For Democrats to represent the working class their leaders have to come from these working class communities. This is not going to happens say people in this NYT Edsall report. Working class voters are about 60% of voters mostly not college educated, to 40% for non working class voters who are college educated. Biden was one of thse working class people who headed the Democrat party and stood on picket lines fro the UAW. Not Harris or Clinton. Democrats rail about billionaires but much of the multi billionaire community is in the Democrat party, much opf Silicon Valley and New York financial interests. Bush was not working class either yet there has been a unexpected transformation of the Republican party as trade, immigration, drug and migrant trafficking required non nonsense law and order, and strong action, based on common sense and stable values from the previous generation of Americans. This also applied to social issues such as LGBTQ and Transgender. This leaves one with the question will the Democrats be able to get rid of the Califonria Silicon Valley Techies, and New York financial interests, lobbying class,  within its ranks? Will it be able to transform itself by drawing from the working class communities working class leaders? ...

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Leaks of conversations Mr. Trump had with leaders of Mexico and Australia early in the Trump administration resulted in the effort to protect sensitive discussions on a separate high security server. This is now the subject of inquiry in the impeachment inquiry by Democrats in the House of Representatives into president Trump's discussion with Ukrainian president Zelensky. The impeachment inquiry stems from the call with the Ukrainian president in which Democrats say Trump asked Ukraine to look into corruption at a company in which Democrat Joe Biden's son was a board member, and storing this information on a top security server.

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Biden's last 100 days in office. His effort to make things better, a conviction that he would have won enough white working class voters to win the election. Turnout was way way higher when Biden ran in 2020. It dropped by about 10 million voters in 2024 compared to 2020. Many white working class voters of the 82 million who voted for Biden in 2020 simply simply did not turn up to vote while DJT clung on to the 75 million votes he had in 2016. Transgender, a sense that everything was changing too quickly culturally, the fentanyl crisis adding to migrant surge creating a backlash for Harris. Biden makes an effort to lock in the gains made in the last 4 years in a number of areas. A remarkable life and one that brings back the Democrats closer to their roots under FDR in 1932 and his uncle Teddy Roosevelt a Republican fighting for the working class since 1902, that FDR inherited. The nation under DJT simply inherits the role played by TR as Republican in 1902 fighting for the working class after two southerners Carter and Clinton let Democrat ties to working class wither and support for China entering WTO and taking over manufacturing leadership. Obama letting Silicon Valley distance Democrats from workers even further and dragging on wars that served no purpose for America. ...

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Arizona remains a state where the Republican and Democratic parties are very close. As Senator Krysten Sinema a Democrat, supported the Republican filibuster that required 60 votes for major legislation and thwarted some of president Biden's legislation to help workers and families in the US. Having alienated some Democrats she is now running for the Senate as an Independent. Her likely opponent from the Republican party is Kari Lake. Arizona is split three ways evenly for Republicans, Independents and Democrats. The question for Sinema says a Republican strategist is whether there are enough independents and soft Republicans who will vote for Sinema. Rep. Ruben Gallego is running for Democrats, Kari Lake for Republicans. Another question is whether Kari Lake's association with Mr. Trump could hurt Republicans in Arizona. Synema faces a difficult three way race as Democrats see her flagging support on key initiatives of the president as a serious problem.

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A man with a handgun and magazine of ammunition is shot by federal law enforcement officer on Jan. 24, 2026 as protestors confront federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis. Earlier federal law enforcement in California, and in other states, Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, have led to protests but not of the kind in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis is a state with liberal views yet it also has a strange mix as it was in Minneapolis that local police shot an unarmed black man during the Covid epidemic. This time it is not local police in that role but local police under the orders of the state and local authorites, the mayor and state governor Frey and Walz, not cooperating with the federal law enforcement of immigration law in the US that seeks to remove migrants with crime records from the US neighborhoods and streets. Walz was selected by Kamala Harris to run on the Democratic ticket for president in the US against DJT and Vance in 2025. Republicans allege serious fraud in Minnesota and misuse of state funds that have added to the dangerous mix of politics in the state, that is found nowhere else in America. From the Republican point of view unwanted migrants from certain unstable countries with criminal records were allowed to settle in the state. Democrats and Democrat media are not cooperating as the national elections in the US were lost on just this issue of migrants illegal entry numbering about 7 million over the last administration of Biden with costs to the US of over $110 billion in federal and local funds. No one knows where this will end up yet the view world wide over migration is moving to safe neighborhoods and safe streets as essential human rights, essential women's rights, essential rights of all Americans and all Europeans, that the problems of failed states cannot be solved on American or European soil. The Monroe Doctrine was put in place for just this reason as respecting Russia as a power in its area of influence in Northern Europe means no intervention by Russia or  China in the western hemisphere, so that the US never faces the situation of Guatemala and central American states, or of Venezuelan failed states in sending millions in a stream through Mexico for illegal entry on US southern border. Overall US policy, domestic and foreign has changed to ensure safety wellbeing in the US as the first and only priority for all its citizens and the sum of good citizenship the main objective for the Nation. ...

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Election of Democratic governors in two southern states could mark a shift as white voters shift back to Biden and Democrats. One year before presidential elections 2 Governors races in Kentucky and Mississippi, mayoral elections in Philadelphia, assembly elections in Virginia, and  an effort to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution in Ohio, offer insights into voter sentiment. In Kentucky  a popular Democratic governor faces a challenge from a candidate endorsed by Mr. Trump, and in Mississippi a scandal affects the reelection of a Republican governor who faces a challenge from a cousin of singer Elvis Presley. In Philadelphia a Democrat is nearly assured of a win as mayor. Republicans are looking to gain the assembly in Virginia.

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Bill Clinton, a former president, is no longer a popular figure in the Democratic Party in 2025. A new generation of leaders in the Democrats seek to put Clinton in the past. Clinton's main achievement are the peace accords in Ireland and in the Balkans with Serbia and Croatia, Bosnia. In domestic policy Clinton did little to anticipate the problems of getting health insurance for all, outshoring, and increasing jobs and wages for factory workers. He was involved in the scandal with an intern that led to efforts to impeach him and resulted in much of the second term being wasted in the process. It was under his successor Bush that the egregious provision that removed the power of Medicare to negotiate prices of drugs with manufacturers was passed. Bush was pushed into the war in the Middle East after 9/11 attacks by Middle East terrorists and havens in Afghanistan, that led to a two decades war in Afghanistan. Withdrawal happened under DJT and Biden consuming resources and time leading to the affordability crisis, outshoring of jobs and lower wages for factory workers. No one talks now about Clinton, Bush, Obama, because of these wars and the loss of America's leadership in manufacturing, squandered resources of attention, time and money that would have created new infrastructure and health insurance for all, inshoring. ...

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The 7.1 million Venezuelan refugees who have settled in other Latin American nations puts a great burden on the region and its resources. This NYT report shows how it is affecting Mexico today. Shown are migrants who are by the rail tracks trying to board a freight train north in Mexico. It is an endless dilemma for Americans, for Democrat states facing Republican opposition, and has been a problem for both Republican and Democratic administrations. How do you deport Venezuelans as US has no diplomatic relations with Venezuela? The Biden administration is pursuing legal immigration channels by taking in a specified number and cutting the dangerous migrant flow over the Mexican border, the only policy open to Republicans also in this situation. At some future date the Venezuelans absorbed into the US can fill worker shortages, in the present it is creating some chaos for many nations including Mexico and the US and other latin American nations, and neither party Democrat or Republican has easy answers. As the Democrats are deporting nearly as many as the Republicans. ...

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Republican candidate Trump wins 51% of the vote in Iowa to De Santis 21% and Nikki Haley 19%. Trump won among evangelical voters with 58% support. In cities his vote declined. In Story County home to Iowa State University in Ames, it was 34%, and in Johnson County where University of Iowa is located 36% supported Trump. In 2024 18percentage points separate Mr. Trump's support in low levels of college or post secondary education to higher levels of college or post secondary education. In 2016 Mr. Trump received 29% of the vote in low college education areas to 22% of the vote in high college education areas- a spread of 7 percentage points. Iowa is a state with a large farm and agriculture sector. Other states with manufacturing in the midwest tended to move away from Democrats in 2016. Some of this momentum has reversed with union support for Mr. Biden who has taken a pro-union stance in a way that is not matched by any Democrat since FDR and Harry Truman in the 1930's to 1950's. The shift of Clinton to globalism and Obama to tech companies cost Democrats heavily in 2016 with workers in manufacturing- something that is reversed in drastic ways since 2020 with Mr. Biden on the picket line at UAW union auto strikes in Michigan. ...

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In Biden's favor the midterm elections showed that for all the concerns about that election Mr. Biden navigated each situation well drawing support from all segments of the population. There was much skepticism about the passage of legislation to invest trillions in chips, science and infrastructure, Yet by winning two key votes of Manchin and Sinema president Biden got the job of investing in America done. The Inflation Reduction Act also kept the president's priorities for helping the average worker and families. At the outset of his campaign for 2024 president Biden faces low ratings. Nate Cohen points to lower support from non white voters. Yet when one looks at the 2020 elections and the last midterm elections it is clear that America is moving back to the days when white voters in all income groups support of the Democrats remained strong. The Obama period could be a temporary situation of Democrats having lost their anchor in manufacturing communities and trade unions as well other segments of the population, depending on 90 percentage points of minority support to pull through. Biden is headed back to the days of Wilson,  FDR and Truman, when whites less educated or more educated gave their support to the Democrats. This makes independent voters crucial and Biden's appeal has to be based on how much he can deliver to voters in infrastructure, in jobs and in hope- the prospects of America for the younger generation. Economic prospects of America can further improve in 2023-2024 as Biden's program for Investing in America moves forward rapidly.    ...

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Democrats lost 6 Congressional districts won by Biden in 2020. This is more than any other state in the US. Wolfson, a former deputy mayor of New York City says it may have cost the Democrats the House of Representatives in 2022. It all started with redrawing of districts by Democrats in the House that was thrown out by the courts, leading to it being done by someone appointed by the court, and redrawing that was unfavorable to the Democrats. Democrats also failed to grasp the effects of laws passed that change the way judge set bail for offenses which Republicans pointed to as creating a larger crime situation. A 30% rise in crime in New York City was made an issue by Republicans in the midterms, which Democrats failed to address. The Republican majority in the House is thin and there is a sense that New York state played apart in Democrats losing the House.

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Republicans in the U.S. are talking about impeachment more than Democrats in tweets, ads and messages they send out. The Democrats are talking about other issues and this is not what you would expect after Democrats voted together on party lines to pass two articles of impeachment of president Trump. Republicans may even use the issue of impeachment in favor of president Trump as the impeachment process moves to the Senate where Republicans are in a majority. Republicans believe president Trump did nothing wrong and may call Senator Biden and his son Hunter Biden to testify in the Senate about activities in Ukraine, say experts.

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Greens and SPD Social Democrat parties in Germany favor social spending, infrastructure spending, and climate change investments. Free Democrats party holding the Finance ministry supports  a brake on spending. There is no agreement on the budget in this coalition, says DW.com. SPD and FDP are not increasing in popularity and SPD could lose the chancellorship if there is a new election. The Greens and the CDU are increasing in popularity. For this reason the coalition is likely to continue even with this disagreement on spending.  SPD and Greens say higher taxes and elimination of some subsidies is one solution. The common platform has not resolved these differences. In the US president Biden has retained the support of voters in the midterm elections and has gained bipartisan support for building infrastructure and investing in renewable energy, cutting health care costs.

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This WSJ report shows how the debt ceiling negotiation were conducted and the process that made it possible to reach an agreement since the State of the Union address by president Biden on February 7, 2023. It started with Biden getting unanimity right on the floor of Congress during his speech about protecting Medicare and Social Security. The Republican strategy was to pass the legislation on spending that did not specify where cuts were to be made yet used 2022 spending levels with a 1% increase. The deal was to be for three years and passed the spending bill with an increase inthe debt ceiling. Till that time the Democrats decided to not enter negotiations.  Biden and McCarthy then had to choose who would represent their side in the long negotiation process that lay ahead till June 5. Progressive Democrats called for invoking the 14th Amendment that allows the government to continue functioning and pay its bills. Biden chose not to take that route. Respect for the other side, a prepared script are an important point in negotiations. To get results something even more important is essential flexibility and a plan, Plan B. Trust began to develop between McCarthy and Biden. Biden and McCarthy did not any time engage in acrimonious description of the other side. At one point when Biden was in Hiroshima for the G7 meetings Ricchetti on the Biden side and Graves on the Republican side began to feel the frustration. Biden decided to fly home early from Hiroshima. He was constantly in touch with his negotiators Steve Ricchetti, a trusted aide, and a cabinet official the Budget Director Shalanda Young. Graves a long time trusted adviser of McCarthy headed the negotiations for McCarthy.  Shalanda Young and Garrett Graves are both from Louisiana and Graves says he used to work out with Young's dad in the same area. This had a positive effect. It also reduced the tensions in the negotiations so that it could be said this was the calmest negotiation from either side that has been seen in the US  for a long time and bodes well for America's future and for its people, far beyond any concessions made by either party.  Biden made clear at the outset what he could accept without leaving it hidden- he would agree to some work requirements, he would not agree to work requirements for Medicaid. Others in the Democratic party conveyed how distraught they were with efforts to impose stringent requirements for federal food aid during a cost of living crisis when the Republican positions ruled out any new taxes on the wealthiest Americans. In the end Republicans agreed to keep spending limits for 2023 for two more years into 2025 when they would be increased by 1%. Democrats offered to cut (Income Tax) Internal Revenue Service (IRS) spending to increase IRS staffing from $80 billion to $70 billion. Biden said "nobody got everything they wanted." It would have to be passed in Congress with the support of moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans, with members holding extreme positions among Republicans and Democrats opposing. The two parties coming together after a long time to meet the real challenges ahead for the American people. ...