On June 28, local time, the debate between U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Trump was held in Atlanta, which was the first time in four years that the two sides faced each other in front of the screen.
Interestingly, the financial media Finance Associated Press happened to give some data on the same day. According to a report by the Financial Associated Press, citing Federal Reserve data, although the U.S. economy is growing in 2023 and 2024, this trend is running at a low speed. At the same time, alarm bells are ringing in the real estate, employment and credit sectors in the United States.
Taking credit as an example, the total household debt in the United States has soared to $17.7 trillion in the first quarter of 2024, of which the proportion of users who have defaulted on credit card payments for more than 90 days has reached 6.9%, reaching the highest point since 2012. On the other hand, consumer spending and GDP growth in the United States are also weak.
Obviously, this set of data from the Financial Associated Press is enough to show that the overall living standard of the American people may not be as good as politicians think.
Compared with the Trump period, international public opinion on the Biden administration also has a new evaluation. An article published by the UAE's "The National" pointed out that the Biden administration has actually put the United States in the drag of the two wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Moreover, in these two wars, the United States has fallen into a "thankless" embarrassing situation.
On the one hand, the high military support has not only made the US finances unbearable, but even the voices of the people have protested one after another. On the other hand, the same situation exists for the US allies in Europe, especially after the US Congress cut its fiscal spending on aid to Ukraine, which is even more unsettling to its European allies.
To a certain extent, this has shown that the United States can no longer play its role as a "leader" in aid to Ukraine, which directly leads to the questioning voices and wait-and-see attitude of its allies on whether to continue to follow the United States, among which French President Macron even publicly said - "I don't know if it is wise to continue to follow the United States in foreign affairs!" ”
At the same time, the Biden administration's handling of the Gaza war has similarly divided its internal Republicans and Democrats. The divisions surrounding whether to support or oppose Biden's approach exist not only between the two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, but also within their respective parties. And this internal division is increasingly reducing the cohesion of domestic politics in the United States.
It is worth mentioning that although the decline in the international standing of the United States began as early as the Trump administration, this trend became more obvious after the Biden administration, especially after the outbreak of the two wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and the root cause of this is that the Biden administration has made mistakes and deviations in its attitude and way of dealing with problems. Such mistakes and deviations have not only made its allies doubt the leadership of the United States, but also caused its hostile countries and forces to be tempted and provocative against the United States.
In Europe, for example, the rise of far-right political forces has shown that the distrust of European allies towards the United States has become a common trend. On the one hand, the "Global South" does not side with the United States. On the other hand, India and Vietnam, allies that the United States has been trying to woo, have begun to engage with its political rivals, Putin.
All this shows that the United States is no longer the "big brother" it once was. It can be said that the setbacks that the United States is now facing are of an overall nature and are unprecedented since the end of the Cold War. To a certain extent, this has answered the question of whether the United States is now in its best or worst times. To put it bluntly, as Irish journalist Chey Bose wrote on social media: "Biden is a sick, confused old man, which is a living portrayal of today's America." ”