Column: Biden’s legacy, like Jimmy Carter’s, is complex — and it’s in Donald Trump’s hands now
LA TimesPresident Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 13 in Washington. During his first two years in office, bolstered by Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, Biden achieved an impressive record of economic legislation: a $1.9-trillion stimulus bill to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, a $1.2-trillion infrastructure bill, the $280-billion CHIPS act to promote high-technology manufacturing, and the $2.2-trillion Inflation Reduction Act to promote clean energy. But I believe it was the right thing to do … set America on a stronger course for the future.” “In the space of one term, he did a lot,” said historian Julian E. Zelizer of Princeton University, who has already begun work on a book about the Biden presidency. “A younger candidate might have been able to change the course of the election.” The irony now is that Biden’s legacy now rests in Trump’s hands. But if Trump fails — if his administration proves chaotic, if Democrats take control of Congress in 2026, and if a next-generation Democrat retakes the White House in 2028 — the Biden legacy may get a second life.