Why a Republican-led Senate might not be *such* a bad thing for Joe Biden

Conventional wisdom suggests the best-case scenario for Joe Biden is for Democrats to sweep the two Senate runoffs in Georgia in January — putting Democrats in control of both sides of Congress as well as the White House. However, Chris Cillizza argues in his latest episode of The Point that a divided Congress may actually be a good thing for Biden.

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

Why Georgia is about to become the center of the political universe

Rhetoric or obliviousness? Biden predicts a post-Trump ‘epiphany’ for GOP.

'Fiscal cliff’ resolution falls to Biden and McConnell, longtime Senate colleagues

This Democratic congresswoman just spoke some hard truth to her party

About me:
I was named "best dressed" in 7th grade. That, along with being CNN's editor at large and author of the daily "Point" newsletter are my proudest achievements. Look for me here every Tuesday and Thursday to find out what’s really going down in politics.

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Writer: Chris Cillizza
Producer: Allison Gordon
The Point Editor: Leigh Munsil
Video Editor: Steven Sevilla

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102 comments

    1. @William Springer
      So you are offended I provided you the facts?

      Was it more fun pretending Trump was robbed when he clearly just lost.

  1. Mitch has lost all credibility in his words. He will likely oppose Biden every chance he gets if it guarantees more Republican re-elections in the mid-terms. The Democrats who are talking about deal making seem to not realize this.

    To me if Georgia’s senate races go blue, democrats NEED to understand why. Deal making does not benefit the vulnerable populations that keep getting them back into office. All that does is continue to normalize the Republican Party that we know today, and with it it’s base.

    1. Personally, I’m hoping that the elections go blue and then the Democrats have the balls to grab power. Kill the filibuster, then tell the Republicans to go home for the next two years because we aren’t accepting their input. Make PR and DC states to get 4 more blue Senate seats. (Although PR is more purple than reliably blue.) Put 8 new young and super-liberal justices on the SCOTUS. Double the size of the federal judiciary (which is a thing we need anyway, since they are too overloaded) and pack them full of liberals. Declare Election Day to be a holiday. Ask CA, NY, or other solidly-blue states if they are willing to subdivide into multiple states that are carefully gerrymandered to be solidly blue. Make a law that any state with an efficiency gap of more than 2% will receive no federal funds whatsoever so that states will not gerrymander their districts. Anything and everything to release and reverse the Republican grip on power and the damage they have done to our country.

    2. @David K. Storrs I would setting for an election focus bill in order to remove any myths that linger from this election as well as address some stuff you listed here – election holiday, vote by mail permanent infrastructure, etc.

    3. McConnell didn’t include Democrats. If given the chance, Democrats should ramrod legislation the same way. There can be no bipartisanship as long as Mitch heads the Senate.

    4. @Golden Shine A really interesting power play would be for the Democrats to say “Hey, Republicans…we’ll let you pass X,Y,Z which will likely be enough to get you all re-elected, but only if Mitch steps down.”

    5. @Golden Shine agreed. I find myself weary of adding to the GOP base outrage however I think anything the Democrats do will cause that so might as well do what they can.

  2. Founding fathers : This system will make both sides work together towards an agreement.

    Mitch McConnell: New Phone who dis???

    1. @Liz Adair guess you don’t understand anything….makes sense…typical trump supporter…ignorant and PROUD (BOYS) of it!

    2. @Liz Adair oh Liz, go cry somewhere else….poor little snowflake…what’s the matter, need a safe space to store all those little trumpeter tears??? waaa waaa

    1. @soylentdean that is BS and you know it, opportunity zones benifit people that have access to Capital Wich most black Americans don’t have access to! It is good for black entertainers and athletes!

    2. @oil_kingg They had government small business loan programs to go along with it, too. That’s why there were a record number of black owned startup small businesses. You know, the ones Antifa and BLM burned to the ground.

    3. @soylentdean the opportunity zone program is based on legislation put forward by 2 Dem s and a Republican. Corey Booker was one. They have have recently called for an audit of the program under Trump. Trump has made false claims about how much money was put into the program.

  3. If Mitch was so close to Biden, why couldn’t Biden get more judges on the bench? Mitch took advantage and Joe let him. Not sure I would be friends anymore after they refused to support the election results!

    1. Not only that, but the dude won’t even call him president elect. Trump will still be controlling these fake republicans from twitter

    2. KD P Take it Trumper he lost and thank god Trump is gone very soon he was a total threat To democracy and still trying to be

    3. I’m sorry I’m yet to see where exactly Biden & McConnel/GOPs are meant to be so close with history? They constantly crapped on Joe as VP on top of what they do now with Trump/Election saga. I swear the only GOP to attend Biden’s sons funeral was Mitt Romey in what was a open inviation to all biig polticans….Why does Biden love the GOP so much when they give nothing back? Old democracts are literally just Republicans lite.

    1. Biden has to talk bipartisanship, but he knows the reality. He’s not going to publicly say, given the opportunity we’ll do the same as Mitch.

    2. @paulanner5813 S For those who care Ezra Klein of Vox wrote a good article about Biden’s views of the Senate in June of 2020. I don’t know if i agree totally with Ezra’s analysis but he is on to something and i would recommend it to anyone interested in learning how our next president will approach working with the current senate.

    1. @Mike Rivera
      How many Republican does it take to change a lightbulb?
      None they are still trying to light the candle by rubbing the stick with their finger.

  4. Look, here’s the deal. Stephen Bryer is getting old. A Democratic Senate would insure that we get at least one young liberal on the court. He can still be a deal-maker with a Democratic Senate.

    1. The worst possible scenario would be to expand the Supreme Court. It would set the precedent that every time power flipped in this country the incoming Party would expand the court just to get their legislation approved. Soon the SCOTUS would be as large as the Senate, maybe even the House in time. Then nothing gets decided.

    2. @soylentdean Yes … that would be bad. But let’s not forget that it was the republicans that pulled the pin out of that grenade.

    3. @soylentdean Expanding SCOTUS is about the dumbest idea ever. At that point you just have 2 crazy parties, and your country is doomed. Term limits would make way more sense, or some form of basic accountability perhaps.

    4. @soylentdean Expanding the court would not weaken justice. There is no balance at 6-3 and considering the mechanisms used to steal that majority, the court balance needs to be remedied. GOP packed the court, period. The MAJORITY of people in the US do not support Federalist Society positions and the Court has been PACKED with idealogues. full stop. If Mitch and Lynsdsey wouldn’t have played with fire, conservatives wouldn’t have to worry about getting burnt by having the court reflect the LAW

    5. @JohnPaul Jones Expanding the court is not the only answer to that problem. Justices have been impeached, or forced to resign because of the fear of impeachment, in the past. If it turns out that any of Trump’s appointments perjured themselves, they could be impeached, removed and replaced. I think that would be a better way to deal with the court imbalance, if Ossoff and Warnock win. Otherwise, the number of justices might increase to a ridiculous level.

  5. No we don’t need anymore republicans mitch McConnell only will block everything like he been doing democrats need to flip the senate

    1. @Alex Shih It doesn’t take a super majority to nuke the filibuster, does it? 50/50 plus Kamala would do it
      GO GEORGIA!

    2. @JohnPaul Jones Joe Manchin has said that he isn’t open to nuking the filibuster. Given that he’s a really conservative Democrat, it’s pretty much over.

    3. @Alex Shih hmmm… thanks, didn’t know that. BUt makes sense. Joe is the only Dem among senators from the 7 least educated states. There are no GOP senators among the 7 best educated states, just saying

  6. Nah. The GOP that Biden wants to make real deals with is long gone. Don’t even wish for good friendly deal making unless you look to be disappointed.

    1. @Pink Droid How can you possibly call yourself a Libertarian and vote for Democrats? As one myself, I very concerned about their alliance with big tech and the resulting censorship and control that represents over our lives. Plus, their affinity for every social program they can think of hardly represents a Libertarian viewpoint. And their New Green Deal will regulate every aspect of our lives, from what kind of car you can drive to how you heat your home. The resulting massive tax hikes all these programs will result in hardly represents less government intrusion in your life, too. Libertarians believe in less government control over our lives, not more.

    2. @Pink Droid what planet are you living on? They blocked Obama’s last SCOTUS pick and tried to grind Washington to a hault because they felt like it. I don’t know who these so called scared republicans are that you speak of. I do know that we’ve seen what happens when dems try this and it’s always bad for workers black people and other minorities. I.e. the dem base. They won’t show up in midterms for this crap and as a result dems will lose again! You may even wind up with another Trump adm. In 2024. Insanity is what this is and stupidity.

    3. @steve Your denial isn’t going to change anything. Come back to the real world. We can forgive you, and we have cookies.

  7. “Oh, wouldn’t it be better for the Republicans to have power?” Wrong.The consistent disagreement in the comments to this idea should tell you something -” we won’t be fooled again”.

    1. Agreed, McConnell is cruel and evil.
      He is the man who wanted to make Obama a one term president.
      He blocked Merrick Garland, and pushed Amy Coney Barrett at the expense of the American People.
      McConnell would only support policies that make the Democrats lose the next election and has no interest in really helping the people of the USA.

  8. The problem isn’t with “socialism”, the problem is that most people have no idea what it means. They think of North Korea(fascism) instead of Denmark.

    And I love the Biden is really making a point to ask republicans to get along with democrats. It’s true that most of us really do agree on so much, but some people can’t get past 1 or 2 issues and now they hate everything you’ll say, even if it’s something that 100% of the world agrees on individually like “It’s healthy to eat food”.

    It’s been so frustrating, I really hope to see the country putting politics to the side and just being people first and foremost.

    1. gerttopmuller Technically it’s not socialist of course, and it never will be…just like America will never be a literal socialist state. No one even wants to make it that way. Yet Fox “News” Media is screaming at your grandpa telling him Bernie Sanders wants to end America. It’s actually revolting that we allow this type of propaganda to go unchecked. Denmark DOES on the other hand implement a lot of “socialist” policies like socialized medicine, unions, wages, etc (as has most of Western Europe) to an almost shocking degree of success.

      The problem is, somebody confused these people into thinking that free health care and fairer wages somehow equals or leads up to dictatorship and death camps. It is literally nonsense but so many people think this way it’s scary.

    2. @Pink Droid
      Socialism is government and capitalism is economic.
      Socialism benefits the people
      Capitalism is inherently evil and benefits the rich and powerful.

      The Government of The US was formed as a Socialist government. Read the preamble of the Constitution if you don’t believe it.

      FYI Jesus was a socialist and his Apostles formed themselves as Communist (read ACTS) .

      All the acts of compassion and empathy that we say we embress are found only in socialism/communism . None are found in total capitalist groups. Even love of family is denied in capitalism.

  9. Just forget labels like ‘Socialism’; decades of conservative propaganda has made it a ‘no-go’ label. Let’s call it ‘Solidarity’.
    It’s just like GOP voters HATE Obamacare, but LOVE their ACA.

    1. agreed…it really does seem to come down to labels and progressives are terrible at it. weirdly, the GOP seems to be pretty good with labels. they understand marketing and that you need to sell people based on emotion. while we use “defund the police” they use terms like “freedom”, “the flag”, “patriotism”, “law and order” all very pretty and very ambiguous words that incite strong mostly positive emotions.

    2. In Europe it’s called moral capitalism. Here corporations have too much influence in government. What corporations do here is criminal in Europe.

    3. @Marc John “American capitalism” …literally just call it that. it doesn’t have to be super descriptive. I thought “progressive capitalisms” but the term “progressive” seems to be poisoned to some people as well. hell you can shorten it to “Americap” . with the whole MAGA thing I realize people seem to like and understand short and sweet

    4. @Golden Shine From what I understand it depends on the country. Cameron called it moral capitalism. Others call it social capitalism, or welfare capitalism, or social economy. Nordic countries call it social democracy. But my French friends told me the EU has been pushing for more liberal economic reforms that have shrunk the welfare state. Looks like the covid crisis might be a game changer, though.

    5. @soylentdean Trump increased Troop numbers in the middle east during his term not decreased them, Syria had a minimal number of troops with a strategically important task helping to maintain peace and were removed as a favor for Trumps buddy Erdogan so he could attack US allies. You can afford health care for everyone in the states your problem is ideological not fiscal. I’m hoping the US will find a more compassionate stance in general, at home and abroad.

  10. Counterpoint: Biden campaigned for a Public Option expansion of Obamacare, and a Senate controlled by “grim reaper” McConnell is very likely to bury it.

  11. The flap about progressive messaging — “socialism,” “defund the police,” etc — is more about avoiding scary-sounding slogans that are easy for opponents to attack, and is not about progressives’ actual policy proposals, which are popular according to polls.

    1. @Sandra Marshall also an important but seldom mentioned fact is that Obamacare WAS almost completely a copy of a 20 year old conservative Healthcare Initiative (I think Rand Corporation threw it out?) that had already been implemented as Romneycare… The GoP was ALL for that “let’s keep the Insurance industry in control of healthcare” model, UNTIL it was proposed by the black & democratic president as a workable compromise everybody could live with.

    2. Americans have been brainwashed for years by corporations. The Constitution guarantees democracy and our rights. Our unrestrained capitalism is an economic system, not a form of government.

    3. Brother Mine: one thing Republicans are good at is messaging their agenda & policies, even if they are misleading or complete misrepresentations. Examples: tax breaks for billion dollar corporations is labeled as tax breaks for “job creators”, EPA & Wall Street regulations are labeled as “job-killing regulations”, laws allowing discrimination against people of non- Christian religions is labeled as “religious freedom”. Lesson: Keep is simple.Policy details dont register with the public. Be a little aggressive–dont be afraid to call a bad idea by the Republicans, a bad idea. A few catchy- catchphrases wouldn’t hurt. “renewable energy job creation”, “anti-corruption bank regulations “. Like that.

  12. Chris, strange statement do you remember what a republican senate with Obama looked like. The Republican Senate did nothing to Trump considering how Trump sold out the USA… Your point has no point…

    1. @Dean Dalbec You should double check your sources. And after you find out you were lied to, start to rethink why you believed them in the first place.

    1. Yes. He is cruel and evil.
      He is the man who wanted to make Obama a one term president.
      He blocked Merrick Garland, and pushed Amy Coney Barrett at the expense of the American People.
      McConnell would only support policies that make the Democrats lose the next election.

  13. Moscow Mitch is downright evil… the fact he describes Biden as a “true friend and trusted partner” is terrifying to say the least!

    1. Nancy Pelosi evil people are starving she’s taking pictures of her freezer full of ice cream I want some ice cream

    2. Evil Joe Biden does Kamala Harris still believe Joe Biden’s accusers. Two women came forward and said that Joe Biden sexual harassed them Kamala Harris believe them but now she don’t cuz she sold them out to become vice president

    3. @Marvin Guigar Not allowing women to have reproductive autonomy is evil. Your reductionism and misplaced morality is infantile.

    1. @Shana Westhoff thats why i got love and respect for her. Its crazy the dog whistling on “socialism” nowadays. Sad to see how the uneducated in this country can fall for conspiracies and be so ignorant. As a historian i dont see this divide getting smaller

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