JOE BIDEN: BOTH A BUMBLING OLD COOT AND AN ALL-POWERFUL SUPERVILLAIN

Here's one common right-wing perspective on the president: a National Review piece by Rich Lowry titled "Biden Is an Old Man Overwhelmed by Events."

Here's another: a poll telling us that nearly 80% of Republicans believe Biden is a fiendish supervillain deliberately raising gas prices as part of a dastardly program of social engineering:

The survey asked, “Do you believe the Biden Administration is intentionally letting gas prices rise to make Americans use less fossil fuels?”

Most, 53 percent, said “yes,” they believe the Biden administration is allowing it to happen purposely to force Americans to use less fossil fuel. Another 39.6 percent, however, do not believe that is the case, and 7.4 percent are unsure.

Opinions are divided along party lines. Over three-quarters of Republicans, 77.3 percent, and 56.5 percent of independents believe the Biden administration is deliberately allowing gas prices to rise for those purposes. Most Democrats, 68.7 percent, disagree and do not believe the administration is doing so.

The survey was conducted by the Trafalgar Group, a right-leaning firm that accurately predicted many of the tight state races in the 2020 presidential election, which led FiveThirtyEight to give the firm an A-minus rating. Trafalgar, which says it uses techniques to elicit responses from right-wingers who are reluctant to share their true opinions with other pollsters, is often less successful in surveying races where there are few angry, suspicious right-wing voters -- for instance, the firm thought Gavin Newsom would survive his recall election last year by 8 points. (His victory margin was 24 points.) Nevertheless, I think Trafalgar is measuring right-wing sentiment accurately. The right thinks Biden is a dementia-addled bumbler who wanders aimlessly around the White House, but also believes Biden is singlehandedly capable of remaking the energy and transportation mix in America by force and without resorting to legislation.

Another person who seems to believe this is Donald Trump's ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands:

I’ve seen this before. In Denmark, middle class people can’t afford to drive a car. They have a bike and take the train for long trips. My embassy driver would bike an hour in the snow to get to work. That’s the future team Biden wants for Americans. Is this what you want? https://t.co/IJXnhQ0qKE

— Carla Sands (@CarlaHSands) June 10, 2022

Sands has been mocked for this tweet in Denmark, as a reporter for a Danish English-language news outlet tells us:

“Hello this is Denmark speaking”, a ... user tweeted.

“Sounds like your embassy driver should have been paid more. Most of us can afford cars, but public transportation is cheap(ish), greener and often more convenient. Which Denmark did you go to?”, they said.

Former Minster of Transport Benny Engelbrecht wrote that “I can assure you that using the bike for urban mobility is a question of choice, not economy for most Danes. This is for instance me in my time as minister — and don’t worry, we could afford a car.”

... For what it’s worth as anecdotal evidence: the author of this article lives in Denmark and owns, and frequently drives (despite rocketing fuel prices), a car whilst living in a three-person household (two adults, one child), and has done so since 2020. Until recently, the household’s income consisted of a journalist’s salary and the basic state grant for students, SU.

Sands is a MAGA socialite who violated the Hatch Act during her time as ambassador by using an official Twitter account for partisan tweets:

Donald Trump’s ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, violated federal law when she urged Americans to donate to her boss’s campaign using her official Twitter account.

She did it again when she tweeted — once more from her official account — an article questioning whether Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants, was eligible to be vice president.

And yet again when she tweeted that Joe Biden was using the coronavirus pandemic for politics.

Sands recently finished fourth in the Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania.

On the other hand, when Biden announced that we were tapping into the strategic petroleum reserves, Sands opposed the move:

Joe Biden shouldn’t tap into our strategic oil reserves to save face, he should unleash America’s energy potential instead. pic.twitter.com/mSWUBK5IPz

— Carla Sands (@CarlaHSands) March 4, 2022

I'm not sure how she squares that with Biden's evil plot to make people stop driving. And, of course, maybe it would be good if the government were, in a more benign way, helping people transition to a post-fossil-fuel world. But the right believes it's villainous behavior, a massive societal transformation by a guy who can't even find his way to the bathroom.