It has been four rough years for the working class under Joe Biden’s disastrous presidency. Liberals celebrated strong economic numbers early in Biden’s term, but that job growth was largely due to states reopening their economies after the COVID-19 pandemic, often in spite of the actions of Democratic politicians. In reality, economic growth was stagnant, and the country hit 40-year inflation highs due to the president and his party’s uncontrolled deficit spending. Per all available polling data, voters ranked the economy and inflation as their top issues in November, and they elected a man promising to give overtaxed and overregulated workers a break.

Instead of taking the hint, Biden, or whoever is calling the shots in the White House as the 46th president hides from reporters amid his clear descent into senility, has persisted in the asinine progressive policies that wrecked the economy in the first place.

While it may have worked as a campaign talking point targeting low-information voters, Biden’s decision to block the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel is all cost, with absolutely no upside. Some people might hear the name U.S. Steel and assume that the company is a titan of American industry, but the once great corporation, founded by J.P. Morgan in 1901, was just the 27th-largest steel producer globally in 2022. Both U.S. Steel and Nippon sued the Biden administration on Monday.

“President Biden’s Order is the culmination of a months-long campaign to subvert and exploit the United States’ national security apparatus for the purpose of keeping a promise made by the President and his advisors to the [United Steelworkers union] leadership,” spokespeople for the steel companies said in a joint statement.

U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt has said that without the infusion of $3 billion from the much stronger Nippon Steel, the company will be forced to close steel mills and may have to move its headquarters out of Pittsburgh, costing thousands of high-paying jobs. The president’s assertion that the takeover would pose a national security threat is, of course, ridiculous considering that Japan is one of our nation’s closest allies and its constitution and military structure are essentially U.S. exports.

Continuing his crusade against American energy independence, Biden on Monday approved a ban on oil drilling in some federal waters, invoking the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said in a statement.

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Of course, wind turbines, not oil rigs, have been causing ecological damage off of the east coast of the U.S., but Biden has never let facts get in the way of progressive ideology.

One of Biden’s first acts after taking office was to crush the Keystone XL pipeline, killing 1,500 jobs, and he has decided to destroy as many jobs as humanly possible on his way out of the White House. Pundits will debate the reasons why Vice President Kamala Harris lost so decisively to President-elect Donald Trump in November 2024, but if Democrats ever want to win back support among the white working class, perhaps they will consider abandoning their open hostility toward the jobs those voters hold or hope to hold. Even in the face of the most pervasive, well-funded propaganda campaign in American history, it’s still the economy, stupid.

Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.