It's hard to imagine a worse 48-hour stretch for any first-year president than the one Joe Biden endured over the past two days.
On Wednesday, Quinnipiac University released a devastating poll placing the president's public approval at 33 percent, his lowest approval in any poll since his presidency began.
What makes just one-third of the country supporting this president even more remarkable is that Biden received more votes than any other presidential candidate in history: 81 million, or more than 10 million more votes than the previous record holder, Barack Obama. The drop has been unprecedented: Biden sat at 55 percent approval upon entering office almost one year ago.
Also on Wednesday, it was announced that the Consumer Price Index rose seven percent in 2021, its fastest increase since 1982. It was also announced that inflation is now sitting at a 40-year high.
Things somehow was worse on Thursday. The president went to Capitol Hill to rally Democrats around passing voting rights legislation, only to see Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) go to the floor ahead of his arrival to declare that she would not support eliminating the filibuster.
And as if straight out of a political horror movie, not long after the president got news of Sinema's remarks, the Supreme Court ruled to block enforcement of a vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees.
Add it all up: The economy is crippled by high prices and not-so-transitory inflation. The president is rebuffed (again) by a member of his own party on a major initiative. And then his vaccine mandate is struck down by a 6-3 decision in the Supreme Court.
All in less than 48 hours.
It is stunning to see this president drop this far, particularly when considering that this administration had a gale force breeze at its back with the House and Senate in Democratic control. It's the straight flush of power in Washington.
And yet here we are one year later with Pulitzer Prize-winning columnists at the New York Times (which hasn't endorsed a Republican candidate for president since Eisenhower) calling on Biden to declare that he won't run for reelection in 2024 (Bret Stephens). This week, Thomas Friedman recommended that he drop Vice President Kamala Harris in favor of Republican Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in 2024.