Maddow Blog | One of Biden’s anti-Trump jokes packed an especially potent punch

Sen. J.D. Vance, still rumored to be in contention for his party’s vice presidential nomination, appeared on Fox News last week to peddle a line even he couldn’t have believed. “The Biden-administration policies have benefited billionaires,” the Ohio Republican asserted with a straight face, “whereas [Donald] Trump’s policies benefited working people.”

As the senator almost certainly knew, this turned reality on its head. While Trump delivered wildly expensive and unnecessary tax breaks to billionaires, President Joe Biden did the opposite. While the principal beneficiaries of Trump’s economic agenda were those at the top, it’s working families who’ve benefited most from the incumbent Democrat’s plans.

It’s against this backdrop that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is not only promising billionaires that he’ll do even more for them in a possible second term, he’s also reaping financial rewards as billionaires — including some who distanced themselves from Trump in the recent past — scramble to support the former president’s 2024 faux-populist candidacy.

None of this has happened because, to borrow Vance’s nonsensical line, Trump’s policies “benefited working people.” Billionaires are flocking to the Republican because he delivered for them before, and fully intends to do again.

In contrast, Biden continues to make a pitch for what he calls a Care Economy — an agenda that would include 12 weeks of paid family or medical leave, large investments in preschool, an expanded child tax credit, and investments in high-quality child care.

These are policies, of course, that would benefit the “working people” that Vance referred to last week.

With this in mind, the incumbent president continued to make his case during an appearance yesterday in his former hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The New York Times reported:

What stood out as especially notable, however, were the jokes Biden told at his rival’s expense.

“If Trump’s stock in Truth Social — his company — drops any lower, he might do better under my tax plan than his,” the Democrat said while smirking.

As political jokes go, it’s one that managed to remind the public that (a) Trump’s latest business venture is following the same failing trajectory as so many of his other business ventures; (b) Trump’s tax plan is designed to benefit those with the most wealth; and (c) Biden’s tax plan is rooted in the idea that millionaires and billionaires can afford to pay more, while leaving rates intact for those making under $400,000.

That’s a lot of checked boxes in 21 words.

I’ll assume that Vance didn’t find the joke funny, though Biden’s audience in Pennsylvania certainly seemed to appreciate it.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com