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**DECEMBER 16, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

Can Biden Govern as a Progressive Populist?

****

Trump and the Tea Partiers before him made gains with ordinary Americans
because a corporatized Democratic Party stopped delivering for them.
This was especially true in rural and small metro areas that were once
manufacturing centers, where the falloff in support for Democrats in
2016 and 2020 was just sickening.

To some extent, Trump was able to use ethnic nationalism and racism as a
proxy for economic populism. But Make America Great Again, however
bogus, also signaled a concern for lost living standards and economic
dignity.

Joe Biden comes out of the same neoliberal milieu that produced the
vulnerabilities of Democrats in the Clinton and Obama eras. Most of his
appointees are alums of those administrations.

But thankfully, events are pushing Biden to govern as more of a
progressive than he may have intended. And public opinion wants him to
do that.

A new, must-read report from Demand Progress, titled "Americans Want a
Progressive Biden Administration
,"
is based on extensive polling that looked deeply into whether most
Americans want a corporate-influenced Biden administration. They
don't.

You should read the entire report, but here are a few highlights.

By majorities of more than two to one, Americans don't want Biden to
appoint corporate execs, consultants, or lobbyists. The majorities are
even larger when it comes to people from regulated industries or
companies that have benefited from bailouts.

Biden has appointed most of his Cabinet, but there are still heads of
regulatory agencies and more than 1,000 subcabinet officials to be
named. Is it at this level that corporate types tend to burrow in.

As the Demand Progress report suggests, this is about far more than
symbolism. Depending on who staffs his presidency, the actual policies
will benefit either ordinary people or the powerful industries that have
rigged the rules and commandeered nearly all the economy's gains. If
Biden views these people as toxic appointees, and makes that clear to
the public, the voters will respond.

The Demand Progress report also found that large majorities of
Americans, including 60 percent of Republicans, view the revolving door
between industry and government as a big problem. And even larger
majorities, the report found, were especially wary of Big Tech.

You should read the entire report. Even more importantly, Biden
should-and act accordingly.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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Joe Biden Is Unhappy About the Day One Agenda

But those are the breaks when you're president; people will want
you to exercise your power for the general good. BY DAVID DAYEN

The Day One Agenda for Corporate Taxes

Even without Congress, President-elect Biden's regulatory agencies
can fix a lot of problems with the corporate tax code. BY STEVE WAMHOFF
& MATTHEW GARDNER

A Surprise Ending for Surprise Billing?

Compromise legislation to end the practice has private equity firms
nervous. BY EILEEN APPELBAUM

Biden Can Give Us Free College Without Congress. But Will He?

A new report explains how President Biden can use existing executive
authority to make free college a reality. BY MARCIA BROWN

Unsanitized: The Return of Checks Checks Checks

And what progressives are fighting for in the relief package. This is
The COVID-19 Daily Report for December 16, 2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

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