Biden and the Democrats won a decisive victory in 2020. But not quite decisive enough; the GOP managed to squeak out enough wins to maintain control of the Senate.
Faced with a splintering party, McConnell predictably dug in, looking for more of that old 2010 magic. He made it clear to Biden that there would be no more stimulus–in fact, the entire blue agenda was going nowhere. He would agree to keep the lights on and hold a few hearings on judges, but that was it.
Understandably frustrated, the left demanded that Biden follow Trump and use executive actions to accomplish what could not be done through legislation. For the most part, Biden refused, saying that he had no interest in subverting the Constitution. Moderates and constitutional purists applauded his restraint, but the public did not.
Violent protests broke out in several large cities. The right–with Trump and Tom Cotton in the lead–called for the use of overwhelming force in the name of law and order. Biden left the problem to state and local officials, with mixed results. Who gained from the deadlock? The GOP, of course. The public blamed Biden and the protesters, not McConnell and the obstructionist GOP Senate. The honeymoon was already over.
(The moral of the story is obvious–winning the Senate is really, really important, even if a bare majority probably won’t be enough to get large parts of the agenda through).