Donald Trump just invents things out of thin air. He’s a used car salesman on a bad day. He spontaneously takes credit for “accomplishments” that clearly have nothing to do with him. But you can’t say he undersells himself.
On the other hand, the public consistently tells us it has no idea what Biden has done in 3+ years in office. It gives him no credit for expanding the welfare state, or growing the economy, or keeping unemployment low, or cutting student debt, or reducing inflation. It insists that we are in a recession, and that things are far worse than they were when both unemployment and inflation were actually much higher. How can this be?
The absence of a compelling and energetic salesman for the administration’s accomplishments has always been the hole in the middle of the campaign. After the debate, we now understand why.