Crime was the most important issue among Democrats in the New York City mayoral race, helping propel retired police officer Eric Adams to the nomination. Recently, New York’s Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo had this to say about the problem: “If you look at the recent numbers, more people are now dying from gun violence and crime than Covid.” In terms of the economy, Foreign Policy notes, “A surprising 5.4 percent spike in the ​​consumer price index in June, the swiftest rise in 13 years, spurred so many fresh inflation fears that Biden felt compelled to talk them down at a news conference this week…” Keep in mind that, for months, Larry Summers, a top Obama economic adviser, has been warning the Biden administration about inflation, and for months, Biden and his team downplayed concerns. (As long as we’re talking about the economy, in fairness, it should be mentioned that the U.S. added 850,000 jobs in June, which was more than anticipated.) And on the issue of immigration, June’s border crossings constituted “the largest number in a single month in recent history.” Keep in mind that, for months, Biden refused to call the border surge a “crisis.” And keep in mind that, for a while now, Democrats representing border states like Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar have been urging Biden to do more to stop the influx of migrants.

Whether the issue is crime, the economy, or immigration, two things have been consistent: There is bipartisan concern, and Team Biden’s first reaction has been to downplay those concerns. Unfortunately, ignoring these problems has not caused them to go away. And while it’s thankfully not yet clear that all of them will continue to metastasize, to quote Kevin Costner, “We’re dealing with a lot of shit.”