He wasn't comparing Biden to Carter. He was comparing *voter perceptions* of Carter to *voter perceptions* of Biden. Big difference. It's a comparison of playing field vibes, not the presidents themselves. I'd also say that comparing 1980 voters to 2024 voters is also a false equivalence (see my longer-form reply to this Triad for more), but the same voter feelings are involved in both elections. The world is more chaotic now than in 1980, and Biden appears just as powerless to rein in that chaos now as Carter did in 1979/1980. When retail voters (read: NOT Bulwark/Atlantic readers) at large are fearful about chaos both within and outside of their borders, they turn to the strongmen. Current voter vibes based around worry about chaos in the world, at the border, and inside of American cities are political terrain that favors Trump and the GOP right now. But just like when Americans found out that Reagan couldn't control the chaos in Lebanon and sent the US military running with its tail between its legs after Beirut 1983, the American public may not find out that Trump can't control the chaos either until he's already in office and it's too late to go back.