President Job Biden is beginning his second year in office. Just over a year ago when he was elected, or selected, tears of joy flowed in blue cities. Political experts like Taylor Swift expressed, “Quiet, cautious elation and relief.” ABC News, a major player in the Biden campaign, proclaimed through their own tears of joy, “A new day of hope for America.”

Is the rest of America thrilled that Biden is in the White House? Was such optimism due Biden’s election, or was this just a sense of relief that the tweeting orange man was on his way out the door?

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Joe Biden was never a force of intellect, statesmanship, or wisdom, during his decades in the U.S. Senate, eight years as vice president, or his first year in the Oval Office. A recent example is how Biden, who now wants a black female on the U.S. Supreme Court, blocked the first black woman nominee to the court, Janice Rogers Brown in 2003, an inconvenient fact the corporate media and Biden’s dwindling supporters choose to gloss over.

Even his predecessor and teammate for eight years, President Barack Obama, famously noted, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.” As we look at the landscape today, Obama’s words are prophetic.

Domestically we have inflation hitting a 40-year high, which along with rising unemployment, is reminding older Americans of a blast from the past called the misery index, a relic of the Jimmy Carter presidency. Our southern border is wide open to anyone and everyone from around the world, along with rising crime, homelessness, and squalor in American cities.

Biden promised to “Beat COVID,” yet more Americans died of COVID in 2021, during Biden’s presidency, compared to 2020 when Trump was in the White House. Foreign affairs are faring no better.

Biden’s Afghanistan surrender to the Taliban, a force we have been fighting for 20 years, left China smiling as we left billions of dollars of weapons and infrastructure behind, along with many Americans which the media are incurious about. Biden is sending mixed messages to Ukraine and Russia, leaving Putin a pathway to gobble up more territory and fracture a feckless NATO.

America at home is in a civil war, pitting Americans against each other based on everything from skin color to vaccination status to mask-wearing, destroying families and friendships in the process. But as America slides toward the edge of the cliff, it is not just Joe and the Democrats falling, but the entire country and much of the world, given the importance of the Office of the President of the United States.

Rasmussen Reports is one of the leading and most accurate pollsters, surveying not simply whoever answers the phone or responds to an internet poll, but likely voters, those individuals who express their opinions at the ballot box, potentially making course corrections through elections.

Their Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, compares the total approval of Presidents Trump and Biden at identical points in their respective presidencies. On Feb. 10, Biden’s total approval was 43% compared to Trump exactly four years ago at 49%, a significant 6-point difference. Biden generally polled better than Trump until late summer 2021, when after the Afghanistan debacle, buyer’s remorse slapped many Biden voters.

Approval numbers can be fickle and influenced by other factors. Four years ago during Trump’s presidency, things were definitely better. COVID didn’t exist, the economy was strong, and Trump was keeping our foreign adversaries – Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran - in check. By comparison, Biden strives to be an anti-Trump president, doing the opposite of Trump, regardless of necessity or consequences, a “cutting off your nose to spite your face” approach to governance.

Pollsters could also ask if the country is heading in the right or wrong direction. Rasmussen recently asked that question. By a two-to-one margin, likely voters believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction, 64% wrong versus 30% right direction.

Voters have turned off the Biden presidency after only one year, based on another Rasmussen survey seeking opinions on the best and worst presidents in recent history. Voters, only a quarter of the way through Biden’s first term, have their answer. They found, “54% of Likely U.S. voters think Biden will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in American history. Only 15% believe Biden will rank in history as one of America’s best presidents.”

How many of those 15% are members of teachers’ unions or the Washington D.C. press corps? We know which group NeverTrump Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) falls into. He recently told a CNN host, “Trump was the worst president the United States of America ever had.”

Talk about being out of touch with America. It is no wonder Kinzinger has chosen to not run for reelection, instead perhaps hoping for a gig at CNN or MSNBC, an echo chamber where he will feel far more comfortable.

Trump scored much better than Biden in the best and worst presidents survey, “41% think Trump will be remembered as one of America’s best presidents, compared to 43% who believe Trump will rank as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.” This an even split between best and worst for Trump whereas Biden was viewed as worst by an almost four to one margin. Say it ain’t so, Joe.

Another Rasmussen survey sums this all up, finding 60% of Americans believing that Biden’s first year was somewhat or very unsuccessful, 50% in the latter category.

For those who are skeptical of Rasmussen surveys, take instead the latest Quinnipiac University survey measuring Biden’s job approval at only 35 percent. The lowest number they ever had for Trump, who consistently had over 90 percent negative media coverage, was 33 percent approval. Biden’s media coverage has been overwhelmingly positive, and he is at Trump’s approval level.

The Real Clear Politics average of national surveys found Biden’s job approval dropping below 40 percent for the first time last week. As the New York Post observes, “The abysmal rating comes as the White House continues to grapple with soaring inflation and rising gas prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and surging crime in big cities.” None of which are showing any signs of improvement either.

Finally Pew Research Center confirms Joe’s sinking fortunes with a poll that found: “Overall, 20% of American adults say Biden will be a successful president, while roughly twice that share (43%) say he will be unsuccessful.”

As the midterm elections approach, with a potential Democrat bloodbath putting Republicans in control of both houses of Congress and essentially neutering Biden’s floundering agenda, how will this sinking ship be raised from the ocean depths? Perhaps some new crisis, as in a war, cyberattack, or another coronavirus variant to lock down the country and create new election rules and procedures for “public safety.”

For those who voted for Biden because Trump annoyed them, congratulations. Hope they are all getting what they wanted, pleased with a disaster, rather than an effective and competent loudmouth in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Biden’s second year as president is off to a horrific start and, in retrospect, this may be his high point. Expect a further decline as inflation, crime, and chaos crawl out of the swamp, eager to drag Biden and the rest of the country into a socioeconomic sinkhole. It may take a decade for America to climb out, adding further carnage to a country already beaten down by two years of COVID restrictions which did “more harm than good” and left America in a genuine state of malaise.

Elections have consequences and those who voted for Biden, offended by Trump’s demeanor and behavior, can now pat themselves on the back for their “principles” while Biden is sinking like the Titanic, dragging the country with him into the depths of national decline and despair.

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. On Twitter as @retinaldoctor.