Your Weekend Reading: Biden’s Political Gift to the GOP

The parallels are now unavoidable – a political gift from US President Joe Biden to his Republican rivals. Last year, Biden had called former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago “totally irresponsible.” It emerged this week that Biden himself apparently removed not one, but two sets of classified documents after his term as vice president, the second batch found near his vintage Corvette. “My Corvette’s in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out in the street,” Biden said, drawing criticism that he was making light of the discovery. As in Trump’s case, a special counsel was appointed – and the new Republican House majority said they’d launch their own probe. Biden’s defenders say the cases are totally different, that unlike Trump he alerted federal officials, returned the documents immediately and will cooperate fully with investigators. The Trump comparison “reminds us what disregard for the rule of law really looks like,” Jonathan Bernstein writes in Bloomberg Opinion. “At the same time, it doesn’t absolve Biden from what he has done — whatever that turns out to be.”

The global fight against inflation is far from over, but in some corners the progress is real. Factors including a sooner-than-expected reopening of China’s economy, a warm winter in energy-strapped Europe and a sustained drop in US inflation are helping lift some of the economic gloom of last year. They are also fanning hopes the world can dodge a recession. In the US, the Federal Reserve has so far succeeded in tamping down prices without damaging the labor market. “Don't celebrate yet. That won't mean we dodged a bullet,” writes Allison Schrager in Bloomberg Opinion.