The Transition of Power: Trump to Biden
by Jonah Rand, Reporter
National News
On November 3rd, the United States held its 59th presidential election, which would determine whether former President Trump would keep his position for four more years or President Biden would take his place on January 20th. As the votes tallied in, citizens learned that Biden was the projected winner of the election the following Saturday. There were many challenges to the election results: false information spread online and stoked by some political figures resulted in a riot at the Capitol during the congressional certification of the election results. Despite the political rift, Biden, with his calls of unity, was inaugurated on January 20th. Because of their different political values, there will be a contrast between the way the former administration handled and how the future administration will handle healthcare, immigration, the economy, and foreign policy.
According to OECD.org, the U.S. has the highest healthcare expenditure out of all the OECD members at 17.1% of the GDP as of 2017. The U.S., unlike other first world nations, does not have a cohesive healthcare system; the majority of healthcare is private and provided by the employer. Former President Trump looked towards making healthcare more affordable but had a different approach to the issue than Obama. Trump aimed to strike down the ACA (Affordable Care Act). The administration also turned the Medicaid expansion plan into an optional one while reducing federal funding for it. Nonetheless, Trump did sign bills to reduce the price of medicine (direct discounts to patients) and provide $1.8 billion for the opioid crisis (HHS.gov). Both Trump and Biden highlighted the rising mental health crisis among teens and veterans. However, Biden looks to expand the ACA and Medicare. Overall, he will work towards preserving and reinstating Obama era regulations and protections as a “clean up crew” to the former Trump administration, which worked to reverse ACA restrictions.
The U.S. was built on the backs of immigrants; in the last century, the U.S. has taken in immigrants from Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. However, Trump began his campaign with the chant “build the wall” and the idea of securing our border. Within the first 10 days of being in office, the Trump administration initiated a travel ban on seven majority Muslim nations, resulting in as much as a 72% drop in immigration from some of the nations. The administration then initiated the Migrant Protection Protocol, barring entry into the U.S. for asylum seekers until their court date. Biden has not mentioned immigration as one of his main issues.
Immigration activists have many different opinions on how he should proceed; some think that his policies will return to that of the Obama era. Nonetheless, his platform website says that he will “take urgent action to undo Trump’s damage and reclaim America’s values,” which perhaps refers to Trump’s policies that limited immigration. His transition team also proposed to “reassert America’s commitment to asylum-seekers and refugees'' and take on the “irregular migration” on our southern border, the result of the instability in Central American nations. Over the past two decades, there has been an increase in immigration on the southern border; however, the U.S. government has failed to properly address the problem. While the flurry of political debates and opinions continues, the transfer of power will definitely bring about changes regarding the future of asylum seekers looking to make a new life in the U.S.
The 2008 economic crash hurt not only families in the U.S. but those around the world; the Obama administration began an economic recovery in 2009, which continued into 2018/19. The Trump administration has enacted a policy in the U.S. that has sustained the growth, except during the COVID-19 economic recession. The Trump administration has managed to strengthen the recent economy, although not to the extent of pre-pandemic times. According to BBC, “the U.S. has done better than Europe but worse than China and some other Asian economies such as South Korea.” Trump’s tax cuts were directed more towards the upper-class, as NPR stated: “more than 60% of the tax savings went to people in the top 20% of the income ladder, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The measure also slashed the corporate tax rate by 40%.”
Biden’s campaign website rolled out an infrastructure plan meant to support the growth of the economy and Biden’s climate plan. He also introduced a tax plan for individual income earners above $400,000. When COVID-19 hit the U.S, the first stimulus package was released early in the pandemic. The second stimulus bill caused debate as it was delayed from October to December; Trump and the Democrats came out with support for $2,000 stimulus checks but faced Republican congressional resistance. They settled for $600 dollars; however, Democrats will continue to push for another round of stimulus checks. Even though the economy will always have ups and downs, Biden plans to improve it for the average American.
While COVID-19 and the election have been the main topics in the 2020 news cycle, there were numerous weather events that marked the continuation of climate change. California and Australia witnessed historic wildfires while Southeast Asia and the U.S. experienced record breaking hurricanes and cyclones. Trump said he would bring back coal, but he failed to do so and has since softened his anti-climate change stance. The Trump administration began by leaving the Paris Climate Agreement, which included 187 other countries in an international cooperation to prevent global temperature from rising above two degrees Celsius. The administration also created the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which had weaker regulations on carbon energy than Obama’s plan. They also attempted to limit California’s ability to set its own emission standards.
Biden continues his trend of restoring Obama regulations and more; his plan will involve climate policies stronger than those of any past president. He aims for the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and become carbon-neutral by 2050 with “green” infrastructure. In departing from the past administration’s stance, Biden aims to confront the harsh reality of climate change. However, it will take more than one administration and the unity of the government to take on the herculean tasks of effectively curbing pollutants and developing an environmentally sustainable future for generations to come.
Since the Great War, the U.S. has been adapting to an ever-globalizing world. Despite maintaining effective foreign relations, the Trump Administration tokened the phrase “America First,'' prioritizing the U.S. and its constituents over other countries. One major accomplishment of the Trump administration was that it was one of the first recent administrations to not start any new wars. Trump also negotiated individual deals with nations but on a much smaller scale than his predecessors, Late in his term, he negotiated the historic Abraham Accords, which were a step towards better relations between Israel and other Arab nations. Biden sees it as his job to fix U.S. relations with allies like Germany, France, Canada, and Japan with the statement “America is back.” He looks to restore Obama administration relations and wants to continue with a new Iran nuclear deal, which Trump pulled out of. Foreign policy has been turbulent in the past years, so Biden will have a formidable task to complete. He will also need to address the rising concerns over the economic tensions with China.
As soon as he was inaugurated on January 20th, Biden swiftly reversed some of Trump’s executive orders. The COVID-19 pandemic was his main priority, so he began by releasing a message of “mask up” and issued a mask mandate for federal land and buildings, as well as for interstate travel. He also addressed U.S. funding for the W.H.O. and, through an executive order, reinstated the U.S.’s relations with them. He then took a strike at Trump’s rollbacks by issuing a moratorium on fracking in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revoked the building permit for the Keystone Pipeline XL. In terms of immigration, Biden stopped the funding of Trump’s issued border wall and repealed Trump’s “Muslim Ban.” Some see his executive orders over controversial issues without working with congress as contradicting his message of unity. These are the first steps that the American people will judge when looking back on Biden’s accomplishments as the 46th president.
Since former President Donald Trump came into office, he took many constructive steps to fulfill his tasks as president but did not stick to all of his official campaign plans. He turned to his enacted policies as evidence of his successful presidency when he made his bid for re-election against Joe Biden. However, the 2020 election focused more on COVID-19, the economy, and racial justice. Now, after Biden won the popular vote with a 4.5% gap, the American public who voted for him will turn towards his administration to see if he can commit to his promises.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the various authors in this paper do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Kamiak High School or The Gauntlet.
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