America under Joe Biden descends into a shambles

Televised images of newly-elected President Joe Biden signing a flurry of executive orders on January 20 brought to mind descriptions of the doddering German President, Paul von Hindenberg, in 1933 signing every document laid before him by his Chancellor, Adolf Hitler. Rumour had it that any stray lunchbag left around his study would also be autographed.

The fingerprints of the hard Left of the U.S. Democrats could be found on these orders, as in the events of the previous week, when a disgraceful attempt was made to impeach a president after his leaving office.

The contents of these orders, endorsed by one who had promised to heal the nation, removed any doubts about the intention of the new administration to expunge Donald Trump's legacy. As Biden claimed, it was "bad policy" and "counterproductive to our security, counterproductive to who we are as a country, particularly in the area of immigration".

As his supporters at CNN noted approvingly, 24 of Biden's more than 60 executive actions in his first 100 days in office were specific reversals of Trump's policies. Areas included immigration, the environment, racial and gender equity, and cancelling withdrawal from the discredited World Health Organisation. A radical Democrats' wishlist had emerged as federal policy before this President had even met with Congress. Biden promotes himself as a reincarnation of New Deal President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but falls far short of FDR.

Few of the 74 million Americans who had voted for Trump would have welcomed on that first day Biden's executive orders to 1) re-join the Paris climate accord, 2) cancel the Keystone XL oil pipeline and numerous other Trump actions on the environment, 3) halt construction of the Mexican border wall, and 4) overturn many of the elements of the former president's immigration policy. Less controversial orders included Covid-19 testing and vaccination, a "100 Days Masking Challenge", and a slew of other pandemic responses and appointments.

As prevails in Australia, the federal nature of U.S. government limits a president to directives only in areas of federal responsibility, so that a masking mandate, for example, could be exercised only on federal property and interstate transport.

This was a distinction ignored throughout 2020, when tragedies such as the death toll from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's disgraceful quarantine failures were overlooked in the mainstream media, in favour of public scapegoating of Trump for supposedly mishandling the pandemic.

The messages of Trump, while he tried to juggle considerations of both health and the economy, may have been mixed; but it was the administrations of New York, California and elsewhere which had blood on their hands.

For months after January 20, Biden doggedly continued to sign executive orders. Climate change was elevated as an essential element of U.S. foreign policy and national security, while the ban on transgender Americans joining the military was lifted and restrictions on travel entry from seven designated Muslim-majority countries were ended.

The "Mexico City Policy" banning U.S. funding of foreign "non-profit" bodies promoting abortions was also rescinded. More recently, Biden's proposed federal budget has included unlimited Medicaid funding for abortion. This would effectively cancel the pro-life 1976 Hyde Amendment, credited with saving 2 million unborn Americans, especially among the poor.

As the conservative pushback began in the Republican "Red" states, the logic behind some of these executive orders becomes apparent. One that was related to Supreme Court "reform" (issued April 19) clearly presaged enlarging the court membership and making fresh appointments to outnumber the current conservative majority, an intention Biden specifically denied in the presidential debates.

Attention has also been focused on the Supreme Court as the Biden administration confronts Mississippi's bans on late and partial-birth abortion, and a test case scheduled to be heard on December 1, involving Trump's three conservative nominees. Another order, to promote and expand access to voter registration and participation (issued March 7), has been followed by federal attempts to block states such as Florida from addressing election fraud (by requiring voter ID, for example), under the pretext that it would "discriminate" against racial minorities.

To their credit, however, traditional Democrat members of Congress have baulked at the thought of stacking the Supreme Court and are alarmed at the size of the Biden administration's debt-funded splurge. They take a more moderate stance in the wrangling which continues with the administration.

The massive vaccination program successfully carried out in the U.S. in 2021 has been amply reported in the Australian media, but less so the eye-watering federal relief and stimulus packages enacted by the Biden administration. In addition to the previous Trump administration's $600 payments to low and medium income earners, a further $1,400 was posted and credited to these recipients in March, under the "American Rescue Plan". This coronavirus relief totalled $1.9 trillion dollars and included child tax credits and unemployment benefits.

Certainly these measures have put food on the table for many American families, but improvement in the overall economy has been limited, with dips in the stock market and reports of labour shortages while the $600 weekly benefits have operated as a disincentive to work. Nevertheless, mainstream media coverage was more generous than it was to the economic upturn during Trump's first quarter.

More controversial have been the even larger packages, such as the "American Jobs Plan" at $2.2 trillion and the "American Families Plan" at $1.5 trillion. Still under negotiation with Congress and labelled as an infrastructure program, the former contains carve-outs like the $174 billion proposed for electric vehicles, and floats proposals to levy high income earners and to increase the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.

Plans to finance such outlays with higher taxes — on retirees as well as "the rich" — are quite apparent. This business tax plan has been described by former vice-President Mike Pence as one benefiting only China, by forcing enterprises off-shore.

The Families Plan seeks to deliver cheaper institutionalised childcare, free pre-kindergarten and community college, and 12 weeks' national paid family and medical leave, with expanded healthcare and lower prescription drug prices to follow. Republicans have described each plan as a "Trojan horse to usher in partisan priorities".

Overseas, the perception of a weak president has been quite evident. China's aggressive behaviour has increased, while Vladimir Putin's Russia must be emboldened by the collapse of U.S. opposition to its gas pipeline project with Germany. Following Trump's lead, America's military withdrawal has dealt the nation out as a major player in the Middle East, making Biden's claim of credit for the fragile cease-fire on the Gaza front — brokered by Egypt — quite bizarre.

Iran especially has profited from Biden's perceived weakness and his lifting of the sanctions imposed by Trump on account of its nuclear program. Its proxy war on Israel via Hamas in Gaza actually allowed Iran to test Israeli-U.S. defences against rocket attacks. The disproportionate casualty rate suffered by the people of Gaza has inflamed the Arab world, likely fracturing the accords with Israel made by the Saudis and Gulf States, and brokered by Trump.

Most humiliating of all has been the bungled withdrawal of U.S. military personnel from Afghanistan this year. Tens of billions of dollars' worth of abandoned state-of-the-art military equipment are now in the hands of the victorious Taliban.

Nevertheless, Americans are always focused on the home front, and the Biden administration's failings on illegal immigration have been glaring. Expectations about relaxing border protection raised during the campaign, followed by halting wall-building on the Mexican border, and issuing nine other executive orders dismantling this Trump signature policy, have resulted in a flood of illegal migrants — almost three million in the first six months alone of Biden's presidency — and a bonanza for people-smugglers.

Many illegal migrants have been returned, as before, and unaccompanied children continue to be confined in the same child-protection facilities — described by the media as "cages" when Trump was in power, but now painted more favourably. Drownings have been reported among those attempting to cross the Rio Grande, echoing the Australian experience before Coalition governments twice "stopped the boats".

It was announced that Vice-President Kamala Harris had been put in charge of the situation, but until as late as June 25 she had not even visited the border area.

Texans and other Republicans have been particularly scathing about the Biden administration's policy to address only the economic and political causes of illegal migration (Executive Order, February 2) — that is, to dole out financial largesse to the often corrupt governments of Central America in the hope of slowing the flow of asylum-seekers.

The transgressions on Americans' liberties, livelihoods and even the rule of law are too numerous to record, and Republicans anticipate a conservative backlash in the 2022 midterm elections; but that would mean thwarting the election fraud which gave the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg the whip-hand.

In the run-up to last year's presidential election, Joe Biden was initially side-lined in the Primaries. Later, however, the Democrat establishment gave him the nomination only because he wasn't Bernie Sanders.

Canadian media tycoon Conrad Black has pointedly contrasted the energetic former President Trump with his frail and faltering successor Joe Biden. He says that "the Biden Administration is a disaster mitigated only by the quieter political atmosphere that has naturally resulted from replacing a deafening human tornado with a waxworks dummy" (American Greatness, July 12, 2021).

Biden has committed several very public gaffes. On May 20, in his first commencement address as the nation's commander-in-chief, he fumbled a simple joke "borrowed" from an old speech of Ronald Reagan's. He stammered and left out key words, making the joke unintelligible.

Worse was to occur on September 15 at a Washington media conference announcing the U.S.'s new trilateral partnership with Britain and Australia, called Aukus. President Biden remembered the name of British prime minister Boris Johnson; but when he turned towards a TV screen on which the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison was appearing via video link, he had a complete memory lapse.

First, Biden appeared to hesitate, then said: "And I want to thank that fella down under. Thank you very much, pal." He added: "Appreciate it, Mr Prime Minister."

It is tempting to feel sorry for him.

But remember that he claims to be a devout Catholic, while flouting that Church's teachings on abortion, the LGBTIQ agenda and several other evils, and that he must be aware of his son, Hunter Biden's, extortions at home and abroad.

It is more realistic to see him as an old man, long denied the coveted title of President of the USA, but now deluded into selling his soul to wear it.

John Morrissey is a retired secondary school teacher who has taught in government, independent and Catholic schools. He lives in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn.

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