Many of Biden‘s Actions are Indistinguishable From Trumps’
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Large scale issues are addressed using the same archaic, regressive and damaging policies as the previous administration
We’re nearing the three month point in Joe Biden’s presidency. He’s been met with praise for some of his progressive cabinet picks and reverting a lot former president Donald Trumps’ regressive social policies like the ban on transgender people from serving in the military. However, on many of the bigger scale issues, President Biden is looking very similar to Trump.
One of Biden’s biggest promises was addressing the immigration crisis at the southern border. Biden’s response is reminiscent of his time as Vice President in former President Barack Obama’s administration where they were criticized for deporting more migrants than any president in U.S. history. President Biden kept Trumps’ Title 42 policy, which saw 650,000 migrant encounters with fewer than 1% having been able to seek protection.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection released operational statistics in February 2021, citing ‘in February 2021, CBP encountered 100,441 persons attempting entry along the Southwest border. This total represented a 28 percent increase over January 2021. CBP completed 72,113 expulsions from the border pursuant to CDC guidance under Title 42 authority.’
Biden’s immigration response is controversial, drawing heavy criticisms from progressives who advocate for a faster and more accessible path to citizenship. One of the more outspoken progressive congress members is Rep. Ilhan Omar, who accused Biden of a “bait and switch,” she wrote on Twitter. “It perpetuates Trump’s dehumanization of migrants and breaks a core campaign promise. Democrats lose big when administrations won’t fulfill their promise. I urge the Biden transition team to reconsider this position.”
Biden’s perpetuation of deportations and Title 42 isn’t the only criticism he is drawing from his immigration stances. Biden is also under heavy fire for floating the idea of continuing the construction of Trumps’ border wall despite a promise that “there will not be another foot of wall built on my administration” and that the construction of the wall is “a waste of money that diverts attention from actual threats to our homeland security.”
White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, claimed “Wall construction remains paused, to the extent permitted by law, so some has already been funded through a congressional authorization and funding allocation. But as agencies develop for a plan — it’s paused while agencies are developing a plan for the President on the management of the federal funds.”
Besides immigration, Biden is at odds with progressives again for his proposed $715 billion defense budget, an increase over Trumps’ $704 billion defense budget. Progressives have pleaded for a much smaller defense budget in favor of more money being invested into community housing, government assistance programs and healthcare.
Biden’s proposal has drawn criticism from Public Citizen president Robert Weissman, who claimed “It is disappointing to see the Biden administration increase Pentagon spending even one dollar above the excessive, wasteful and dangerous level inherited from the Trump administration. With so many pressing demands facing our nation, the last thing America needs is an increase in Pentagon spending”. He went on to say the proposal is “replete with spending on overpriced weapons that don’t work, rip-off deals for private contractors, gigantic investments in pointless or outdated weapons systems, and waste and mismanagement so severe the agency cannot pass an audit. It is, indeed, a tribute to the power of the military-industrial complex.”
The increased military and defense budget is worrying many due to the funneling of military hardware to law enforcement. Progressives also have begged for defunding the police despite Biden claiming he would not defund the police. In actuality, Biden is funneling record levels of military hardware to police, funneling more in Q1 of 2021 than the Trump Administration funneled in Q2, Q3 or Q4 of 2020. Biden could place an executive order to stop the Pentagon’s 1033 program and take back the funneled military hardware, but Biden has not stated any plans to do so.
The criticisms of policing in America predated Trump, but heightened during his presidency. Data suggests that Trumps’ response to the pleas of Black Lives Matter by aligning himself with police and dismissing police criticisms, made police brutality and systemic oppression, inequality and racism increase. Trump spent much of his time criticizing the looting and ‘rioting’ from Black Lives Matter, much like Biden just did in the wake of Daunte Wright’s killing.
On Sunday, April 11 2021, Daunte Wright was accidentally killed in a traffic stop by a police officer that mistook their handgun for a taser. Protests erupted in Brooklyn Center, Minn. just 10 minutes away where the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis cop charged with murdering George Floyd is currently underway. Biden called for ‘peace and calm’ in the wake of Wright’s death and requested a full investigation into the killing. While his response was more measured than Trump’s, Biden took more time criticizing the rioting and looting, fueling Trumps’ narrative that BLM protests are violent despite 96% of BLM protests involving no property damage and 97% involving no injuries.
The Biden Administration has been a drastic improvement for progressives than the previous administration. However, the praise and applause Biden is garnering frustrates many progressives as the Biden Administration is still echoing Trump and approaching larger scale issues facing the nation with archaic, regressive and damaging policies that do not help those in need.
