Opinion piece by Aaron Palmer
A lot has happened since Joe Biden was inaugurated as
the 46 th president of the United States, which have all had
effects as to how the public, countries and other political
figures view him and his presidency.
Early on in the Biden administration the President, Joe
Biden, signed several executive orders that undid a vast
amount of what the former President, Donald Trump, had
worked to do, such as lifting the Muslim travel ban Trump
had imposed upon 7 countries, allowing people who
identify as transgender to join the military and re-joining
the Paris climate accords. Furthermore, Biden also
signed in other executive orders to bring in extra
protection to LGBTQ and minority groups against
discrimination and a plan to help tackle the Covid-19
pandemic in the US. These reforms and orders signed by
the President have found themselves drawing applause
from groups across the US and the world, obviously
loudest from democrats and other left-wing politicians.
These executive orders have brought in areas of
common-sense and hospitality unseen throughout the
Trump administration with a kinder and more suitable
approach to those of the LGBTQ community and
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providing them with support that the Trump
administration had arguably neglected. The equity
assessments commissioned in federal agencies to
reallocate resources to help promote racial equity across
agencies in the US are greatly beneficial in the effort to
bridge the gap in discrimination and inequality of races
and to help promote diversity. The return to the Paris
climate accords shows a form of common-sense in the
Biden administration to attempt to tackle climate change
and global warming and acknowledge it as a real issue,
unlike the previous president who believed it to be a
hoax. Through these orders Biden’s presidency looks to
be shaping up to be quite a successful, progressive and
appealing presidency in comparison.
More recently the third covid-19 stimulus package of
$1,400, up from the previous stimulus package of $600
was released and distributed to many Americans.
However, both of the recent stimulus packages, the first
being signed by the former President Trump, were
actually short of what Trump had unsuccessfully argued
with congress for, which was a $2,000 to $4,000 stimulus
package. The stark difference between the amounts in
the third package passed by Biden and the amount
Trump had argued for are rather difficult to ignore which
could be seen as a failure of the current administration as
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if Trump who seemed to see covid as a hoax could argue
for a $2,000 stimulus package to Americans then why
couldn’t the current president do such a thing.
Under a recent act from Biden, the military will now pay
for gender reassignment surgery for transgender
members of the military which has found widespread
support from fellow democrats and members of the
LGBTQ community, however it has also been faced with
some criticism. The criticism differs from the military
diverting precious resources to paying for the surgery
rather than tools or equipment that are vital to the
military, or with some Instagram comments and Tik Toks
where it had been criticized why transgender people
should have to be put into a position where they might
possibly have to kill another person or fight abroad just
so they can have said surgery paid for where they may
be unable to afford it. Personally I see it as a step in the
right direction however rather than just being confined to
members of the military it should be widespread across
the general public rather than putting people at risk of
being sent to areas the US military is active in such as
Afghanistan and Syria where they are risking their lives
so they can get a surgery done that they may otherwise
be unable to afford.
More recently Biden and the Russian President Vladimir
Putin clashed over an interview on ABC president Biden
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had with George Stephanopoulos where Biden said
Russia would ”pay a price” for their attempt to meddle in
the US election to prevent Biden from being elected and
in which he also called Putin a killer. In relation to this
statement made by the President, Putin withdrew his
ambassador to the United States calling the statement
“unprecedented” and describing the relationship between
the US and Russia now as “very bad”. Furthermore, the
Kremlin spokesman went onto say that he believed Biden
“does not want to improve relations”. Putin also made the
president an offer to “continue our discussion, but on one
condition that we’ll do so what is called live”. Putin also
spoke about Biden calling him a killer responded with
remembering as children you’d say to each other I know
you are but what am I. Biden’s team responded to the
challenge to a live debate that the president is “quite
busy”.
North Korea has apparently ignored attempts contact
from the White House, with Kim Jong-un's sister and
short-range missile tests. This in comparison to the
Trump administration shows far worse relations with
North Korea as under the Trump administration the
President met with Kim Jong-un several times and had
seemed to come to rather good terms with the nation,
however all that seems to have washed away under the
Biden administration with North Korea and the US back
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up against each other with North Korea actively testing
the US through their short-range missile tests.
So far Biden’s Presidency seems to be a mixed bag,
where he has succeeded in certain areas bringing
around well-meaning reforms that have the opportunity to
improve the US and help create a fairer society, but on
the other hand has drawn criticism on failures in foreign
relations with countries such as Russia and North Korea,
the military paying for gender reassignment surgery and
Biden’s inability to meet Trump’s proposed $2,000 covid
relief package. On top of these there are other issues at
the border with immigrants being detained which this
article has not gone into. Overall so far the Biden
Presidency seems to be a far shot off from being what it
promised to be with ‘no more kids in cages' and a
stronger covid relief scheme and issues abroad.
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