Joe Biden’s Priorities

The incoming Biden administration has released a list of 17 executive orders that Biden intended to issue on his first day in office. Here they are, with my comments:

* Stop border wall construction

Of course–if Donald Trump did it, Biden will do the opposite. But who, exactly, thinks it is a good idea to allow hundreds of thousands of Central Americans to flood into the U.S. illegally?

* End the “Muslim Travel Ban”

It was not, in fact, a Muslim travel ban. But ending it at this point is purely symbolic (i.e., anti-Trump), as international travel has pretty much ground to a halt.

* Rejoin the Paris climate agreement

No sane person believes that any good will come of this, and in the news is the fact that Chinese coal output has risen to 2015 levels. The Paris agreement was and is a joke. Again, this is anti-Trump, and nothing else.

* End the Keystone XL pipeline…

Does anyone know what stage of construction the Keystone pipeline is at? Can Biden actually end a fully-permitted and under construction project by executive order? And if so, without paying huge damages? And what, outside of fringe left-wing fanatics, is the constituency for destroying the American energy industry?

* Count non-citizens in the U.S. census again

Of course.

* Rejoin the World Health Organization
* “100 Days Masking Challenge”

The president has no constitutional power to order people to wear masks, so this is symbolic, applying to federal buildings and lands, and to–a huge and growing field for overreach–federal contractors. Just what Americans are clamoring for–more mask mandates!

* Extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums
* Extend “pause” on student loan payments until September 30

These are payoffs to Democratic constituencies.

* Defend “Dreamers” program for undocumented young Americans

I am not sure what this means. The “Dreamers” program was illegal; by “defending” it, I guess the Democrats will somehow try to resurrect it in the courts.

* Change Trump’s arrest priorities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Change them how? This can only be a change for the worse.

* Keep protections for a group of Liberians in this country

No idea what they are talking about. Liberians are a generally successful and increasingly conservative demographic. Sounds like this isn’t a change at all.

* Restructure federal government coordination to [sic] the COVID-19 pandemic

Restructure? Wow, that will help! This is included, obviously, because Biden campaigned on the claim that no American would have died from (or with) covid but for Donald Trump being president. So now Biden needs to change something. Anything. But, presumably, not the fruits of Operation Warp Speed.

* Actions to advance racial equity through the federal government. Every federal agency to review equity in their programs and actions. Revoke Trump’s “harmful” 1776 Commission

The Democrats are either trying to provoke a race war, or doing a really good imitation of such an attempt. This might be the number one priority of the “Biden administration.” (Has anyone awakened Joe to tell him about it? Who knows?) I say this because it was only a matter of minutes after Biden was inaugurated when the report of the 1776 Commission, which Scott wrote about here, was deleted from the White House web site. U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow comments, “this tells you everything about the Left’s priorities–can’t have the truth about America out there for even a minute.” Maybe the Commission’s report, which was produced by people like Larry Arnn, Charles Kesler and Kirsanow, will circulate in samizdat form. But not on social media, I suppose.

* Strengthen workplace discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity

Yawn. Being gay is a plus in corporate America, and I am still hoping to meet, someday, a “trans” person.

* Freezing last-minute Trump administration regulatory actions

A presidential administration should never leave anything to the last minute.

* Formulate Executive Branch ethics doctrine. President Biden wants every executive branch appointee to sign an ethics pledge. “And, the pledge commits federal employees to uphold the independence of the Department of Justice.”

This was inevitable, because the Democrats have accused the Trump administration of various non-existent ethics violations. It would be fun to see the “pledge” that Biden wants all executive branch employees to sign! If we get our hands on it, we will publish it, but don’t hold your breath. Especially goofy is the idea that federal employees–mailmen? Department of Agriculture clerks?–are going to “uphold the independence of the Department of Justice.”

That would be the DOJ that tried to get Hillary Clinton elected president and then schemed to destroy the Trump administration. The Department of Justice whose Attorney General, Eric Holder, described himself as Barack Obama’s “wing man.” The Department of Justice whom John Kennedy appointed his brother to head–so it could be independent, no doubt. Don’t be fooled–DOJ is expected to be “independent” only when we have a Republican president. Otherwise, like every other federal department and agency, it reports to the president.

This is a sad laundry list. Ask yourself: what is there, in Biden’s first 17 executive orders, reflecting presumably his priorities, that will help the American people? Nothing. But helping the American people is not the agenda of the Democratic Party. We had a president who did his best to help Americans, especially working-class Americans. His name was Donald Trump. And the “Biden administration,” whoever may be in charge of it, is devoted to undoing all of those accomplishments.

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