Analysis on the actual effect and chance of passage of each of Joe Biden's Executive Orders and Directives
Notice how unpopular most of these actions are with Americans, including Democrats . . . so why is Biden doing these things that Nobody Voted for?
by Hunter Wallace, January 20, 2021
The Joe Biden era has officially begun.
81 million Americans voted for Not Trump in the 2020 election, but Donald Trump has been vanquished and now we are left with President Biden and his agenda. What is that agenda?
Let’s run through the list of executive orders and directives that Joe Biden signed this evening. Is Joe Biden governing as a moderate Democrat, executing his mandate or throwing red meat to the Far Left?
#1. Mask Requirement – In order to fight the spread of COVID-19, Joe Biden has issued an executive order that “requires the use of the use of masks and social distancing in all federal buildings, on federal lands and by federal employees and contractors.” (Polling Shows 69% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: This is a largely symbolic token gesture and will do nothing to contain the spread of COVID.
#2. Rejoining World Health Organization – Joe Biden has issued an executive order directing the government to rejoin the World Health Organization. (Polling Shows only 38% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: The WHO only gives advice and this will have zero impact on our lives. It is another largely symbolic token gesture. Who cares?
#3. Rejoining The Paris Climate Accord – Joe Biden has issued an executive order directing the government to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. (Polling Shows only 29% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: This is a DILE (Democratic Independent Liberal Elite) issue. Climate change and the environment are their two most important issues. By doing this, they have saved the planet.
#4. Reviewing Trump Rollbacks – Joe Biden has issued an executive order that revokes the permit for the Keystone XL oil and gas pipeline and imposes a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing in ANWR. (Polling Shows only 32% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: I side with Trump on this issue, but it is a priority for the energy sector. The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Alabama is $2.17 on the day that “fascist” dictator Donald Trump left office. If that changes because of Biden’s environmental policies, we will know who to hold responsible.
#5. Student Loan Debt – Joe Biden has issued an executive order “to extend a pause on federal student loan payments through at least Sept. 3.” (Polling Shows only 48% of Americans Support some form of this)
VERDICT: Donald Trump did this much when he signed the CARES Act. Joe Biden’s Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z voters were expecting an executive order that wipes out anywhere between $10,000 to $50,000 of student loan debt. If Joe Biden fails to deliver on student debt relief, there will be a severe backlash from younger White college educated voters. This is a huge blackpill for young progressive voters.
#6. Housing Foreclosures – Joe Biden has issued an executive order delaying housing evictions and foreclosures until at least March 31, 2021. (Polling Shows 89% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: Donald Trump was capable of doing this much. No one should be evicted from their home during the COVID pandemic especially in the states where lockdowns have created severe economic hardship. Frankly, a three month pause on foreclosures and evictions is kind of heartless.
#7. Ending the Muslim Ban – Joe Biden has issued an executive order that ends the so-called Muslim ban. (Polling Shows only 17% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: This is also a largely symbolic token gesture. The so-called Muslim Ban became the Trump travel ban. The countries currently affected by the travel ban are Eritrea, Sudan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, Tanzania and Yemen. You might have noticed that Saudi Arabia and Egypt are not on that list. The “Muslim ban” was always a joke.
#8. DACA – Joe Biden has issued an executive order to preserve DACA. (Polling Shows 74% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: The “conservative” Supreme Court actually shot down Trump’s attempt to end DACA last June. Trump never succeeded in getting rid of it.
#9. Border Fence – Joe Biden has issued an executive order to suspend construction of the Trump border fence. (Polling Shows only 26% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: Donald Trump’s promise to “Build the Wall” was transformed into refurbishing the George W. Bush era border fence. Neither the George W. Bush border fence or the Trump border fence was much of a deterrent to illegal immigration. This is another largely symbolic token gesture. (Editors Note: Trump did manage to replace old and build new wall for 450 miles. This is an effective deterent to illegal immigrants but it is a shame it will not be completed.)
#10. Census – Joe Biden has issued an executive order to reverse a Trump plan to exclude illegal aliens from being counted in the 2020 Census. (Polling Shows only 41% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: The 2020 Census will be used to determine the number of congressional districts and Electoral College votes each state gets. I’m not sure how big of an impact this will have though on the outcome.
#11. Comprehensive Immigration Reform – Joe Biden is sending a bill to Congress to grant amnesty to all illegal aliens in the country. (Polling Shows only 22% of Americans Support this)
VERDICT: Joe Biden needs to get rid of the filibuster or find 10 Republican votes in the Senate to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Marco Rubio who led that effort last time has already announced his opposition to any new bill. It doesn’t seem likely to pass the Senate at the moment.
#12. Racial Equity – Joe Biden has issued an executive order to launch a “a government-wide initiative directing every federal agency to review its state of racial equity and deliver an action plan within 200 days to address any disparities in policies and programs.”
VERDICT: This is largely performance art and anything meaningful that comes out of it will be challenged in federal court. (Editors Note: This is a major shift and major goal of the Left to replace equality, everyone having the same chances in life, with equity, everyone getting the same out come. If implemented, it will mean that everyone is equally poor not equally rich! This is a COMMUNIST PRINCIPLE and must be stopped.)
#13. Underserved Communities – Joe Biden has “created an equitable data working group to make sure federal data reflects the country’s diverse makeup and direct the Office of Management and Budget to allocate more federal resources to underserved communities.”
VERDICT: This is another politically correct token gesture. I suppose it sounds good to DILEs, but what does this amount to?
#14. Rescinding Trump’s 1776 Commission – Joe Biden has scrapped Donald Trump’s 1776 Commission.
VERDICT: Trump created a panel to encourage patriotic education and appointed Charlie Kirk and Brooke Rollins to it. It was always a joke. (Editors Note: This was no joke and the author does not understand the implications of implementing the racist 1619 Project in our schools)
#15. LGBTQ Workplace Discrimination – Joe Biden has signed an executive order “prohibiting workplace discrimination in the federal government based on sexual orientation and gender identity and directing federal agencies to ensure protections for LGBTQ people are included in anti-discrimination statutes.”
VERDICT: This is another nothingburger. No one was discriminating against LGBTQ employees anyway. Donald Trump was waging a global crusade to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. (Editors Note: Trans is not a protected class under Civil Rights Law and should not be because it is subjective not objective like race or age. This Executive Order attempts to treat Trans the same as Gay and is a threat to every business owner because of legal liability for something that in not determinable. This is deadly to businesses and to women.)
#16. Revoking Trump’s 2017 Interior Enforcement Executive Order – The executive order broadened Trump’s categories of illegal aliens subject to deportation and restarted the Secure Communities Program.
VERDICT: The real news is that Joe Biden’s promise not to deport any illegal aliens in his first 100 days doesn’t appear here.
#17. Protecting Liberians Who Fled Civil War – Joe Biden will extend the Liberian deportation deferral until at least June 2022.
VERDICT: Donald Trump created a path to citizenship for them by signing the 2020 NDAA.
Really?
A temporary amnesty for Liberians? Where is our $2,000?
In his first day in the White House, President Joe Biden did virtually nothing that the American people wanted. He signed a bunch of highly symbolic executive orders which collectively don’t really amount to much. It was performance art politics when Donald Trump did it and it was performance art politics when Joe Biden undid it. The real story is the actions he didn’t take like relieving student loan debt.
There are also reports that the $15 minimum wage has been dropped from the COVID relief bill and that it has been pushed back until March. So far, it looks like Neoliberal Joe is more interested in protecting illegal aliens and railing against “white supremacy.
