President Biden Faces Scrutiny as Crucial Election Approaches
Joe Biden was inaugurated into office as 46th president of the United States of America on January 20, 2021. One would think that after having experience as President Obama’s right hand prior to attaining office, Biden would be more equipped to handle the curveballs that inevitably come with running one of the largest countries on the planet. However, research into his tax policy, foreign policy, and human rights scandals seem to tell a different story. Over his first term as president of the United States, he has routinely fallen short in the aforementioned categories. His sloppiness caused the collapse of the Afghani National Defense Force, he lowered taxes in direct contradiction with his campaign promises, and he posed for photo ops with human rights violators.
Two things are inevitable in life—death and taxes. Or so Ben Franklin says. It would make sense that most Americans would care how taxes are being implemented in the country and whether or not politicians are coming through on their promises. For the curious—Biden hasn’t. At a campaign event in 2020, Biden promised to raise taxes for “the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations” and to “make sure they pay their fair share.” The reality of the matter is net taxes have decreased during his presidency, according to IRS numbers. In total, since he was inaugurated, Biden has cut taxes more than he has raised them, a direct contradiction to what he promised while on the campaign trail. According to the Tax Policy Center in Washington, DC, Biden has cut taxes by 600 billion dollars during his presidency. He raised taxes on a few things, namely stock buybacks by large companies and minimum taxes for multinational corporations. But he cut taxes 98.67% more than he raised them for the average, middle-class American.
Recently, Biden passed a bill through Congress with tax cuts for companies and corporations who invest in the kind of manufacturing that he wants. This was done to accelerate semiconductor manufacturing, a part of his industrial policy. It begs the question, though: why wouldn’t he factor his manufacturing policy into the lofty promises he was making on the campaign trail? He also passed the Inflation Reduction Act, an act with the largest climate effort in American history. It is, in essence, a bunch of corporate tax cuts. Companies that manufacture solar panels, people who buy electric vehicles, and anything that contributes to the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy constitute a tax cut according to this act. The feat that the Inflation Reduction Act accomplished was that it was passed through Congress. One of the many reasons that Biden has not fulfilled his campaign promise to raise taxes for the wealthy elite is that he has failed, repeatedly, in negotiations with congressional members. Many discussions between the White House and Capitol Hill have proved inefficient, producing little to no tax legislation in line with Biden’s promises. Biden has retained his tax ideology as he campaigns for reelection, which brings into question whether or not the president understands that his plan has not worked and his promises have been left unfulfilled.
When former president Trump left office, he left the incoming administration a mess to clean up in terms of foreign policy. Trump’s erratic and inconsistent foreign policy gave Biden a struggle that he has yet to deal with effectively. One of Biden’s largest foreign policy blights was the messy and chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The 2001-2021 Afghanistan War ended, yes, but the Biden administration failed to coordinate with the Afghani government, effectively prompting the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The Taliban terrorist organization was able to regain footholds against the government in Kabul after the collapse of Afghanistan’s defense.
Additionally, Biden and his administration have failed to address calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, despite the Israeli-Palestinian conflict being one of his administration’s major focuses in recent months. 34,000 Palestinians who resided in Gaza have been killed and 1,410 Israelis have died, including 395 members of the Israeli Defense Force.
In terms of other world powers, manufacturing is a large factor in US-China relations. Biden has managed to shift production of many of the objects originally imported from China—mainly semiconductors—to American factories and industry. The price for that change in the industry is that talks have stopped regarding the very important issues of climate change, global public health, and narcotics trafficking. No matter that there were 19,851 cases of drug trafficking in the 2023 calendar year. It’s okay—America manufactures more computer parts than it buys now. Additionally, Biden’s attitude towards Taiwan has created tensions with the Chinese government.
Another large power in the modern global landscape is Russia. In a press conference on June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland, Biden stated that he wanted a “stable and predictable” relationship with Russia. The administration managed to teeter along that line until evidence of Russian military movement on the Ukraine border became apparent. Now, aid for Ukraine passed after months and months of deliberation. 30,457 civilians have died since February 24, 2022, and aid for the country took multiple months to pass.
One of the most fact-based criticisms is his repeated ignorance of human rights and issues of morality. Our president seems to have selective amnesia, which tracks at age 81. Biden ignored the Saudi murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the bombing of Yemeni civilians, deciding instead to travel to Riyadh and beg the Saudi crown prince for a tad bit more oil. He was unsuccessful in procuring oil but managed to anger many human rights activists. He was also photographed watching the World Cup with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed despite Ahmed’s direct involvement with atrocities in Tigray. His hat trick was an Africa summit that excluded leaders who gained power through direct military methods and violence. He did include other leaders who used a dash more subtlety when deciding to crush democracy, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
There are flip sides to every coin. The flip side to any presidential administration is this: people hear the good things because that is the White House’s intention. There are numerous people employed with the intention of controlling what news the public does and does not consume. The current press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, is the tip of the information control iceberg. Good things are strategically put into the news cycle to shape the public’s opinion of the administration or the administration's decision. Because of that, exercising caution when forming political opinions is crucial. Researching and investigating different perspectives is an important aspect of making an informed political opinion. As the 2024 presidential election steadily approaches—an election in which President Biden is running for reelection—it becomes increasingly imperative and increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction.
