Biden's Messy Policies Dealt a Heavy Blow to Americans in Just Two Years, US Observers Say
© AFP 2023 / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI
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US President Joe Biden capped two years in office on January 20. Sputnik takes a look back on the US president's policies and the fruits they have borne so far.
"The first two years of the Biden administration have been a lawless exercise in authoritarianism that is unmatched in the peacetime history of the US," Michael Shannon, a political commentator and Newsmax columnist, told Sputnik.
Over the past two years, the Biden administration has cracked down on its political opposition, which manifested itself in relentless prosecution of January 6 Capitol Hill protesters, investigations into former President Donald Trump and his entourage, cooperation with Big Tech to suppress the MAGA movement, and the Hunter Biden laptop scandal cover-up, according to American conservative observers.
Border Crisis and Inflation
At the same time, however, pressing issues such as the border crisis have taken a back seat on the US president's agenda, according to the US commentator. President Biden visited the southern border in early January 2023 for the first time in his presidency.
Meanwhile, there were over 2.3 million migrant encounters during the 2022 fiscal year, up from 1.7 million in 2021. For comparison's sake, under then-President Donald Trump, the number of encounters was 458,088 in 2020 and 977,509 in 2019.
"Biden's focus on diversity, equity and inclusion has turned our political system into a disaster," Lisa Haven, a libertarian commentator, radio host and alternative media news analyst, told Sputnik. "There is progress being made on nothing, only talking points, lies and misdirection. Our entire FAA initiated a complete ground stop. Our borders are a porous disaster. The floodgates of opioids have been wide open. The economy is failing, incomes are dropping, debt is rising... So, in short, Biden has dealt with nothing."
10 January 2023, 18:30 GMT
Inflation is yet another problem that cast a shadow on the first half of Biden's term. The US inflation rate went down from 7.11% in November 2022 to 6.45% in December 2022. Despite the modest reduction, this is still considerably higher than the long term average of 3.27%.
According to the conservative commentator, the Democratic leadership's spending spree considerably exacerbated the trend, which started to take shape at the beginning of Biden's tenure along with the steady rise in gasoline prices.
"The economy and inflation are problems, but [the Biden] administration is ideologically committed rewarding its voters and that requires more spending," Shannon said. "More spending exacerbates inflation and makes it harder for the private sector economy to grow. I think we are going to see a longer, more severe recession in the near future. That and the Fed’s interest rate increases are the only cure for inflation and both of those are independent of Biden."
12 January 2023, 11:42 GMT
Biden's Scandals
It's not only the US Republicans who have grown discontent with two years of Joe Biden's presidency, but also his Democratic Party fellows. According to Shannon, the latest scandal pertaining to the discovery of Obama-era classified documents at Biden's unsecured premises is a clear manifestation of that.
"What we may be seeing are internal Democrat divisions," the commentator said. "The recent ‘discovery’ and rediscovery of classified documents that Biden illegally took with him into private life are a problem. These weren’t covered up like Hunter’s laptop. And that may be an indication there are power centers in the Democrat Party that don’t want Biden to run in 2024."
According to the commentator, the congressional investigation into the documents "may just be the start of a long run of negative publicity that makes it impossible for Biden to run and clears the way for someone the insiders would prefer to be the nominee."
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate President Joe Biden's classified memo drama on January 12.
After the GOP won the majority in the US House of Representatives, the Republicans announced a series of congressional investigations concerning the Biden family, "weaponization" of US federal agencies, the southern border crisis, and Biden's classified documents, among other matters.
12 January 2023, 16:28 GMT
Biden's Ukraine Spending
The Biden administration's Ukraine spending has also raised a lot of questions among US conservatives, as the White House pledged over $100 billion for Kiev in just one year. Last year, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin signaled that the US would send more arms to Ukraine in order to bleed Russia white.
Moscow launched its special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after Washington and NATO snubbed Russia's draft security proposals aimed, in particular, at guaranteeing Kiev's neutrality.
Reports saying that some of the US weapons donated to the Ukrainian military are vanishing in the "fog of war" is adding to discontent among congressional Republicans. Some American observers are referring to bombshell the "Pandora Papers" released by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in October 2021. The expose told the story of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's secret offshore accounts and his cooperation with fraud suspect Ihor Kolomoysky, a Ukrainian oligarch.
13 January 2023, 18:55 GMT
"The Biden crime syndicate has flooded money into the coffers of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky and barely any is even reaching the front lines," Lisa Haven said. "America is being fleeced and yet, at home, the average family is bearing the brunt of the financial burden for a corrupt government that is designed to reach into their pockets for every last penny and never, ever, spend a penny of their own."
Shannon agreed that Americans are tired of the blank check for Ukraine. He continued on by saying that unfortunately, the US military-industrial complex and the Washington political establishment "are not tired." Hence, the spending will continue, he forecast.
"The only potential block is the Republican majority in the House and even they are divided. The best we can hope for is a comprehensive audit of the past donations and audit requirements for any future handouts. If the money had been spent domestically would the US have been improved? No. Leftist spending is judged by intentions and never by results. Those billions would just have gone to expand the federal government, fund more leftist non–profits and cover the salaries of leftist foot soldiers," Shannon concluded.
