It is really surprising how much President Biden in his early weeks chose to stand on the left side of his party and his special interests – and even against the wishes of moderate Americans.
It is most obvious in his madness on the border with Mexico: President Donald Trump has devised perfectly reasonable human policies that have prevented the record increase of Obama-era migrants on the border. Still, Biden moved unnecessarily to eliminate Trump’s “Stay in Mexico” deal and other deals with Central American nations that were clearly working. Instead, he has established a temporary freeze on deportations and is talking about plans to offer a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
All of this encouraged Central American migrants to run to the United States’ border: the number of children they crossed this year is already on track to break the all-time record by 45%. And he had to resort to the notorious “cages” to stop boys who crossed the border without their families, and that will only get worse with the summer.
Meanwhile, the end of deportations is also leading to a return to “catch and release” – posing a public health risk: more than 100 illegal cruisers released last week tested positive for the coronavirus, but were still infected. And that is just one of the ways that this policy affects border cities.
None of this is common sense: 55 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden’s restriction on deportations, and only leftists are happy to see the resumption of the border increase.
And even as he embraces open borders, he is leaving schools closed passively. Abandoning his promises to open up as much as possible in his first 100 days, he now pretends that this cannot be done without major new federal spending contained in his “relief” project – although the country’s schools have billions of leftovers from the relief measures last year, and its proposed expenditures are mainly for years in the future.
Science clearly shows that the reopening poses no real risk to the health of adult students or staff, but the president just refuses to say a word of criticism to the teachers’ unions (and the politicians they control), who are undoubtedly the real barrier to reopening. That is why parish and private schools in the United States and public schools in areas of low union power were opened weeks ago.
It has also become extremely environmentally friendly in energy policy. While most Americans support moderate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this does not cover their multi-trillion-dollar plans to decarbonize the entire country. In a single action, wiping out the Keystone XL pipeline, he killed thousands of good jobs in the U.S. and slapped America’s good friend, Canada – while in fact harming the environment, as Canadians will simply dispatch their oil by rail and truck (which means more pollution and a higher risk of spillage) to consumers who will still burn it, probably in dirtier factories than here.
Then there is its cultural war absurdity, like its order requiring biological males to be allowed to compete in sports with girls – another policy that most Americans disapprove of, according to a Harvard University and Harris Insights and Analytics survey.
He is so reluctant to challenge the extreme left that he played along with the crazy impulse to cancel Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel, setting aside all mention of the beloved author in his proclamation of Reading Day for America. It doesn’t matter that the day arrives on March 2 because it is Seuss’s birthday, nor that then President Barack Obama and his wife in 2015 highlighted Seuss’s work for interns and children. “Almost everything you need to know is in Dr. Seuss,” said Obama. Wow, now Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted Seuss a wish for a happy birthday in 2017.
But the hungry left wants Seuss’s scalp, and Biden forced himself to cancel an author who showed countless millions that reading is fun.
Whether he fears the power of the left, or has no real idea of how extreme his administration is proving, the president is rejecting the sensible center across the board. He’s not just being a fool, he’s doing the exact opposite of his inaugural vote to unify the nation.