For Americans, living under President Joe Biden, it has been an exceptionally long four years. President Donald Trump bequeathed to Biden a strong country with American energy independence, a secure border, a robust military, peace abroad and economic prosperity at home. Sadly, Biden ruined everything Trump left to him by pursuing destructive progressive policies that were an abysmal failure.
On his first day in office, Biden declared war on the oil and gas industry, shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline and placing moratoriums on drilling. He embraced a radical “Green New Deal” that incentivized electric vehicles and alternative forms of energy, such as wind and solar. These “green” policies cost Americans more and enriched China.
Biden created an open border by ending construction of the wall and inviting undocumented migrants from around the world to descend on the country. The resulting influx of noncitizens overwhelmed cities throughout the country and led to increased crime and illegal drug deaths.
Biden elevated woke generals and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in the military resulting in a severe recruitment crisis. He projected American weakness in the withdrawal of Afghanistan that left 13 American military personnel dead and the Taliban, a deadly terrorist group, in control of the country and billions of dollars in military equipment that we left behind.
This weakness invited the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 and led to three years of a deadly war.
In the Middle East, Trump engineered historic peace deals known as the Abraham Accords. Instead of building on this success, Biden placated and rewarded the radical rulers of Iran, which directly led to the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023. Incredibly, fifteen months later, Hamas is still holding seven Americans hostage, although only three may still be alive.
When President Trump left office, the unemployment rate was declining, while interest rates and inflation were extremely low. The country was quickly recovering from the depths of the COVID pandemic.
While Biden could have continued Trump’s successful policies, he decided to engage in reckless deficit spending, which increased our national debt by $8.6 trillion to the current level of $36.3 trillion. Biden is the biggest spender in American presidential history, adding $800 billion more to the national debt than President Trump.
The massive spending led to rapidly increasing inflation and the Federal Reserve’s decision to start raising interest rates. Consequently, mortgage rates skyrocketed, leading to a crisis in the real estate industry and keeping millions of people from realizing the American dream of home ownership.
As inflation soared, wages did not increase enough for Americans, who fell behind on their monthly bills. The current household debt for Americans increased by $147 billion in the third quarter of 2024 to a staggering $17.94 trillion.
This debt includes $1.17 trillion in credit card balances as Americans were forced to charge more to pay their bills. Additionally, Americans were unable to save money as the cost of living rose too quickly. In November of 2024, the average savings rate for Americans was only 4.4%, about half of the historic level of 8.43%.
During his presidency, Biden created a catastrophe at home and abroad. Not surprisingly, the American people view him very unfavorably. According to a recent poll by J.L. Partners, Biden is ranked as the worst President in modern American history.
With such a poor record and a pitiful ranking among the American people, it would seem logical for Biden to attempt to end his pathetic presidency on a high note. Unfortunately, Biden is moving in the opposite direction and ending his presidency in a particularly destructive manner.
To hamstring the Trump energy agenda, Biden just announced in an executive order that huge areas of offshore waters in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico will be off limits to oil and gas drilling. Biden also announced two new national monuments in California, preventing federal drilling in 840,000 acres of land.
Biden has also used the transition period to make very controversial decisions. He granted clemency to almost 1500 people and pardoned not only his son Hunter, giving him “blanket immunity” for an eleven-year period, but also 39 individuals, including some convicted of heinous crimes.
In another set of moves to negatively impact President Trump, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates and released eleven Yemeni inmates from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, sending them to Oman for their release. As Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) noted, the “release unnecessarily jeopardizes our national security.” In recent weeks, Biden released four other Guantanamo Bay inmates and has reduced the inmate population at the detention center from 40 to only 15.
Last Friday, the Biden administration issued an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 900,000 individuals seeking asylum from Ukraine, El Salvador, Sudan and Venezuela. This is an attempt by Biden to thwart the ability of President Trump to deport noncitizens from our country.
Biden is also using the transition to reward Trump’s political enemies. On Saturday January 4, Biden gave the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to President Trump’s persistent critic and former White House opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and to the largest benefactor to Democratic Party candidates and causes, George Soros. He also bestowed the award to George Romney, father of former U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), avowed Trump political enemy.
To fully showcase his pettiness, Biden presented the nation’s second highest civilian award, the Presidential Citizens Medal, to former U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) and U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the two ringleaders of the sham January 6 Congressional Committee that withheld evidence and was extremely biased against President Trump.
This disgraceful transition has fully exposed Biden as a hateful and angry old man. He cannot stand that his loathsome presidency will forever be regarded as a nightmare that the American people will try valiantly to forget.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs Saturdays from Noon until 1 p.m. CT nationally on Real America’s Voice TV Network & AmericasVoice.News and weekdays from 7-9 a.m. & 6-7 p.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com
