Biden: Dreamer or Dictator?

The United States just recently elected a new President into office. President Joe Biden was sworn into office on January 20, 2021. Biden wasted no time and quickly got to work, but did he get to work too quickly? On his first day, Biden signed fifteen executive acts, which is way above the average number of acts a president would do, especially on the first day. This begs the question about our new President Biden: Is he a dreamer, or is he a dictator?

For this story, I have sat down with Senior Jaxon Preble who gave me his thoughts and feelings on the situation, as well as other political topics. When asked his thoughts on signing fifteen executive acts on the first day he responded, “You know it can be seen both ways, it can be seen as an abuse of power, but it can also be seen as getting stuff done, and I do respect that. I mean politicians are known for not doing anything, and especially with Biden’s record- 47 years in office not doing a whole lot, 15 acts on his first-day was pretty good. I do respect him for that.” I replied to the same question by saying, “ I think that it is definitely not normal to be signing fifteen executive acts on the first day, and some may see it as an abuse of power, but in my opinion, I think that this was his way of showing America that he can get stuff done. And I respect him and his choosing to take action right away, especially when it is typical stuff he said he was going to do and I think that he really just stepped up to the plate and started right away. It may have been eagerness or it could have been his way of saying, ‘hey, you know I’m in charge, and I can get things done like you said I couldn’t do.’” So we both agree, Biden may just be trying to prove his power. This will never be known for certain, so I wanted to ask Preble what his thoughts were about the acts themselves. 

Out of the fifteen acts, seven of them were undoing what President Donald Trump did in his four years in office. When asked if this was reasonable or disrespectful, Preble replied, “Another can be seen both ways, I personally see it as undermining Trump, since the first thing [Biden] did was end the Keystone pipeline, which killed over 75,000 jobs with the swipe of the pen. That’s just how I see it. Especially since Trump spent his four years on killing unemployment, I kind of see that as disrespectful, but as I said, hes doing what he said he’s going to do, and he was elected so I respect that still. I simply think he’s trying to unravel Trump’s policies out of spite, because Trump didn’t show up to his inauguration, and they weren’t the best of friends. It wasn’t a gentleman-like race. So I see it as ‘I hate you, so I’m going to undo everything you did.’” I responded to the same question, “You know, I think if you just look at it without context it can be seen as disrespectful… just undoing what he did in those four years of office just like that. But if you look at it with the context, you know Trump and Biden are very different – right and left – so I don’t know if it was specifically undermining Trump. That may have played a part in it, but I think that he was really just completing what he said he was going to do… and most of it was undoing what Trump did. And the majority of these acts I believe will be a step forward for our nation.” The motives behind Biden’s executive acts may have been questionable, but you can not really judge a book until you dive into its content.

After Preble and I discussed if his actions were reasonable or disrespectful we decided to focus on three acts. These acts were mandating masks in federal buildings, rejoining the Paris climate accords, and ending wall construction. I kicked off the questions by asking how his thoughts about mandating masks in federal buildings reflect Biden’s response to the COVID-19 crisis compared to Donald Trump’s response. Preble commented, “I think Trump never really had a fair chance because the virus showed up at the end of his term, and it was a new virus we didn’t have much information about the virus. He was warned of it before, but he kind of underplayed it, and I didn’t agree with that. I don’t think Trump had a fair chance at it, but I do respect Biden for taking the step towards preventing COVID-19 where Trump just wanted to stop it.” In response to this question I replied, “I would like to respectfully disagree [with Preble] where you said that he didn’t have enough time to make a mandate. The coronavirus showed up in the United States in early March, and we knew about the effectiveness of masks very early on, and I think Trump was just trying to stay on the good side of the people, specifically the right, and not mandate them. I believe he had plenty of time, granted I don’t know how the whole process would have worked, but I believed he could have definitely taken more steps to prevent COVID-19 within America, and I think if he did a lot more people would still have their lives.” Overall,  Preble and I agreed that masks do indeed work and that they should be used to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

The next question was, “Do you think rejoining the Paris Climate Accords was a step forward or backward to our nation?” In short, Preble replied, “Once again I can see both sides, and I mean obviously, our world is not gonna last as it is. I think global warming is completely real, and we’re going to have to do something to stop it, coming from both sides, it kills jobs, but at the same time, it can produce jobs because we’re going to have to find new technology. It’s a step forward, but small businesses will suffer,” In response to the same question I remarked, “I wholeheartedly think that this is a step forward for our country. I think leaving the Paris climate accords was a very naive thing to do especially when you choose to flat out ignore the existence of climate change. I also believe that rejoining it will hurt the economy in many ways, but in the destroying of jobs, there will be plenty of new ones created as well. It will hurt for sure, but America will bounce back, we always do.” Preble and I agree that something needs to be done about climate change, there will never be a right time, we just need to get it taken care of as soon as we can. 

The third act Preble and I discussed was ending wall construction. He said, “The wall was totally unnecessary I thought it was a waste of tax dollars.” Preble stated that he supports legal immigration, but he didn’t think building a wall was going to stop illegal immigration. I personally do not have an opinion on illegal immigration vs. legal immigration. It is something that I will never have to go through because I was lucky enough to be born in the United States, but I do believe that the border wall was a waste of time and money. 

Near the end of the interview, Preble said that he had some questions for me. He asked, “What do you hope to see Biden accomplish with his presidency?” I responded, “I personally would like to see unity within the nation. The whole right and the left thing is just simply ridiculous, and I hate it. For me, it has damaged many relationships and is something that I struggle with personally. I would love to see the reassurance in unity and reasurance that America is a great nation and that it will continue to be a great nation. In Biden’s inauguration speech, he said he thought of it as unity day, and that is truly what I am hoping for. I hope we can end the internal war that America has going on.” I hope unity day is right around the corner, rather than the start of a dictatorship. Fifteen executive acts on the first day were quite an interesting topic to discuss, and there are many ways this situation can be seen. 

If Biden is a just dreamer or if he is a dictator, all we can do as American citizens and students is to be hopeful that it turns out for the better. Fifteen acts on the first day may be too many, but Biden is doing what he said he would do, and we must respect that decision. America is undoubtedly about to make a lot of changes so let’s buckle up and hold on because it might just get bumpy.

I would like to thank Jaxon Preble for coming in and having a respectable conversation with me and for providing great information for this story!