By Haris Khattak, Student at Haileybury and Imperial Service College
Being the first American President to be impeached twice makes Donald Trump arguably the most controversial President of the United States. Mixed with his disastrous handling of the pandemic, it is easy to understand why there is a lot of animosity towards him.
Trump and Joe Biden have both had ups and downs in their time as the 45th and 46th Presidents. Although Biden has been in office for 200 days, his ‘American rescue plan’ and his administration’s rollout of vaccines have, for the most part, been a success, gaining the support of the majority of the American public.
For many Americans, Biden’s paternalistic and steady approach is a break from Trump’s action-packed authoritarian presidency. Compared to where Trump was in his first 200 days in office, Biden has much more support from the public, with a 57% approval rating compared to Trump’s 41%.
Although Biden has a higher approval rating in his short time as President, we have to look at the bigger picture. Trump had many economic successes through his tax cuts that have provided ‘juice’ for the country’s GDP.
Here’s a look at where these rivals stand on key issues:
The Pandemic
Trump’s handling of the pandemic, for the most part, was alarming, and just 39% of Americans approved of it. To add, 207,000 people died under Trump’s administration according to The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research.
Over the course of last summer, perhaps the most worrying issue was the repeated lies being fed to American families in a crisis. On 4th July 2020, Trump mentioned, “99%” of COVID-19 cases are “totally harmless”. Instead, statistics suggest, even if the virus doesn’t kill you, it can cause tremendous suffering, as per WHO’s statement suggesting that 15% of COVID-19 cases can be classed as ‘severe’.
Before the Biden administration came to power, vaccinations, testing and protective equipment were being handled by individual states as opposed to the federal government- which produced mixed results.
American deaths from COVID-19 were at an average of 3000 a day when Biden took office. The current 7-day average is 707 and falling. This is largely due to the effectiveness of the Biden administration’s vaccination programme.
Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/24752/biden-administration-vaccine-rollout/
At this time, there have been 345 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered with 164 million Americans being fully vaccinated, meaning exactly half of the country has now been fully vaccinated- one of the world’s best vaccination efforts.
The economy
The biggest issue faced by both presidents, second to the health impacts of COVID-19, is the state of the American economy. Public opinion polls now show that the economy is seen as the biggest issue now that the virus is seemingly ‘under control’.
“I’m going to make our country rich again” were the words mentioned in one of Trump’s passionate rallies back in 2016. In some ways, he did just that.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56919076
In 2018, Trump cut corporate taxes from 35% to 21% and decreased overall taxes for 65% of working Americans. In 2019, he presided over the nation’s lowest unemployment rate in 50 years of 3.67% as well as a soaring stock market. These cuts in taxes also caused America’s GDP grow faster compared to any of the G7 countries- The US economy was ‘booming’.
Biden has set out a plan to spend almost $6 trillion to turn ‘peril into possibility’. The three plans include the American Jobs Plan (costing $2.2 trillion), the American Rescue Plan (costing $1.9 trillion) and finally the American Families Plan (costing $1.8 trillion). Compared to Trump’s $2.2 trillion relief bill before he left office, Biden has spent $3.7 trillion more and is planning on raising corporate taxes to 28%.
This enormous fiscal spending has caused the American deficit to reach a staggering $3.9 trillion as of 2021. However, it is not all bad news. Economists predict US growth in 2021 could reach 6%, a level not achieved since the 1980’s.
Foreign policy & the environment
During his first term, Trump’s foreign policy was influenced heavily by the “America First” mantra, which nearly led to the US withdrawal from NATO. Biden pledged that he would move away from Trump’s ‘do-it-alone’ approach.
Both tackled different issues during their time in office. However, one thing they both have been aware of is the US footprint in Afghanistan. The further removal of troops from Afghanistan was started by Trump in 2019 which Biden has carried on during his first 100 days in office, withdrawing the last 4500 troops that remained.
Over the course his Presidency, Biden has made it clear that he is an outspoken advocate for environmental regulation. Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord, an agreement by 195 nations to cut their climate pollution, which Biden swiftly reinstated US membership of on 20th January. To further show his climate concerns, Biden signed an executive order to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline was previously intended to be completed in 2017 under the Trump administration.
Biden has definitely taken a firmer stance on Russia compared to his predecessor. He has made it clear that he finds Russia’s expansionist aims in Eastern Europe a threat to America. Therefore, his priority has been to rebuild relationships with allies that Trump ruined through his ‘America First’ approach, which enables him to prepare for the so called ‘global contest’ between democracies and authoritarian governments.
Trump also believes he has made significant achievements. His promised “big, beautiful wall” across the Mexico border has seen 200 miles (320 kilometres) of construction which, originally meant to be paid for by the Mexicans, has now cost the US government $15 billion. Trump also engaged with ‘rocket man’ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on three separate occasions and became the first US President to enter North Korea– something Trump counts as an achievement.
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