December 30, 2024
President Carter Dead at 100
The biggest news of the past day, of course, is the passing of former President Jimmy Carter at the age of 100. Carter was the longest-lived American president, and consequently, the president with the longest retirement. When he left the White House in 1981 after his single term as president, he had a dismally-low 34% approval rating; however, that number climbed to well above 50% in recent years and remained high the rest of his life, primarily due to his work with Habitat for Humanity and efforts to pursue and promote peace around the world. And while historians continue to debate his effectiveness as president, people on both sides of the political aisle tend to agree that he was, above all, a tremendously decent person.
Carter will be honored with a state funeral on January 9, with current President Joe Biden — also a single-term Democrat — giving the eulogy. (As a side note, I learned that Carter’s Vice President, Walter Mondale, had written a eulogy for his former boss before he himself passed away in 2021, and Carter had also outlived the co-writers of obituaries printed in both the New York Times and the Washington Post.) And to add just a smidgen of politics to things, it should be noted that, as the U.S. flag code states that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for 30 days after a president’s passing, it will still be at that half-staff position upon Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
Finding Context in the Sausage-Making
The week before Christmas, I had reported on the looming specter of a potential federal government shutdown. This was ultimately prevented by Congress approving, and then President Biden signing the National Defense Authorization Act. As I mentioned at the time, the fierce negotiation between Democrats and Republicans (with significant egging-on from not-yet-President Trump and never-elected Elon Musk) ultimately resulted in cutting some 500 pages worth of Democratic priorities from the bill, although by the same token, one of Trump’s core demands, the raising or removal of the federal debt limit, didn’t make it in, either.
One thing that did make it in, however, has alarmed LGBTQ+ activists; namely a provision that contains restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Alex Cooper, writing for The Advocate, stated, “President Joe Biden signs into law first federal anti-LGBTQ+ bill in decades“. While this is technically true, being the first federal law enacted with a specific anti-LGBTQ+ provision since 1996’s Defense of Marriage Act, it’s a vast over-simplification of the situation, as Biden was caught between a rock and a hard place. This one provision was part of the massive, nearly-$900 billion Pentagon policy bill that kept the government open. Other similar measures that had been in the bill, including restrictions on abortion access and DEI initiatives in the military, were struck from the final bill via negotiations, but with public support for gender-affirming care for trans youth currently under the 50% mark, keeping that language in was a fight the GOP was ready to have.
In fact, after he signed the bill, President Biden issued a statement that he and his administration “strongly oppose” restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans youth, saying that, “The provision targets a group based on that group’s gender identity and interferes with parents’ roles to determine the best care for their children.”
But with both sides of the political aisle careening towards a deadline which could have resulted in the entire government shutting down, and with conservative activists salivating over a potential opening to target the LGBTQ+ community as the source of the impasse, Biden and Democrats didn’t have much of a choice. And with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announcing over the weekend that the government will most likely hit that afore-mentioned debt ceiling in mid- to late-January, the debate may come back to the forefront sooner rather than later.
Trump Sides With Musk in Courting Skilled Foreign Workers
The GOP has been facing an internal struggle, in the midst of their plans to deport thousands of undocumented workers once Trump takes office in January. In recent days, discussions over what are known as H-1B visas have intensified, with billionaire (and former H-1B recipient) Elon Musk advocating for their use. These visas are primarily aimed at bringing skilled foreign workers to the U.S. In the past, Trump has called them “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers, and during his first term as president, he directed changes to the program to limit its use.
Over the weekend, however, in an interview with the New York Post, Trump praised the use of the visas, obfuscating his past position by stating, “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them.” He acknowledged in the interview that his businesses have made liberal use of the visas in the past to hire foreign workers — often at a fraction of the cost of domestic employees.
Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, including far right activist Laura Loomer (also known for frequent racist rhetoric) and former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, while others, including Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA, specifically the Silicon Valley area) have called for significant reforms.
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