January 10, 2025
Biden Takes Steps to Cause Trump to Stumble
Normally, I share three to four major political news stories from the past 24 hours on this blog. However, today, I’m deviating slightly from my usual routine. One notable story from today involves President Joe Biden taking steps to prevent or at least delay some of the (perceived) most concerning plans that the incoming Trump administration has in mind, so I’m going to focus a little more attention on this and other similar orders the POTUS has done recently. I’ll list these by subject below:
Immigration
Earlier today, the current administration announced that it would be extending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for nearly 1 million immigrants from El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela. This status is specifically offered to foreigners from countries besieged by war, natural disasters, or other emergencies that make deportation unsafe; President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to scale back this and other similar programs. This TPS program will allow immigrants from those countries to renew their work permits and deportation protections through 2026. Theoretically, Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security could revoke that status, as long as the government provides a 60-day notice. So no one from those countries will be able to be deported on Trump’s “Day One”.
Ukraine
Related to the above item, right before the end of 2024, the Biden administration announced that they would be sending nearly $2.5 billion more in weapons to Ukraine to assist in their ongoing war against Russia’s invasion. An additional $500 million in military aid was announced yesterday, as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged other members of the allied coalition to continue to support the war-torn nation. This is still short of the roughly $4 billion left in the congressionally authorized funding for Ukraine, leaving the leftovers there for the incoming administration to provide, if they should choose to do so. I also want to point out that most of this — and previously-sent — aid to Ukraine takes the form of American-made weapons and equipment, meaning that this ends up employing and funding domestic manufacturing in the United States — a fact that is often left out of isolationists’ gripings about us sending money overseas.
Off-Shore Drilling
Earlier this week, using authority granted him by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Biden announced he was assigning a protected status to most federal waters along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico (which is still called that), and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea. While the Act provides the President the authority to withdraw portions of the outer continental shelf from mining and oil drilling, removing that protection would take an act of Congress, meaning that Trump will not be able to easily undo Biden’s move on this front.
Trump Officially a Felon
As a final note for today, Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Donald Trump to an unconditional discharge for his hush money criminal conviction. This means that Trump does not have to pay any fines or serve any jail or probationary time, but he does have a felony conviction on his record. Trump, claiming that he is “totally innocent”, referred to the proceedings as “an injustice of justice” and “a very terrible experience” during his virtual appearance in Merchan’s courtroom.
Interestingly, Florida law specifically states that convicted felons lose the right to vote, serve on a jury, possess firearms, and most interestingly: hold public office. They may also be outright banned from travel to certain countries, which may make potential state visits to places like Canada somewhat problematic. (Ed. note: Perhaps that’s why he’s trying to merge it into the U.S.…)
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