by John McEnelly
In the fall of 2020, I ran into a woman I had not seen for some time. As we talked, she became excited over her fear Joe Biden would become President because of his diminished capacity due to dementia. This mistaken rumor has gained undeserved traction to the point where during a recent 60 Minutes interview, our President was asked about his “mental state.” President Biden’s reply...“Watch me!”
Let’s review President Biden’s accomplishments since January 20, 2021, and yes, I will be comparing him to Donald Trump’s record.
In 2019, America, along with the rest of the world, was brought to its knees. COVID-19 and its variants have killed over 1 million Americans and continue to cause over 400 deaths per day.
On Jan. 20, 2021, thanks to Trump’s “Warp Speed” program, we were producing 400,000 vaccines a day, but people vaccinated daily was stuck at 45,000 and not climbing. It would take 40 years to give all Americans two shots! Enter President Biden. By the end of February over 1.5 million Americans were vaccinated. That number would climb to over 3 million by the end of March. What changed? Biden and his new cabinet along with the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Veterans Administration, the nation’s medical community, and all state and local governments designed the logistics required to get America vaccinated. Not bad for a guy with dementia.
Required isolation in the battle to get a handle on COVID crushed economies. A LOT of money would be required for citizens to survive the plague - financially, medically, psychologically, and so on. The question was how much? America was sailing in uncharted waters. Eventually, the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure and Jobs Act was agreed on and initiated during the Trump Administration. The Biden Administration continued it.
In August of 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation & Debt Reduction Act, a $700 billion investment, of which $200 billion came from unspent money from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. The rest will be paid with a 15% base tax on profits of all businesses worth at least $1 billion. Because this is a 10-year plan, the cost will be $50 billion per year. Exxon/Mobil’s first quarter profit in 2022 was $44 billion. What do you think? Can we do it without increasing the debt or middle class taxes?
Speaking of debt and taxes, during his four years in office, Trump’s tax cut increased our debt by $5.2 trillion! This was before COVID-19 expenses added another $2.6 trillion for a total debt increase of $7.8 trillion. This was a 39% increase in our debt in just four years. Sadly, the tax cut with its incurred debt was designed as a “hogs at the trough” program.
Joe Biden’s proposal has been advertised as “an investment in America,” and it is. A few examples are: $52B for research and expanded chip production, $8B for EV charging stations, $370B to reinforce our national grid and develop renewable energy production and storage breakthroughs, addressing the sorry state of roads, bridges and public transportation. The list goes on. These are not “chicken in every pot” campaign promises! These are written in laws! As President Biden has stated, “These are projects for America built by Americans at good wages!” Pretty impressive production for a guy with dementia.
When Ukraine was invaded by Russia, the result seemed a foregone conclusion. Trump called Putin’s action a “stroke of genius.” Wasn’t that an amazingly premature statement?! Under President Biden’s leadership, all 30 members of the NATO Alliance were prepared to assist and have! It’s obvious NATO had prepared for Putin’s action over some period of time.
Each country has contributed as it could with America, being the largest economy, leading the way. The vast majority of almost eight million Ukraine refugees have been welcomed by its neighbors for the duration. NATO’s sanctions on Russia and its oligarchs were not crafted over a weekend. Because of NATO’s preparations, Ukraine remains while Russia continues to embarrass itself. Based on what we saw during his tenure, what would be the situation if Trump was President?
The largest one-year increase in violent crime in America was 28% from 2019-2020. Concerning January 6th 2021, Republican congressmen said what happened was no different than families going for a tour of the Capitol Building. Trump continues to refer to the insurrectionists as “true patriots” he loves very dearly while he dismisses the dead capitol police with silence. Contrary to what we hear, Biden has never called for defunding the police. He has moved forward to increase federal funding for law enforcement at all levels.
The recent drop in gasoline prices came about through President Biden releasing oil from our strategic reserves and personally visiting OPEC members to discuss what might be done to help the world. Not bad for a guy with dementia.
Back to the woman from the first paragraph; she listed a number of symptoms “proving” Biden suffers from dementia. That list of symptoms also describes stuttering, which President Biden has dealt with most his life. Social media is not a great source for facts. Disagreeing on policy…okay; attacking genetic traits is not. Let’s rein in the male bovine waste.
