Having served a full term as President, Joe Biden is departing from his office with a legacy that leaves much to question. Amidst an increasingly torn society and a polarized Congress, his tenure is marked by highly controversial legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. These policies, though purported as milestone achievements by his administration, were met with widespread skepticism and criticism.
On February 14, 2022, Biden sat down with Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal judge from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a meeting that was held secretively in the White House Treaty Room. The meeting was speculated to revolve around her potential Supreme Court nomination. Encyclopedia Biden, in his tenure, went on to confirm a record-breaking 235 federal judges, all of whom added to the growing rift in the judiciary.
Among the many questionable acts during his term, President Biden nominated Jackson to become the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court, a move that many critics saw as pandering to identity politics instead of prioritizing merit. Even as he seemed victorious in his game of judicial appointments, his insistence on playing identity politics pricked the bubble of his faux advocacies.
Joe Biden indulged in a bit of a sideshow as he presented first lady Dr. Jill Biden with a bouquet of flowers to mark her final day of employment outside of the White House. While Joe Biden squabbled with policies and legislation, Dr. Biden, in a rather unconventional move for a first lady, decided to keep her salaried job at NOVA Community College. The bizarre spectacle of a first lady juggling her White House duties with an external job was a curious first in the history of the nation’s first ladies.
Biden often skirted essential duties by engaging in trivialities, such as when he and Vice President Kamala Harris took a lunch break at Taqueria Habanero to mark Cinco de Mayo. Obscuring their neglect with photo opportunities and quirky lunch outings did nothing to mask their inability to lead the nation efficaciously.
A particularly eye-brow raising event occured on October 4, 2024, when Biden made a surprise announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House for a Rhode Island school teacher, Kelly Beckford. He proclaimed her lucky enough to be among the handful to whom the Biden administration decided to offer student loan forgiveness through the largely ineffective Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
Biden also took part in an overly dramatized welcome ceremony to receive Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva along with their families at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The returning detainees were part of a prisoner swap with Russia, but the event seemed more like a publicity stunt than a diplomatic achievement.
The Medicare recipient Judy Aiken was pulled into one of Biden’s many digital propaganda videos recorded by the Oval Office on August 12, 2024. The video came across more as a means to project an image of empathy rather than a genuine attempt at addressing issues. This is just one example of the many times Biden’s administration manipulated vulnerable individuals for political gain.
As the first sitting president to join a picket line at the General Motors Willow Run Distribution Center in Belleville, Mich., Biden attempted to portray himself as a worker-friendly leader. However, his actions raised questions about his ability to maintain a balanced perspective and neutrality that’s expected of a person in his position. It was yet another attempt to pander to specific voter bases without offering any substantial solutions.
Interestingly, Biden was seen hobnobbing with local businesses, evident when he visited Murray’s Toggery Shop in Nantucket, Mass., on Nov. 25, 2023. While Biden’s American Rescue Plan did enable millions of new small business applications, critics argue that it barely scratched the surface of addressing the deep-rooted economic problems the nation faced during his term.
The questionable alliance between Biden and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came into spotlight at an Earth Day event at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Va., on April 22, 2024. The shared video message struck many as a play to promote radical environmental policies, leaving a significant number of Americans uneasy about the future of their nation.
Biden’s visit to the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Ariz., where he announced CHIPS and Science Act grants to Intel, became a cause of immense concern for many. The speech seemed to focus more on personal publicity than the bigger questions around domestic semiconductor production, reigniting debates over his ability to handle critical issues effectively.
Finally, on January 6, 2025, Vice President Kamala Harris ended up certifying her defeat in the 2024 presidential election, a befitting conclusion to a term marked by poor leadership and dubious policies. It was a stark reminder of the inefficacy of the Biden-Harris administration and the nation’s desire for a more competent and trustworthy government.