Deflating Biden’s Legacy: Trump’s Unchecked Power Under Republican-led Congress
The period since President Donald Trump resumed his presidential role has been characterized by intense activity, signaling a clear intent to fulfill his commitments. The President’s power, bolstered by an obliging Republican-led Congress, has been employed predominantly for the transformation of federal governance and to disrupt existing foreign policies. As Trump commemorates his century mark in the office, his governance’s impact is discernible, but the long-term effects remain nebulous. Some of his executive orders are essentially declarations with an aim to achieve impending tasks.
On his first day, President Trump categorically announced an energy crisis to stimulate production. However, the President isn’t assuring any immediate gains and has asked the citizenry to expect lower utility bills only by the subsequent year. In the background, Trump’s juggling several conflicting goals is active. While he pledged to diminish living costs, he also promised to impose tariffs on overseas products, which in reality would escalate prices.
Despite Trump’s contradictory promises, the inflated prices have seen a gradually decline from a peak of 9.1% in 2022 to 2.4% in March. Yet, Trump’s self-congratulatory statement claiming to have ‘solved inflation’ is met with skepticism because the Federal Reserve indicates that Trump’s tariff plans, which involve taxing foreign imports, could indeed end up raising prices.
A critical area where Trump has shown tangible progress is with respect to border control. Data shows that unauthorized crossings into the United States from Mexico dramatically declined during the tail end of Joe Biden’s term, plunging from 249,740 in December 2023 to 47,324 in December 2024. Trump’s re-arrival appeared to have given the final push in border control as the numbers dipped further to a mere 8,346 in February and 7,181 in March.
With respect to his much-touted energy policy, Trump promised a substantial reduction in energy costs, promising to cut utility costs by half to three-quarters within a span of 12 to 18 months. There wasn’t much conviction in his promise as was obvious from his statement, ‘If it doesn’t work out, you’ll say, ‘Oh, well, I voted for him, and he still got it down a lot.’
Trump’s fondness for trade tariffs is not a secret and he firmly believes that these are necessary since, according to him, other nations are exploiting the United States on international trade. He was quoted as saying, ‘I will impose across-the-board tariffs on most foreign-made goods.’
In a surprising move, the Trump administration also decided to target academic institutions, which resulted in the suspension of legal status for numerous foreign students studying in various schools across the United States, at least for the time being.
During his tenure, Trump also led a strong offensive against what he called ‘woke’ policies. Under this offensive, he launched a systematic purging of diversity references within federal communications and put a halt to several programs initiated by the Biden administration.
Trump also pledged to challenge trans rights, specifically controversial issues like the participation of trans athletes in sports events. He asserted an aggressive stance towards the societal tendency to view gender as non-binary. Controversially, he was clear about rolling back rights and allowances for transgender individuals.
In the same vein, he fulfilled his promise by signing executive orders explicitly banning transgender athletes from playing in girls’ and women’s teams.
Trump, in collaboration with Elon Musk, managed to create a massive upheaval within government bureaucracy. This resulted in numerous government employees being removed from their positions and raised the specter of even more sweeping changes in the near future.
Remarkably, Trump made good on one of his highly controversial promises – to grant pardons to the rioters who were arrested on January 6. Acting true to his word, he did exactly that.
Lastly, in line with his intention to privilege the production of oil, natural gas, and coal within the nation, Trump signed multiple executive orders which were meant to support his goals.