Politics
Biden likely to keep same routine, accomplish 'nothing' in waning months of presidency: insiders
President Biden’s tenure in the White House expires in January, and political insiders from both sides of the aisle believe the remaining six months of his lame-duck presidency will consist largely of the same routine and “absolutely nothing.”
Biden suspended his 2024 re-election campaign on Sunday, noting in a statement that he believed it “is in the best interests of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”
Biden’s announcement, which included his “full support and endorsement” for Vice President Harris to take over as the party’s presidential nominee, led many Americans and political pundits to question what that fulfillment of duties will look like and whether the president will see through any meaningful policies or changes during his remaining months in office.
Former Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who represented Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District in the House from 2013 to 2021, said she sees little change coming Americans’ way in the next six months, insisting Biden “hasn’t been the one making decisions” on key issues all along.
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President Biden suspended his 2024 re-election campaign on Sunday, saying he would “focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.” (AP Photo/Evan Vucci/File)
“Clearly, President Biden hasn’t been the one making decisions on our country’s domestic and foreign policy for the last three and a half years,” she said. “The same unelected people running the country with Biden as their figurehead will continue to do so for as long as he is in office and with Kamala Harris, if she’s elected.”
“The people who’ve been actually running the country are the unelected power elite from the administrative state, national security state and military industrial complex working hand-in-glove with the propaganda media acting as their agents,” she added. “Their goal is to remain in power at any and all costs, and [they] have already shown they are willing to do whatever it takes to defeat and destroy [former President] Donald Trump, as he is the greatest threat to their power.”
Biden’s unprecedented announcement came as an increasing number of Democrat lawmakers publicly called for him to step aside, with the party’s leadership reportedly engaged in efforts to convince the 81-year-old president he could not win the November general election against Trump, the 2024 GOP nominee who he defeated four years ago to win the White House.
“Clearly, President Biden hasn’t been the one making decisions on our country’s domestic and foreign policy for the last three and a half years,” former Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News Digital. (Getty Images)
Julian Epstein, an attorney and former chief counsel to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital he believes there is “almost nothing” Biden will be able to accomplish in the months and days before the inauguration.
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“There is almost nothing that Biden can achieve in the next six months, other than treading water and maintaining the status quo,” he said. “If the White House were smart, it would double down on its support for Israel and make clear that the Democrats understand moral clarity on fighting what is in effect the Ku Klux Klan on the banks of the Mediterranean.”
American Majority CEO and founder Ned Ryun echoed Epstein’s assessment, saying he believes there’s “absolutely nothing” Biden will be able to accomplish in the shadows of Harris’ presidential campaign.
“First, there’s no way anyone on either side of the aisle would want to push the envelope as they have their own re-elections to worry about,” Ryan said. “[Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer would never let anything overtly problematic come to the floor in the Senate because it’s a terrible map already; he doesn’t need to make it even harder for them to try and hold majority.”
“So Biden will achieve precisely nothing, except via executive orders, as he’s beyond a lame-duck president and shouldn’t even still be in office,” he added.
President Biden and Vice President Harris (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
During his tenure in the White House, Biden has signed 140 executive orders, 196 presidential memoranda, 634 proclamations and 133 notices.
After his announcement, Biden’s schedule was largely cleared of campaign events and speeches.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that Biden intends to complete his term in office and “run through the finish line” in January.
“We don’t see ourselves as a lame-duck president at all in this period of time,” she told reporters from the briefing room. “This is a president that has been incredibly successful, and he’s going to do everything that he can to continue to fight for the American people.”
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.