Although Biden’s process of starting a formal transition of power was delayed by the Trump team’s refusal to admit defeat, he does not seem to “hold revenge.” Biden has publicly stated on many occasions that his government will give priority to bipartisan cooperation to help bridge deep political differences and bring the United States back together.
But some Republicans may not buy it. A commentary in the “New York Times” pointed out that after Biden officially took office, he will continue to face all sorts of deliberate acts of nuisance by Republicans. The author took this to “persuade” Biden to abandon his “selling bipartisan unity” to a certain extent, without deliberately wanting to behave differently from Trump, but also to “make Republicans pay the price for obstructing his governance” .
“New York Times”: How will Biden deal with the deliberate nuisance of Republicans?
Biden will be “deliberately hindered” by Republicans
On November 30, local time, the “New York Times” published a commentary by Paul Krugman, a senior columnist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics. This article is entitled “How will Biden respond to the deliberate nuisance of the Republicans?” At the beginning of the article, it mentioned that the 2020 U.S. election will lead to an unusual political phenomenon-when Biden is sworn in, he will be the first to rule when the opposition refuses to accept the legitimacy of his appointment. Modern American president.
Krugman said that because Trump refused to admit defeat, his millions of followers firmly believed that “the results of the election were stolen.” Even though most Republicans in Congress knew that this was a lie, they still expressed doubts about the outcome of the election and did not accept the legitimacy of Biden’s election. Krugman commented that fundamentally, “the Republicans today do not believe that the Democrats have the right to govern, no matter how many votes they get.”
Krugman also said that the results of the Georgia Senate election on January 5 next year will largely determine whether Republicans will do their best to hinder and undermine Biden’s presidency. If Republicans win the key two seats and retain their majority party status, then Biden will undoubtedly become a “lame president.”
“McConnell (the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate) will have tremendous powers of obstruction-anyone who suspects that he will use these powers to weaken Biden at any time will live in a fantasy world.” Krugman commented.
And how much damage will this “deliberate nuisance” cause? Krugman mainly analyzed its impact on the epidemic and economic policies. The article said that as the epidemic continues to spread, unless the US government takes measures to help, tens of millions of Americans will be in desperation. However, “unfortunately, Republicans may prevent this help.”
In terms of economic policy, Krugman believes that the Republican Party may refuse to appoint candidates for key economic positions through Biden. He also said that there may be another financial crisis in the United States, and to make matters worse, the outgoing Trump administration officials have been systematically weakening the incoming Biden administration’s ability to respond to the crisis.
“The United States urgently needs to take action on issues such as infrastructure, climate change, and tax enforcement,” Krugman said, but if the Republican Party retains the “veto power,” these actions will not be implemented.
What does Biden need to do?
How will Biden deal with Republicans obstructing and sabotaging his own governance?
Krugman pointed out in the article that, first of all, Biden needs to take immediate policy measures to help the American people understand how much damage the Republicans’ “deliberate nuisance” will bring. In particular, Krugman pointed out that Biden needs to at least make it clear to voters in Georgia that Democrats have to get the two Senate seats.
According to the “Capitol Hill” report on December 1, the Senate Republicans currently lead the Democrats with 50-48 seats. The Democrats must win the last two outstanding seats in Georgia to make their total number of seats in the Senate equal to the Republican Party to 50 to 50. In this situation, according to the U.S. Constitution, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (Kamala Harris), who is the Speaker of the Senate, can vote to break the deadlock.
If the Democrats win the Senate, then at least for the next two years, Biden will have a smooth run. The policies he wants to implement will most likely be passed, and he will be able to re-elect the justices. But if the Democrats ultimately fail to get these two seats, Krugman said, then Biden will need to take administrative action to achieve as many goals as possible. But at this time, in addition to facing the obstruction of the Republican Party in the Senate, the US Supreme Court will also try to stop Biden, because the Republican-nominated justices occupy 6 of the 9 seats.
In addition, Krugman also bluntly said that Biden needs to make the Republican Party pay for “deliberate nuisance.”
Krugman said that although Biden’s words of “unity” and “two-party cooperation” sounded “comfortable”, to a certain extent, Biden needs to stop insisting on this manifestation of his own uniqueness. Lampe’s completely different political tendencies-under Trump’s leadership, America’s political polarization has been severe and divisions have intensified.
Krugman emphasized that Biden needs to “start to let Republicans pay the political price for preventing him from governing.” Krugman said he was not asking Biden to retaliate against his enemies like Trump. Trump has called on the Justice Department to prosecute Biden and former President Obama, and has repeatedly stated that Biden, Obama and others should face charges. Trump claimed that these people “convicted the worst political crime in American history.”
But Krugman went on to write, “However, the Justice Department should be allowed to perform its duties and prosecute any Trump administration crimes it discovers.”
Prior to this, some Democrats wanted to investigate Trump, his policies, and members of his government and put pressure on Biden. However, according to a report by the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) on November 17, in order to prevent “secession of the country,” Biden expressed his hope to avoid these investigations by the Department of Justice.
But Biden also said that he will not interfere with the judgment of the Department of Justice and will not tell federal law enforcement officers who to investigate or who not to investigate. An adviser to Biden said that overall, Biden’s focus will be on the economy, the Coronavirus pandemic, climate change and race relations, rather than reviewing the Trump administration.
At the end of the article, Krugman “persuades” Biden again, saying that people know that Republicans will carry out “destructive actions” and that Biden needs to make them “pay the price.”
