President Biden rode into office promising to undo his predecessor’s work — only to quietly revert to Trump-era policies and initiatives across an array of fronts.
In January, Biden designated Yemen’s Houthi rebels a “global terrorist group” and cut US funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Former President Trump took the same steps in 2021 and 2018, respectively — but Biden undid those efforts to much fanfare shortly after assuming office.
During the rapprochement, Biden steered at least $730 million to UNRWA, allowing the organization to bolster its longstanding and widely documented ties to Hamas.
The Houthis — notable for restoring slavery to Yemen in 2019 — have long been committed to the destruction of the United States.
Their official slogan reads, “Death to America Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
“From his first day in office, Joe Biden indiscriminately tore down and reversed the policies of his predecessor — including those that were indisputably working,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican currently probing UNRWA’s well-documented terrorist ties.
On his last full day in office, Trump imposed tough sanctions on a Russian vessel and its parent company involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a project that would have doubled Russia’s capacity to send natural gas to Europe.
Biden reversed those sanctions in May 2021, overriding a State Department assessment.
Biden re-imposed the Nord Stream sanctions just hours before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The pipeline was ultimately destroyed in September 2022 amid mysterious circumstances.
Some alleged the involvement of the United States — which the U.S. has denied.
During his 2020 campaign, Biden vowed that “not another foot” of Trump’s wall along the southern border would be built.
He terminated construction contracts for the project.
In October, Biden made a U-turn and cleared the way for new border wall construction amid a surge in illegal immigration — tossing aside the relevant environmental reviews for good measure.
In another vehement campaign pledge, Biden vowed to put an end to domestic oil drilling on federal land.
“No more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period,” he vowed.
The Trump administration had approved the construction of up to three drill sites in Anchorage, Alaska — a move Biden undid during his first days in office with a slew of climate-focused executive orders.
But with high energy prices taking a toll on the economy, Biden reversed course in April 2022.
Insiders said the flip-flops would come back to bite Biden.
“Biden ran in 2020 on a whole bunch of hysterical rhetoric about a moral crisis and if he tries to do the same thing in 2024, Trump will have all of these areas to point to and say, ‘Well if I’m such a bad guy why is your administration looking more an more like mine in terms of policy every week?’ ” said GOP consultant Luke Thompson.
