Biden Is Projected To Be The President-Elect. Here’s How It All Went Down.

The Washington Post wrote about some of the executive actions Biden might take right as he enters office. They include:

• Ending the Trump-era ban on people coming to the U.S. from some majority-Muslim nations.
• Reinstating the DACA program that protected some undocumented immigrants from deportation.
• Reentering the United States in the Paris climate accords.

As you can tell from his speech tonight, COVID-19 mitigation is also going to be a big Biden priority.

I guess I have a brand, because my phone is exploding from everyone I know texting me about Biden talking about mandates. Maybe I should send him a copy of my book. In terms of the answer about whether we snap back to normal, I think that Biden’s use of the mandate idea is actually a way of side-stepping that question. As I note in my work, presidents use this idea when they’re embattled and struggling with legitimacy. I’m not sure how this will play out, but I don’t think polarization is going to end in the next 74 days. However, Biden is using that rhetoric, it seems, to define his presidency as a crisis presidency. He just mentioned Lincoln and FDR. These were not moments when the nation was united and at peace; they were challenging and incredibly divided times. But national leaders worked to address those problems because they were so pressing and the country depended on it.

Biden is citing a common Eucharistic hymn in his speech. He’s a Catholic, don’t forget!