[Real Clear Politics] President Joe Bide began the week in Wisconsin, where he told voters that former President Donald Trump had occupied too much space in their heads during the last four years. He ended it with a trip to a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing site in Michigan and a virtual appearance before the G7, telling his European allies that "America is back."
That time, he didn’t mention his predecessor by name. He didn’t have to. With Trump’s second impeachment trial squarely in the rearview mirror, the 45th President was, for the first time in nearly six years, truly out of the spotlight. And the policies and actions Biden rolled out this week, both domestically and internationally, signaled a new era.
This week alone, the United States pivoted sharply away from Trump’s go-it-alone foreign policy posture, officially re-joining the Paris Climate Accords, announcing a willingness to resume discussions about returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and pledging a $4 billion contribution to a global COVID vaccine sharing initiative. At home, Biden pointedly made his first two trips to Wisconsin and Michigan—two states that narrowly helped deliver him the presidency—to sell his COVID relief package by speaking with voters and visiting a COVID vaccine production facility.
The moves were all repudiations of Trump. In Michigan and Wisconsin, he highlighted the nation’s progress in getting closer to defeating the pandemic after it ravaged the country during the final year of Trump’s presidency. But turning the page on Trump won’t be easy. If Biden telegraphed optimism about a new chapter in American politics, he also tried to temper expectations about how quickly he can bring about significant change. |