New President, New Challenges, New Policy

As this chaotic year approaches an end, the White House waits for its new president. With 306 electoral votes, Joe Biden, former U.S. vice president, has been elected the 46th president of the United States. His resounding victory marked a historical milestone, as it was the most votes ever cast with 75 million popular votes. Although the Trump Administration refuses the admit their defeat and cooperate with Biden’s team, it is definite that Joe Biden will become the president of the United States on January 20. Trump’s attempt to undermine the voting results and disrupt the smooth transition of power is denied by the government and the nation is ready to welcome its new president.

There is no doubt that President Trump will vow to subvert the election results. After the election, Trump demanded an overturn of the election result by claiming that he could only have been defeated if it were fixed. He attempted to support his case by stating that odds-makers on election night heavily supported his reelection.

This is not the only attempt that President Trump has made in order to change the legal results of the election. Over the course of few weeks after the election, President Trump has tried many other ways to overturn the election. However, there were many state and local Republican officials who bravely resisted President Trump’s pressure when he requested an attempt to pretend that there was widespread fraud during the 2020 election.

Although these courageous actions are greatly appreciated, Biden said that he hopes “we never again see anyone subjected to the kind of threats and abuse we saw in this election” and that we owe these public service men and women “a debt of gratitude.” Our democracy lives because of them.

According to statistics, President Trump and his team have been denied by at least 86 judges in more than 50 court cases. Many politicians and analysts say that the nation should be glad that Biden won by a large lead in vote counts. With 7.1 million popular votes and 74 electoral votes, Biden won the most controversial and intense election in modern presidential elections. But what if it was a close election? Pessimistically speaking, this election revealed the vulnerability of U.S. political system.

Despite setbacks, President Trump is still fighting on to disrupt the peaceful transition of power. He claimed that “this fake election can no longer stand. Get moving Republicans.”  This means that Joe Biden is still facing challenges to smoothly transition into the White House.

After six weeks to the election day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finally congratulated Biden and Kamala Harris on their victory in a floor speech: “The electoral college has spoken.”

After officially winning the election, Joe Biden has nominated many new faces to his new team. Biden announced that he will nominate Pete Buttigieg to lead the Department of Transportation. Although they ran against each other in the Democratic primaries, Buttigieg and Biden developed a close relationship during the general election campaign and Biden made it very clear that he will give Buttigieg a position in his new administration.

As a former mayor of South Bend and a new face in Washington, Buttigieg will add new voice and perspective to Biden’s team. Throughout his own presidential bid, Buttigieg showed his skills in terms of communication and effectively presenting himself as a new blood in the White House. His appointment will also be very significant as Buttigieg will be the first openly gay politician to serve as a Cabinet secretary, breaking another barrier after Biden’s appointment of the first female Vice President in American history. “Mayor Pete Buttigieg was open and honest about his identity throughout his time on the national scene, giving a voice to our community, and a new vision of who and how our leaders can love,” said Alphonso David, the president of Human Rights Campaign.

Joe Biden also nominated Jennifer M. Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, as the new Secretary of Energy. She will be the second female, after O’Leary in the Clinton Administration, to lead the vast department. She will be involved in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, 17 national labs and various energy research and development initiatives.

In the future, Joe Biden is expected to pick Gina McCarthy, pervious administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama Administration, to serve as senior White House adviser on climate change. She will be working on domestic climate policies across the nation and play an essential role in assistance of Biden to achieve the carbon neutrality before 2050.

As Joe Biden starts to announce more nominated candidates for the Biden Administration, many politicians say that U.S. is back on track. Biden’s policies and agenda brings everyone hope in a hard time. Biden’s plans also bring hope to end the pandemic that has been underestimated by the Trump Administration.

With the development of a new vaccine, Biden has proposed the creation of a new team of experts to control the pandemic in the United States.

Earlier this week, Biden announced his choices for this health team, which will be dealing with COVID-19. According to a speech given by Biden, wearing masks, 100 million vaccine shots, and reopening schools are the three main goals that he wishes to accomplish in his fist 100 days of his presidency. These three objectives were created with Dr. Fauci, who will be the chief medical advisor in the Biden Administration and will continue to carry on his role as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Biden further nominated Xavier Becerra to lead the Health and Human Services Department. Similar to many other nominees, Biden’s choice will also make history, as Becerra will be the first Latino to serve as head of the department. He has been known for his dedication of the Affordable Care Act and had been fighting President Trump’s attempt to dismantle the Act. Other than Becerra and Fauci, Jeff Zients, who previously served in the Obama administration, will be the White House coordinator of the pandemic.

As many pharmaceutical companies announced their successes in terms of developing an effective vaccine, Dr. Fauci recommended that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris should receive a COVID vaccine quickly for security reasons. Biden claimed that he will be publicly receiving the vaccine.

Dr. Fauci further recommended that current President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence should get the vaccine since it is their duty to protect important figures that will affect the nation’s well-being. In a briefing, McEnany, the press secretary, responded this recommendation by saying that President Trump would “receive the vaccine as soon as his medical team determines it’s best.” The White House will first schedule senior administration officials to receive the vaccine publicly to build up the confidence around the nation. Vice President said he is willing to receive the vaccination without any hesitation.