Name: Joe Biden is scrambling to control Donald Trump’s damage as Inauguration Day approaches. So is Trump
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Joe Biden is scrambling to control Donald Trump’s damage as Inauguration Day approaches. So is Trump

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close This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To orderpresentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distributionto colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire aboutpermissions/licensing, please go to: WASHINGTON—An incoming president preparing to take office in a crisis. An outgoing president leaving in disgrace. Each of them, according to reports, working as quickly as possible on damage control.For president-elect , that will mean a on his first day in office and the days immediately after, a good many of them aimed squarely at undoing the actions of his predecessor.For President , it will mean an on his last full day in office, a final display of the use of raw power in defiance of accountability that has helped define his term.It’s as good a snapshot as any of the contrasts between the two presidents, concluding a transition of power that has been more contentious than any in modern times. Neither set of measures, as brash as each is, is likely to keep the damage the two men are aiming at from raging on for quite some time.On Biden’s side, leaked transition team documents reveal an ambitious day-one plan to take action on immigration, climate change and COVID-19. Among the 10 orders Biden is expected to issue on Inauguration Day are ones that would see the U.S. immediately rejoin the Paris Climate Accords, reverse Trump’s travel ban on those coming from Muslim countries and implement a mask mandate on federal property. Of particular note to Canada is to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. This isn’t being greeted as good news by the bigwigs in Ottawa and Edmonton, who have a lot invested in the pipeline — in dollars, in political capital, and in economic plans. But any of them who claim surprise are either dishonest or dim-witted — Biden’s promise to kill the pipeline, seen as essential to his commitment to climate issues by environmentalists, has been both prominent and unambiguous.“We renew our call on the incoming administration to show respect for Canada as the United States’ most important trading partner and strategic ally,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney told The Canadian Press on Sunday. But no conversations I’ve had with experts in recent months make me think there’s going to be a lot of wiggle room on the issue anytime soon. Canada’s pipeline interests are squeezed between Biden incentives. On one hand, this is a core symbolic priority for the new president in nailing his colours to the mast as a climate-change fighter; that’s what makes it a first-day order. On the other hand, issues like COVID-19, the economy, civil unrest and immigration remain higher profile and immediate fights for Biden. They won’t leave a lot of space for the administration to muck around on a Canadian priority that might lead to the kind of nuanced climbdown that Kenney and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might hope to negotiate. As much as Biden will flood the zone with executive orders in his first days in office to undo the more extreme things Trump accomplished in the same way, actually delivering on his promises for the economy, the pandemic, climate, immigration and other issues is going to be an all-consuming, years-long fight as he negotiates the tricky politics of his own party and the filibuster threat of 50 Republicans in the Senate. Trump’s reported plan to pardon or commute the sentences of 100 people on Tuesday, meanwhile, is a thematically appropriate capstone to his term. Well before he started actively calling for an election to be overturned, his use of the pardon power was already about the threat he posed to the rule of law in the United States. The ability to grant pardons has always been controversial, and its use by former presidents has often been a source of uproar. But in the way Trump has — and specifically to protect those whose crimes were related to covering up for him — has inspired new levels of outrage.Over the past few months, much has been reported about Trump considering pre-emptive pardons for his children, associates such as Rudy Giuliani, and even himself. And while , the that“no final decisions have been reached.” Either way, he’s expected to have an eye on helping both his friends and himself: “The expectation among allies is that Trump will issue pardons that he could benefit from post-presidency,” CNN noted. “‘Everything is a transaction. He likes pardons because it is unilateral. And he likes doing favours for people he thinks will owe him,’ one source familiar with the matter said.” If he acts as predicted, Trump will cap a presidency in which he often wielded executive power for his own personal and political benefit by doing it again, one last time. Yet accountability for Trump and his close allies — in the form of an impeachment trial, business boycotts, social media bans and potential prosecutions at state levels — will still lie ahead. For both presidents, a single day or week of actions can only control so much damage. But the attempts are fitting signs of where the two men’s priorities lie, one as he assumes power, the other as he surrenders it.Read more about: JOIN THE CONVERSATION Q:Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)Sign InRegisterConversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the . 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close This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To orderpresentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distributionto colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire aboutpermissions/licensing, please go to: WASHINGTON—An incoming president preparing to take office in a crisis. An outgoing president leaving in disgrace. Each of them, according to reports, working as quickly as possible on damage control.For president-elect , that will mean a on his first day in office and the days immediately after, a good many of them aimed squarely at undoing the actions of his...

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Edward Keenan

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Joe Biden is scrambling to control Donald Trump’s damage as Inauguration Day approaches. So is Trump

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