6 Crises that Sunk Biden in First Year as President

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Since Joe Biden assumed the Presidency of the United States, he has faced multiple crises that he has not been able to overcome in one year. Approval levels fell to historic lows and so far, about to enter his second year in office, he has not been able to get back on his feet.

It was in September 2021 when for the first time the White House admitted that Joe Biden was dealing with “multiple crises.”

“Well, let me just say, I know there’s been a lot of polls and conversations about, you know. But […] his is the role of the President, right? To make sure that we can — we have — address multiple crisis at the same time,” responded Karine Jean-Pierre, White House deputy press secretary.

Biden’s record of crises is astonishing: in 11 months he generated a historical increase in illegal immigrants, withdrew troops from Afghanistan abandoning hundreds of Americans, received dozens of lawsuits over the mandatory vaccination mandate, inflation in the country rose to its highest level in 30 years; and among other things, generated struggles with international allies to the point where critics even called him a “traitor.”

In the face of adversity, Biden has left much to be desired, and his weak image before the world has even led to attacks against the security of Americans and against the country’s cybersecurity.

Biden against his allies

Biden’s first setback in 2021 came with the Israeli-Palestinian war conflict when, according to The National News, he revealed that the president ignored warnings from two Arab governments imploring him to address the crisis brewing in Jerusalem before Hamas attacked.

“Since April, Arab governments sent unambiguous messages to Washington on the need to act quickly, to pressure Israel and to try to reduce tension,” says the media outlet, which accessed a diplomatic source. Following the ignored warnings, Hamas attacked Israel with rockets, which responded by shelling Gaza.

But, in addition to having ignored the warnings emerging from the Middle East, Biden also turned his back on France when he concealed an alliance with Australia and Great Britain in the framework of an agreement providing for nuclear submarines.

France complained about the consequences of the signing of this tripartite alliance which led Australia to cancel a major contract to buy French submarines.

In addition, Biden now plans to reactivate the nuclear agreement with Iran, turning his back on his ally, Israel, which has already expressed its opposition to the agreement following the recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showing that Iran has begun the process of enriching uranium to 20%.

Withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

The sudden departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan represents the most serious moment in the crisis of the Democratic administration.

As recently as July 2021, Biden defended the hasty departure of troops by securing all means for Afghan security forces to take control of their people’s future. However, the president’s advisors failed in their forecasts and the Taliban retook control in less than 2 weeks. Although 69% of American voters initially supported the withdrawal of the troops, the majority now believe that the withdrawal was poorly handled and disapprove of Biden’s handling of the issue.

It should be remembered that the impromptu troop withdrawal left hundreds of Americans stranded in Afghanistan, and a dozen military personnel dead after a terrorist attack around the Kabul airport.

Illegal migrants, a record number

Since Biden took office, the number of illegal migrants has skyrocketed following his open borders policy, causing an unprecedented immigration crisis.

Border Patrol data revealed that arrests rose to 1986 levels when then-President Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill. During fiscal year 2021, authorities apprehended more than 1.7 million illegal migrants, according to official CBP data.

The curious thing is that during Reagan’s term, the 1.69 million arrests of illegal migrants occurred nationwide, while so far in FY 2021, of the 1.7 million migrants apprehended, 1.66 million have been arrested on the southern border alone.

Unanswered cyber-attacks

In May Biden had to address a fuel crisis generated after the Darkside hacker gang attacked the computer system of the country’s main oil pipeline, Colonial Pipeline, which generated gasoline shortages at gas stations in at least four states.

The pipeline, which carries nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel supplies, was taken offline by the hackers, and the crisis was such that governors across the Southeast declared a state of emergency.

In June meat supplier JBS USA paid an $11 million ransom in response to a cyberattack that led to the shutdown of its entire U.S. beef processing operation.

The cyberattack affected servers supporting JBS’s IT systems in the Americas and Australia. The U.S. government attributed the ransomware attack to REvil, a criminal gang believed to be based in Russia or Eastern Europe.

In July some 200 companies in the United States were hit by another “ransomware” or cyber hijacking-type cyber attack, in which systems were tapped by hackers until the affected individuals or companies paid to unlock them.

Record inflation in 30 years

Inflation in the last 12 months was at a 39-year high. Prices increased 6.8% last November compared to the same month in 2020, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released Friday by the Labor Department.

This is the highest level of inflation since 1982, driven primarily by energy prices.

Biden’s approval rating in free fall

In November, Joe Biden hit a new approval low when half of those polled blamed him for rising inflation, with 6 in 10 of them saying he has not accomplished much during his time in office.

Biden’s 41% approval rating represents a 3% decrease from 44% last September; it also represents a significant drop from the 50% reported in June and 52% reported in April.

Last December 11, a new poll revealed that the majority of Americans disapprove of Joe Biden‘s management of the Presidency, especially in economic matters where 69% disapprove of how the Democratic administration is handling inflation.

It remains to be seen what will happen in 2022 and how Joe Biden will deal with the crises to come, especially after the White House announced that the president will probably seek reelection.

Sabrina Martín Rondon

Sabrina Martín Rondon is a Venezuelan journalist. Her source is politics and economics. She is a specialist in corporate communications and is committed to the task of dismantling the supposed benefits of socialism // Sabrina Martín Rondon es periodista venezolana. Su fuente es la política y economía. Es especialista en comunicaciones corporativas y se ha comprometido con la tarea de desmontar las supuestas bondades del socialismo