OPINION:
The soon-to-expire Biden administration is behaving as if an invading foreign power were about to take over and the house must be burned down to keep the “invaders” from succeeding.
In the past few weeks, the cynicism meter has ticked up several notches because of decisions made by the outgoing president and others in his administration. First came the pardons of Hunter Biden and roughly 1,500 others, including a former Pennsylvania judge who used his private jail system to incarcerate juveniles, pocketing the profits. Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, ripped the pardon, saying President Biden got it “absolutely wrong” in what has been called a “kids for cash” scandal.
Among the other questionable pardons and clemencies was one Mr. Biden issued for Rita Crundwell, the former comptroller of Dixon, Illinois. Ms. Crundwell was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for stealing almost $54 million over two decades from a city of 15,000 people. It is said to have been the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history.
Ms. Crundwell, now 71, admitted embezzling from the city and using the stolen funds to support a lavish life. According to WTTW, officials recovered only $40 million of the stolen city money from court settlements, the work of auditors and proceeds from the liquidation of Ms. Crundwell’s assets.
Mr. Biden has been engaging in a fire sale of steel barriers ordered during the first Trump administration to build a wall and secure the southern border. These were materials paid for with taxpayer money. It is part of what appears to be a cynical plan to frustrate the incoming Trump team and make their border-control job more difficult. I don’t recall a transition like this in our history.
Then came the drones. Those in the administration assert that the drones are not from U.S. adversaries and pose no threat to public safety. They have also claimed to know nothing about them. If they know nothing, how can they assert they are not from foreign entities and will not harm people? The drones have been seen over New Jersey and New York for weeks and have lately been spotted over California and Nevada.
A woman called a Washington talk show and said she and her daughter had seen 30 drones flying over southern Maryland. Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, has posted pictures of what he says are drones flying over his home in the Washington suburbs. With no credible information coming from the Biden administration, conspiracy theorists are in full swing, along with accusations of a cover-up.
While New York Mayor Eric Adams says he will cooperate with the incoming Trump administration in removing migrants in the country illegally, even from his “sanctuary city,” other Democratic mayors and governors are promising to resist deporting even those who have committed crimes and to “Trump-proof” their cities and states.
Incoming border czar Tom Homan has promised to send teams of agents into resisting cities and states controlled by Democratic politicians and remove migrants. An October Fox News poll indicates they have the support of an overwhelming majority of Americans.
According to the poll of registered voters, support for deportation has increased dramatically since 2015. “Among nonwhite voters, 57 percent now support mass deportations, while only 33 percent said they did in 2015. Additionally, 91 percent of Republicans now say they support deportations — a 21-point increase since 2015. Rural voters’ support has risen by 20 points, urban voters by 19 points, and men’s support increased by 16.”
Even Democrats’ support for deportations has increased to 42% from 34% in 2015.
It doesn’t appear to matter to the Biden administration, which has five weeks to go. They are behaving as if Vice President Kamala Harris, not Mr. Trump, won the election and voters can be ignored.
The second Trump administration will have a lot of cleaning up to do. If its promised policies are shown to work, look for public approval to remain high as they and a GOP congressional majority seek to reverse the damage caused by the Biden administration.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
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