Passing the Torch

President Joe Biden delivers farewell address in the Oval Office. Evan Vucci, POOL/AFP via Getty Images and USA Today.

Hey Nighthawks! My article this month is going to be new territory for me! You may be used to my “History of” articles and commentary on school events. However, in this article, I will be taking on the farewell address of former President Biden as well as reporting on the inauguration and policies of President Trump. It is important to note that this article is not meant to sway you one way or another nor is it intended to scare you for the future of America, it is simply to talk about the next chapter and new leader of our country as well as keep you informed with relevant, up to date information that will help you form your own opinions. I highly recommend that you fully read through any sources I have linked even if they may be long or boring!

Farewell Address

On January 15th at 8pm Eastern Standard Time, President Joe Biden gave his Farewell Address to the public. He recaps the successes of the Biden-Harris administration in the past 4 years as well as his hopes and warnings for the future.

Biden starts his speech by talking about the recent accomplishment of his administration: reaching a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. He explains his team has kept the incoming administration informed about this progress to give them the tools to be able to implement this deal as they come into office. This segues into talking about the Statue of Liberty and how it is a symbol of the heart of America and those who built it. Biden exclaims in his official speech that, “She was built to sway back and forth, to withstand the fury of stormy weather, to stand the test of time, because storms are always coming. She sways a few inches, but she never falls into the current below — an engineering marvel”. This is similar to the resilience of America during its highs and lows through history. After this, he recounts the accomplishments that his administration has made to better the country including Medicare, efforts toward reducing climate change, and the creation of new jobs. Although he hasn’t fixed every issue, Biden explains that “it will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together. But the seeds are planted, and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come”. As the next administration settles into the shoes of the previous president, Biden wishes them success because he wants to see the country succeed as well.

After this part of the speech, President Biden transitions into his worries for the country going into this new chapter. He talks about the privileges we have in America and how he believes they are in danger. He warns the country of how unchecked power can be abused when it is in the wrong hands, especially a large concentration in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy individuals. Biden states, “Today, an *oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead”. He describes how this has happened in the past with robber barons, however, Americans stood up and kept them in check, which he hopes we can do now. He says the words “everyone should play by the same rules” multiple times and exemplifies how this is the solution to combating an oligarchy. This leads into his next warning about the danger of technology and AI. There are so many places to get information today, not just newspapers that have been peer reviewed and edited. Media is not always thorough in their fact-checking, which will lead to the downfall of our country if we aren’t careful. He explicitly states, “Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power…We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families, and our democracy from the abuse of power”. From here, Biden discusses how we can reform politics and government. He explains how we need to get *dark money out of the political world as well as limit the power of a president by putting into the constitution that a leader is not immune to crimes committed while in office to any extent.

To conclude this section, it’s important to really understand the deeper meaning behind this farewell speech. It is not to criticize the upcoming administration but to deliver a message to the people of America to close out this era of our country.

Election Recap

Before talking about the inauguration of Trump and potential policies, it’s important to recount the election. In the months prior to the election, there was a series of debates between the Democratic and Republican parties. It began on June 27, 2024 between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Not long after this debate, Biden announced his withdrawal from the race for the presidency. Nearly a month later, on July 21, 2024, Kamala Harris announced her campaign to compete against Trump. On September 10, 2024, Harris and Trump had their own debate about their campaigns, policies, and overall beliefs. The final debate was on October 1, 2024, between JD Vance on the Republican side and Tim Walz on the Democratic side. On November 5, 2024, final public votes were collected and the race to 270 between Harris and Trump began. By the end of the week, the scores were finalized. Harris had 226 votes while Trump had 312, securing his victory. On January 6, 2025, the electoral votes were finalized, officially naming Trump the 2025 to 2029 president.

When talking about Trump’s immediate plans of action, there are 11 main things according to NBC that Trump plans and has promised to do. Firstly, NBC gives a detailed explanation about the first thing Trump planned to do. January 6, 2021 was when the U.S Capitol in Washington, D.C was stormed by Confederate and Donald Trump supporters two months after Biden’s presidential win. Thousands were charged for their actions and involvement. The news website states, “On numerous occasions, Trump has said he would quickly pardon people convicted for their role in the January 6, 2021 [insurrection]…When NBC News’ Welker asked Trump in December about his timeline for pardons, he said, ‘I’m looking first day.’ He went further in an interview with Time magazine published last month, saying, ‘I’ll be looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes.’ In a January press conference, Trump was asked if he was looking to pardon January 6 defendants who were charged with violent crimes. Trump said, ‘We’re looking at it,’ adding that he intended to make ‘major pardons’”. In addition to this, Trump promises that in his first day in office he will begin the “Made in America” auto industry. This means that the auto industry will be fueled by energy from America sourced by suppliers based in America. These are not all of Trump's promises though. The other 9 policies listed are beginning a mass deportation program of undocumented immigrants, ending/changing the amendment of birthright citizenship, ending open-border policies and reimplementing the process of deporting migrants faster, ending the war in Ukraine, implementing *tariffs on products imported from Mexico and Canada, cancelling electric vehicle ‘mandates’ (goals by Biden to aim for 50% of new cars and trucks be zero emission by 2030), commit to increase oil drilling, limit transgender women’s participation in women’s sports, and ending gender-affirming care such as hormone therapy. He is very set on backtracking Biden’s policies and pushing a very conservative view during his term. This is exemplified in a statement in an October speech in West Palm beach that he will, “sign an executive order on his first day in office to cut federal funding for schools ‘pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content to our beautiful children’”.

Due to this article being written as the power is newly transferred, it is hard to talk about the immediate impacts of these promises. Currently, many of these agendas are unable to be passed with just a president’s signature while others are illegal or will take time to see effects. However, things will change very quickly within the next 4 years and first steps have already begun to take place to make these policies reality.

Now, I know this was a lot of information to throw at you! But, I think that it is important to know what is going on in the government, especially with this transfer in power from the Democratic, left-leaning party, to the Republican, right-leaning party. Not only is this a new person in charge but a whole new belief system. Some of you reading may have been able to vote in this election but most of you most likely couldn’t. This is still important to you! Anyone reading this will be able to vote in the next presidential election and it is crucial that you keep up with the news and implementations of the new president so you are well prepared for November of 2028. It’s also important because many of these laws will affect you directly at some point. The way to keep society on the path to progression, equality, and success is to stay involved, fact check information, and most importantly, keep the country united and free.  I hope you enjoyed this article, even if it is more serious than I usually write. See you next month Nighthawks!

Glossary and Additional Research