Last-minute resolutions: Donald Trump sabotaged Joe Biden's inauguration

Icon: enlarge

Last riot: still-President Trump

Photo: CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS

The end - and with it the new beginning - came, as so often, via tweet: "In the best interests of the country," wrote Donald Trump, he had ordered that his government apparatus begin to hand over official business to Joe Biden.

Three weeks after the election defeat, the outgoing US president is bowing to reality and giving up his successor's stubborn blockade.

He still does not fully accept the result: "We are continuing the good fight." But the undemocratic chaos of the last few days has come to a pitiful end for the time being.

Anyone who believes that Trump is now up to nothing against Biden is of course mistaken.

Even if the Democrat can finally officially prepare for his inauguration, with personal and financial help from the current government, Trump will continue to put as many obstacles in his way as possible.

In his final weeks in office, Trump pulled out all the stops to politically gag Biden with last-minute resolutions and, worse, to leave scorched earth everywhere.

His to-do list - legal but momentous and unprecedentedly cynical - ranges from the sabotage of an imminent economic upswing, which Biden needs, to the throttling of environmental regulations, to foreign policy maneuvers.

The actions, which are often difficult to reverse, are intended to make it difficult for Biden to take office and enable the Republicans to return to power soon.

But they harm all Americans, especially in the middle of a new corona crisis.

1. Economy

Icon: enlarge

No money for Corona: Trump with Finance Minister Steve Mnuchin

Photo: JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin canceled most of the financial aid for the corona-stricken economy at the end of the year.

It is about loan guarantees amounting to almost 500 billion dollars for municipalities and small businesses, which Congress had provided as part of the "Care" emergency package.

The US central bank, which administers this pot, must now return the money - against its express opposition: The "still tense and vulnerable" economy is dependent on the aid, protested Fed Chairman Jerome Powell - in vain.

Because with the next corona wave, which is also leading to new lockdowns in the USA, the US economy is facing a brutal winter.

Millions of Americans will now suffer even more hardship - while Trump deprives his successor of an important means of mitigating and mastering the crisis.

Congress is also unlikely to agree on any significant corona aid this year.

"They're not just closing the shop for Biden," said economist Ernie Tedeschi of the New York Times.

"They're burning the whole place down."

2. Environment

Icon: enlarge

Threatened by oil: polar bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Photo: HO / REUTERS

Trump is rushing to anchor his already environmentally harmful policy before the change of government.

The US Department of the Interior is currently auctioning new oil drilling licenses for the largest US nature reserve, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, completely unnecessarily.

Drilling is also allowed again at the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, whose Indian pueblos are a Unesco World Heritage Site.

It is not the only quick action.

With its "Midnight Watch Project", New York University is recording almost three dozen anti-ecological measures at the last minute.

This final "rebellion" of the Trump administration could become a "speed bump or a roadblock" for Biden, said project manager David Hayes of the Washington Post.

In four years Trump has already canceled more than 100 environmental regulations by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Despite all the good intentions, Biden will not be able to put them all back into force anytime soon.

Andrew Wheeler, the outgoing chief of the US environmental agency EPA, is meanwhile flying quickly to Taiwan and Latin America at government expense, according to the New York Times.

The acting Minister of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, apparently had a similar idea - although he has been officiating illegally for a year after a court ruling.

3. Security and Foreign Policy

Icon: enlarge

Soon almost everyone is gone: Trump with US soldiers in Afghanistan (2019)

Photo: Alex Brandon / AP

Trump has fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and other top Pentagon officials.

The reason has now become clear.

The new guard will only officiate for a short time, but already creates a fait accompli: Esper's successor, Christopher Miller, appointed by Trump, initiated an extensive withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, which ties Biden's hands in military policy.

Somalia should soon follow suit.

Opponents of the war welcome this, others warn that the sudden withdrawal could have catastrophic consequences.

Not least in Afghanistan, where the Americans are in precarious peace negotiations with the Taliban.

It is also feared that NATO will now also say goodbye.

"These allies are dependent on us," said former ISIS special envoy Brett McGurk to MSNBC.

Ex-security advisor HR McMaster called the decision "hideous".

Other Trump foreign policy movements can also be expected.

For example, steps against China to diplomatically tie Biden's hands.

However, Trump's advisors were apparently just barely able to talk their outgoing boss out of a military strike against Iran's nuclear program.

4. Justice

Icon: enlarge

"You shouldn't kill": Protest against the US death penalty under Trump

Photo: BRYAN WOOLSTON / REUTERS

The US Senate has not had time to discuss new corona aid for weeks.

But Trump's Republicans cannot fill the last vacant judge posts quickly enough.

There used to be a waiting period after a lost election, which Trump is now breaking: since the beginning of November alone, the Senate has confirmed six conservative district judges for life, including a 33-year-old lawyer whom the ABA professional association has described as "unqualified".

Another taboo breach: Contrary to the national trend, Trump has accelerated the execution of executions at the federal level.

Orlando Hall, executed last week, was the first delinquent since 1889 to die in the "

" phase of the post-election change of power.

Five more prisoners are to be executed before Trump's departure, the last two in the week before Biden's arrival.

Black Dustin Higgs is slated to die on January 15th - the birthday of civil rights icon Martin Luther King.

Icon: The mirror