Staff Reports
President Joe Biden has found himself in an interesting position as he prepares to leave office, effectively admitting that a second Trump presidency is a real possibility. Rather than simply pack his bags and leave, the Biden administration is busily fortifying its legacy with policies designed to be tougher to dismantle than an unassembled IKEA shelf—especially when it comes to regulatory hurdles. The current administration is hell-bent on ensuring that its initiatives will be, as they say, “Trump-proofed.”
In an apparent race against the clock, Biden finalized a mountain of regulations in the springtime, essentially making them like little landmines for the next Republican administration. If Donald Trump regains the presidency, he’ll discover that not all regulations can be just swept away with a simple swipe of the presidential pen. Biden’s regulations span various sectors including the dreaded environmental policies that Republicans have long criticized as overreaching and detrimental to the everyday consumer. To ensure these new rules hang around longer than a bad cold, the administration has conveniently finalized enough measures to make quick repeals look like an extreme sport.
Biden administration rulemaking blitzes aim to Trump-proof the federal government
Biden will be leaving office in January after bowing out of his reelection bid, but even if his party loses control of the White House, he’s working to cement a legacy that Trump can’t easily… pic.twitter.com/ZS38oBnXyO
— Trump2024_no_matter_what (@TexasTrump2024) August 8, 2024
Take, for example, the so-called “deep state,” which Trump has vowed to rein in. Biden has diligently shielded the federal workforce against a potential cleaning crew that a Trump administration would want to unleash. While Trump has nostalgic ambitions of reinstating Schedule F—his plan to make federal employees more easily fireable—Biden nipped that in the bud faster than a cat can knock a glass off a table. By the time Trump returns to his Oval Office, he may find that even the sheer volume of Biden’s red tape is enough to choke an elephant.
Biden’s administration finalized regulations directly under the Congressional Review Act that make it harder for Trump to rescind them without jumping through bureaucratic loops. Essentially, a future Trump administration would have to jump through a bureaucratic limbo that involves public notices and comments, meaning that rolling back restrictive environmental protections won’t happen just because Trump claps his hands and wishes upon a star.
Environmental regulations are not where the fun ends. The administration has finalized over 300 new rules just in April alone—much like a child with a new toy who refuses to share. In stark contrast to Trump’s efforts to dismantle numerous regulations in 2017, Biden’s policies may leave Trump with not just an uphill battle, but a steep mountain climb. The Department of Energy regulations, power plant standards, and use of public lands will remain in limbo, further complicating any potential regulatory rollback. It’s like Biden’s left numerous thorns in the president’s path that could very well lead down the rabbit hole of litigation.
And let’s not forget the latest developments on Title IX, a hot-button issue that illustrates just how messy things could get. The Biden administration’s redefinition of sex to include transgender identities has already hit resistance from the GOP, who just can’t seem to wrap their heads around it. With courts jumping into the fray and blocking some of these changes, Trump could face a political minefield if he decides to backtrack on many of these regulations that Biden pushed through. With the potential to be seen as undermining rights for a vulnerable population, Trump could find that navigating this landscape is like walking on a tightrope—challenging, precarious, and not particularly pleasant.
In short, as Biden prepares to bid adieu to the White House, he’s determined to leave a bureaucratic maze that could take the next Republican regime years to fully unravel. Whether these efforts will truly make Biden “Trump-proof” remains in the air, but heaven knows he’s trying hard to make Americans remember his administration as more than just a footnote in a history book.
