100 Days of Biden's Bait and Switch

Black Alliance For Peace

06 May 2021

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U.S. policies are not guided by the whims of the individual who sits in the White House, but by the objective interests of dominant sectors of the ruling elite.

“The Biden administration cannot pretend that Black lives matter in the United States, while denying the value of Black life and democracy in Haiti."

U.S. President Joe Biden and the Democrats pretended to support an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour and a stimulus payment of $2,000 per person. They also claimed to be outraged by former President Donald Trump's moves to dismiss the result of the 2020 election and remain in office no matter what. Then last week, with full support from the corporate media, Biden released “The American Jobs Plan" and "The American Families Plan,” both meant to revive the so-called “American dream” by bringing Keynesianism back from the dead, along with FDR!

Once in office, though, Biden, who was put in place by neoliberal finance and corporate transnational capital, dutifully began the process of scaling back on his “progressive” stances. The $15/hour minimum wage proposal was scrapped using a shady parliamentary device that gave cover to Democratic Party backtracking. Then the $2,000 check became $1,400. Plus, although Democrats loudly condemned Trump's anti-democratic moves, the Biden-Harris administration gave the green light to its puppet in Haiti to ignore the requirement to leave office February 7. This came despite thousands of Haitians marching in the streets in opposition.

“Biden dutifully began the process of scaling back on his ‘progressive’ stances.”

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) was not surprised by the Biden-Harris administration's decisions, especially in the field of U.S. foreign policy. Why? Because we understand U.S. policies are not guided by the whims of the individual who sits in the White House, but by the objective interests of dominant sectors of the ruling elite. And since it has been clear to us ruling-class interests are intimately bound up with aggressive anti-democratic and militarist state policies, we knew the neoliberal Biden-Harris administration would intensify U.S. rogue state actions.

In Haiti, after the masses of Haitians went to the streets when President Jovenel Moïse refused to step down, BAP said:

"As Black radicals, we are compelled to call out the white supremacy and double standards of this administration. The Biden administration cannot have it both ways. It cannot pretend that Black lives matter and Black participation in democracy is important in the United States, while denying the value of Black life and democracy in Haiti."

And as the corporate press glossed over the Biden-Harris administration following in the Trump administration’s footsteps by reversing an internationally recognized agreement when it openly violated the terms of the Doha agreement that required the United States to pull troops out of Afghanistan by May 1, BAP said:

“BAP is concerned the attempt to move the date of U.S. withdrawal past the agreed-upon May 1 deadline will give hardliners in the Biden-Harris administration the opportunity to create the conditions for continued U.S. occupation of Afghanistan by baiting the Taliban into renewed attacks.”

“We knew the neoliberal Biden-Harris administration would intensify U.S. rogue state actions.”

Call it "double standards" or "having it both ways" or "bait-and-switch." These are the standard operating procedures of servants of the neoliberal elites. A lesson in power politics that, for many, if not understood at this point will become quite apparent when they realize the grand proposals for massive state interventions in support of education, jobs and infrastructure are all just part of the project of narrative management meant to disarm political opposition within the Democrat Party.

For BAP, the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration's domestic and foreign policy public-relations stunts and mystifications only remind us of the cultural and ideological terrain we are compelled to operate in as we struggle to build a movement to shift power from the rapacious elite of the United States and the Western world.

The Black Alliance for Peace is a African/Black-led, anti-imperialist formation that seeks to re-capture and re-develop the Black Radical Tradition for today’s material conditions. Learn how to get involved in the International Day of Action on Afghanistan.

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