“Ease Up on the Executive Actions, Joe” pled the headline of a recent article that was published by the New York Times. The author of the op-ed goes on to criticize President Joe Biden for not doing more to build relationships with Congress, instead opting to issue a blizzard of Executive Orders within his first few days in Office. [1]
It is rare to see the New York Times publish criticism of the newly elected President and was surprising given how hard they pushed for him to enter the office. This was so surprising, in fact, that the new White House Communications Director, Kate Bedingfield, fired back immediately, slamming the newspaper for publishing the critical piece by tweeting:
“As the NYT ed board criticizes President Biden this am for taking swift executive action to reverse the most egregious actions of the Trump Admin, I can’t help but recall that during the primary they encouraged voters to consider what a president could accomplish through exec Action.” [2]
It would seem that, despite the entry of a seemingly friendlier administration, the media remains at odds with the Presidency. While many of us continue to hope for a national return to civility, this critical exchange seems to suggest that no real change will occur.
It is no wonder that 2 Timothy 2:23-24 warns us: “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.”
Unfortunately, quarreling and infighting are a sad product of our fallen world. The New York Times and the Biden Administration share similar policy stances, and yet they find themselves at odds. Similarly, the Biden Administration and the Trump Administration are both ostensibly concerned with executing the laws of the United States. However, it would seem that many of the Executive Orders that President Biden issued were merely issued out of spite for the prior administration, without regard to their merit. [3]
Even as the new President called for unity, he sought to undo every major action of his predecessor, a man who officially received 48.6% of the votes that were counted in the 2020 election. [4] For a significant portion of the American people, President Trump’s actions while in office earned their vote and support in the election. It is a slap in the face to those Americans for President Biden to undo as many of them as possible within his first week of holding the Office.
The infighting and the tumult of these past few years seem to only be intensifying. Fortunately, Christians have hope for better things to come.
As we are promised in Matthew 24:6, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”
We must stick together in this uncertain time of American history, stopping ourselves from falling prey to the kind of petty squabbling that characterizes politics across the political spectrum. In Hebrews 6:8-10, Christians are given a message of hope: “But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end, it will be burned. Even though we speak like this, beloved, we are convinced of better things in your case— things that accompany salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name…”
No matter what goes on in the world around us and no matter who is President, as long as Christians continue to spread the love of Christ, we have hope for better things to come.
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[1] Editorial Board, “Ease Up on the Executive Actions, Joe,” New York Times (January 27, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/opinion/biden-executive-orders.html
[2] Yaron Steinbuch, “White House’s Kate Bedingfield slams NY Times editorial on Biden’s executive orders,” New York Post (January 28, 2021), https://nypost.com/2021/01/28/bedingfield-slams-ny-times-editorial-on-bidens-executive-orders/
[3] Elizabeth Janowski, “Here's the full list of Biden's executive actions so far,” NBC News (January 25, 2021), nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/here-s-full-list-biden-s-executive-actions-so-far-n1255564
[4] James M. Lindsay, “The 2020 Election by the Numbers,” Council on Foreign Relations (December 15, 2020), https://www.cfr.org/blog/2020-election-numbers
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