# Joe Biden Joe Biden (b. 1942) is the 46th President of the United States (2021–2025), the oldest person ever elected to or to hold the office, a Delaware [[Democratic Party]] politician who spent 36 years in the U.S. Senate (1973–2009, including chairmanships of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees) and eight years as [[Barack Obama]]'s Vice President before winning the [[2020 Presidential Election]] against [[Donald Trump]] by 306–232 electoral votes and approximately 7 million popular votes. His 2020 primary victory against [[Bernie Sanders]] and his general-election campaign were defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, the George Floyd protests, and the Democratic coalition's anxiety about Trump's continuation in office. Trump and the post-2020 [[Republican Party]] never accepted the outcome — the [[January 6 Insurrection]] at the U.S. Capitol attempted to stop the certification of Biden's electoral votes, and the "[[Stop the Steal]]" movement became a foundational element of [[MAGA]] identity politics. His first two years, benefiting from narrow Democratic majorities in both chambers, produced the most substantial legislative record since the Obama first term: the American Rescue Plan (March 2021, $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus), the [[Bipartisan Infrastructure Law]] (November 2021, $1.2 trillion for roads, bridges, broadband, and rail), the [[CHIPS and Science Act]] (August 2022, $280 billion to reshore semiconductor manufacturing), and the [[Inflation Reduction Act]] (August 2022, $369 billion in climate and energy investment — the largest climate-investment law in U.S. history, plus Medicare drug-price negotiation). His foreign-policy term was dominated by the chaotic August 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, the February 2022 [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]] and the Western coalitional response (over $175 billion in U.S. military and economic aid to Ukraine by end of term), and the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war that fractured the Democratic coalition. Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race on July 21, 2024, after the catastrophic June 27, 2024 debate against Trump made his cognitive decline politically untenable; Vice President [[Kamala Harris]] inherited the nomination and lost to Trump in the [[2024 Presidential Election]]. Biden's transition out of office in January 2025 returned Trump to the presidency. Biden disclosed an aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis in May 2025. ## Right-wing relevance Biden is the immediate foil against which the second Trump presidency has been organized. The post-2020 right rejected the legitimacy of his election — "Stop the Steal" and the broader stolen-election framework became the operational mythology of the [[MAGA]] movement, producing the [[January 6 Insurrection]], hundreds of state-level election-law changes, and a permanent crisis of electoral legitimacy that defines the current political era. The right constructed an extensive narrative around Biden's cognitive decline (validated, in retrospect, by the June 2024 debate and his subsequent withdrawal from the race), and used the Biden record on inflation, the Afghanistan withdrawal, the southern border, and Hunter Biden's business dealings as the operational case for Trump's 2024 restoration. The "Let's Go Brandon" euphemism — originating from a misheard crowd chant at a NASCAR race in October 2021 — became operating-level cultural-political signaling throughout the Biden term, functioning as both anti-Biden shorthand and an anti-media rallying cry. Biden's legislative record — particularly the [[Inflation Reduction Act]]'s climate provisions, the [[CHIPS and Science Act]]'s industrial policy, and his executive actions on student-loan forgiveness, gun regulation, and [[Immigration]] enforcement — constitutes the primary policy target of [[Project 2025]] and the second Trump administration's rollback agenda. From the [[MAGA]] perspective, Biden's presidency is treated as either a four-year aberration to be reversed or as evidence of a "uniparty" globalist consensus that Trumpism is structurally distinct from (the nationalist-populist framing). His presidency is also analytically significant for what it revealed about the [[Democratic Party]]'s structural weaknesses: the age problem (Biden was 81 when he withdrew), the inability to communicate economic achievements against the perception of inflation-driven decline, the fracturing of the Obama coalition along generational and racial lines, and the failure to develop a succession plan — all of which contributed to Trump's 2024 victory and the [[Republican Party]]'s consolidation of unified government. ## Key policies and episodes - **American Rescue Plan (March 2021).** The $1.9 trillion COVID-relief package — passed on party-line votes through budget reconciliation — extended unemployment benefits, distributed $1,400 stimulus checks, expanded the child tax credit, and funded vaccine distribution. Republicans and some economists argued the bill overheated the economy and contributed to the inflation that peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, which became the central economic indictment of the Biden presidency. - **[[Bipartisan Infrastructure Law]] (November 2021).** The $1.2 trillion infrastructure package was one of the few major bipartisan legislative achievements of the Biden era, passing with 19 Republican Senate votes including [[Mitch McConnell]]. It funded roads, bridges, broadband expansion, electric-vehicle charging, water infrastructure, and rail — but its bipartisan passage was partially overshadowed by the partisan fight over the larger Build Back Better reconciliation bill that ultimately failed. - **[[Inflation Reduction Act]] (August 2022).** Passed through reconciliation with zero Republican votes (and only after [[Joe Manchin]]'s extended negotiations), the IRA included $369 billion in climate and energy investment, Medicare drug-price negotiation authority, and corporate-minimum-tax provisions. It is the largest climate-investment law in U.S. history and the primary target of the second Trump administration's energy-policy rollback. - **[[CHIPS and Science Act]] (August 2022).** The $280 billion bill to reshore semiconductor manufacturing, fund scientific research, and reduce dependence on Taiwanese chip fabrication represented a bipartisan industrial-policy consensus. It passed with 17 Republican Senate votes but is now caught in the second Trump administration's broader reconsideration of industrial subsidies. - **Afghanistan withdrawal (August 2021).** The chaotic collapse of the Afghan government, the Taliban's rapid takeover of Kabul, the August 26 ISIS-K bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians at Abbey Gate, and the images of Afghans clinging to departing aircraft became the defining foreign-policy failure of the Biden presidency and a central Republican indictment of Biden's competence and judgment. - **[[January 6 Insurrection]] and its aftermath.** Biden took office 14 days after the Capitol attack. His [[Department of Justice]] prosecuted over 1,400 January 6 defendants, and the [[House January 6 Committee]] (2021–2023) produced an extensive public record. Biden's December 2024 preemptive pardon of his son Hunter Biden — after months of promising he would not do so — became a late-term credibility crisis. Trump's January 2025 mass pardons of January 6 defendants upon returning to office underscored the divergent legal frameworks the two parties applied to the event. - **June 27, 2024 debate and the withdrawal.** Biden's disastrous performance in the first 2024 presidential debate — marked by incoherence, frozen pauses, and an inability to complete thoughts — made his cognitive decline undeniable to the Democratic establishment and the broader public. His July 21 withdrawal from the race was unprecedented for a sitting president seeking reelection since [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in 1968. Vice President [[Kamala Harris]] inherited the nomination with 107 days until the election. - **Border and immigration policy.** Biden entered office reversing Trump-era [[Immigration]] restrictions (ending the "Remain in Mexico" policy, halting border-wall construction), then spent his final two years pivoting toward enforcement as border crossings reached record levels. The border became the most potent Republican issue of the 2024 cycle and a central element of the [[MAGA]] case against Biden's competence. ## Connections - [[Barack Obama]] — Eight-year VP partner; Obama's continued political weight inside the [[Democratic Party]] was foundational to Biden's 2020 nomination and his governing coalition. - [[Donald Trump]] — Defeated Trump in the [[2020 Presidential Election]]; was succeeded by Trump in January 2025 after the [[2024 Presidential Election]]; the Biden-Trump rivalry defined four years of American politics. - [[Kamala Harris]] — Biden's Vice President; the [[2024 Presidential Election]] Democratic nominee after Biden's July 2024 withdrawal; lost to Trump. - [[Bernie Sanders]] — Progressive rival in the 2020 Democratic primary whose withdrawal and endorsement consolidated the party behind Biden; Sanders's influence shaped the IRA and the broader Biden domestic agenda. - [[Mitch McConnell]] — Senate Republican leader who cooperated on the [[Bipartisan Infrastructure Law]] and [[CHIPS and Science Act]] but obstructed most other Biden priorities; McConnell's retirement from leadership in 2024 marked the end of an era. - [[Kevin McCarthy]] — House Speaker (January–October 2023) whose ouster by the Republican right wing illustrated the MAGA movement's dominance of the House Republican conference during Biden's term. - [[Mike Johnson]] — McCarthy's successor as Speaker; presided over the House during the 2024 election cycle and the transition to unified Republican government. ## See also - [[Inflation Reduction Act]] — The largest climate-investment law in U.S. history and the primary legislative target of the second Trump administration's rollback - [[Bipartisan Infrastructure Law]] — One of Biden's signature bipartisan achievements and a rare example of cross-party cooperation in the MAGA era - [[CHIPS and Science Act]] — The industrial-policy bill that represented a bipartisan consensus on semiconductor reshoring - [[January 6 Insurrection]] — The Capitol attack that Biden's presidency was inaugurated in the shadow of, and that defined the legitimacy crisis surrounding his election - [[Project 2025]] — The [[Heritage Foundation]]-organized policy blueprint for the second Trump term, which targets Biden-era legislation and executive actions for systematic reversal - [[MAGA]] — The political movement that rejected Biden's legitimacy, organized around his defeat, and now governs in explicit opposition to his legacy - [[2024 Presidential Election]] — Biden's withdrawal and Harris's loss returned Trump to power and ended the Biden era