Opinion

Biden’s Cabinet Shaping Up To Be Most Liberal Yet: Here’s What We Know

   DailyWire.com
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - DECEMBER 06: Democratic presidential candidate former U.S. Vice president Joe Biden (L) campaigns with former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (R) December 6, 2019 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kerry announced his endorsement of Biden yesterday with the Iowa caucuses less than two months away. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Win McNamee/Getty Images

This week, as President Trump signaled his intention of fighting election fraud in the courts while allowing the presidential transition to begin, Joe Biden began announcing his cabinet appointments for key positions within his administration. Though he promised to “Build Back Better” and bring fresh ideas to The White House after his 47 years in public office, Biden’s cabinet features a growing number of familiar establishment figures from the Democrat Party. 

If President Trump sought to drain the swamp with his cabinet appointees, Biden appears intent on filling it right back up. According to the legacy media, Biden’s choices so far have been groundbreaking and “historic,” which is often code for “liberal.”

Here’s who he’s appointed so far:

Antony Blinken — Secretary of State

Blinken, a fluent French speaker who grew up in Paris, was a member of President Clinton’s National Security Council and served most recently as President Obama’s Deputy Secretary of State. He also spent time as Biden’s Foreign Policy adviser when he served in the Senate.

During his time in the Obama administration, Blinken was a staunch defender of the Iran Deal, and spoke out in support of an increased military presence in Syria, saying we made the “error of doing too little” in the country.

Earlier this year, Blinken found himself caught up in the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, when emails from 2015 showed the two had held a meeting while Blinken was Deputy Secretary of State and Biden was at Burisma. In response, Senators Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) requested records from the state department as part of their inquiry into Biden’s dealings with Burisma. 

John Kerry — Climate Envoy

Perhaps best known for his failed Presidential bid in 2004, John Kerry now takes over as “Climate Envoy.” 

Kerry served as Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017 under President Obama and played an integral part in the United States’ participation in the Paris climate agreement, an agreement Biden plans on rejoining “on day one.”

Kerry will be the first member of the Presidential Cabinet to focus solely on Climate Change, though details on his expected role have so far been scant. 

In response to the announcement of his nomination, Kerry tweeted “America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is. I’m proud to partner with the President-elect, our allies, and the young leaders of the climate movement to take on this crisis as the President’s Climate Envoy.”

Janet Yellen — Treasury Secretary

Among the most well-known of Biden’s appointees is Janet Yellen, who served as Federal Reserve Chair from 2014 to 2018. A familiar face in Washington politics, Yellen broke traditional Fed protocol by joining the Biden campaign as an adviser after her tenure as Chair. Prior to her time at the Fed, Yellen served as Chair of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, as well as a Professor of economics at UC Berkeley. 

The move was praised by liberal leaders across the board, including Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who called her “an outstanding choice for Treasury Secretary.”

Yellen’s job as Treasury Secretary will require her to foster support in Congress for Biden’s economic proposals- a tall task given the strong possibility of a Republican controlled Senate. 

Alejandro Mayorkas — Homeland Security

Another veteran of the Obama administration, Mayorkas — a Cuban immigrant who fled the country in 1960 — served previously as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

Mayorkas played an integral role in the implementation of DACA under the Obama administration, and has signaled his intention of softening the Department of Homeland Security’s stance towards refugees and “Dreamers”. 

The pick drew praise from a litany of pro-immigration, pro-Dreamer, and pro-refugee groups. “The news that Mayorkas will be nominated as DHS secretary is another hopeful sign for Dreamers and a signal that the Biden administration is ready to deliver on its commitments for Dreamers,” said Candy Marshall, President of TheDream.Us.

Jake Sullivan — National Security Adviser

Sullivan is best known for his ties to Hillary Clinton, serving as her Deputy Chief of Staff at the State Department, and her Senior Policy Adviser during the 2016 Presidential Campaign. 

A graduate of Yale University, Sullivan served also as President Obama’s Director of Policy Planning. 

Sullivan’s appointment, hailed by those on the Left as signaling a return to “normalcy” with regards to national security, drew criticism from the Right, mainly on the issue of Libya. In 2011, Sullivan reportedly played a key role in the United States’ ousting of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, a move which sparked tensions that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stephens and 3 other Americans 11 months later. 

Avril Haines — Director of National Security

Haines served most recently as President Obama’s Deputy National Security adviser.

In the past, Haines has faced criticism for her role in President Obama’s secretive use of drones in the Middle East and Africa. Haines, a former Deputy Director of the CIA, was “sometimes summoned in the middle of the night to weigh in on whether a suspected terrorist could be lawfully incinerated by a drone strike.” According to Human Rights leaders, those drone strikes resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children. 

Since leaving her position in the Obama administration, Haines held numerous positions at Columbia University, focusing on research and human rights.  

Cabot Phillips is Managing Editor of the Daily Wire’s Readers Pass. Follow him on Twitter at @cabot_phillips

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