President Biden used to joke with younger voters that they’ll forget all about him once he is out of office.
Soon, all of America could be asking, “Joe who?” because of President Trump’s full-scale assault on his predecessor’s legacy. From Biden’s executive orders to his legislative victories, Mr. Trump is on a mission to undo it all and erase any evidence that the Biden administration ever happened.
Mr. Trump has nearly accomplished that mission as he hits the one-year mark of his second term on Tuesday
Of the 162 executive orders Mr. Biden issued during his single term in the White House, Mr. Trump has already revoked 104 of them — a whopping 62%, according to analysis by The Washington Times.
Just hours after taking office, Mr. Trump went to work issuing more than 80 executive orders dismantling Mr. Biden’s policies on immigration, climate and diversity, equity and inclusion. He pulled the U.S. out of the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accord, two agreements Mr. Biden had championed.
Since then, Mr. Trump hasn’t let up. On one Friday in March, Mr. Trump rescinded 18 executive actions signed by Mr. Biden impacting policies on gender, labor and corporate regulations.
The president’s sweeping domestic immigration enforcement and tax cut legislation, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, included a slew of provisions undoing Mr. Biden’s signature legislative achievement, the Build Back Better Act.
Mr. Trump took a wrecking ball to Mr. Biden’s policies at a pace not seen by any other modern U.S. president. In December, the president rolled back Mr. Biden’s stringent fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. It builds on the president’s earlier move to rescind the Biden administration’s tightened efficiency standards for tankless gas water heaters and commercial freezers.
Individually. Mr. Trump’s actions target what he views as damaging policies during Mr. Biden’s chaotic four years. Collectively, the White House insists these actions are necessary to “restore effective government.”
The erasure of his legacy is something Mr. Biden feared, sometimes giving voice to it in self-deprecating jokes.
“When you’re president, and they say, ’Joe Biden is out in the waiting room,’ promise me you won’t say, ’Joe who?’ Mr. Biden told a group of teenagers visiting the White House.
Mr. Trump is also simply fulfilling his campaign promises. He campaigned on reversing Mr. Biden’s oil drilling ban, electric vehicle mandate, closing the southern border, banning transgender males from participating in women’s sports and scrapping climate subsidies, all things Mr. Biden supported.
“He’s doing everything he promised when he ran for president,” said John Feehery, a political strategist at lobbying firm EFB Advocacy. “There are a lot of things in there aimed at reversing what Biden did, but they are consistent with his campaign policies. I wouldn’t make it personal; it’s really kind of changing the trajectory after a very bad Democratic administration.”
Others say it is personal. They point to the bad blood between the two men, including the bitterly contested 2020 election when Mr. Trump refused to concede to Mr. Biden. Then the Biden Justice Department brought four federal indictments against Mr. Trump, whom Mr. Biden called an existential threat to democracy.
Craig Shirley, a historian, noted that during Mr. Trump’s first term, he did not go full throttle to erase President Obama’s achievements like he’s doing to Mr. Biden.
“The two men don’t like each other. Biden has weaponized the Justice Department to go after Trump. He gave that speech in Philadelphia, where he denounced half the country for voting for Trump. Obama never did those things,” he said.
In a September 2022 speech, Mr. Biden described Mr. Trump and his political allies as “semi-fascists” and threats to democracy, and expressed support for the Justice Department probes into Mr. Trump.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Shirley said the last time a president went after his predecessor’s legacy with such verve was Thomas Jefferson, who reversed nearly everything John Adams did. Mr. Jefferson even went so far as to release and pay reparations to newspaper editors who had been imprisoned by Mr. Adams.
Some of Mr. Biden’s legislative victories remain intact. His Infrastructure investment law and the CHIPS and Science Act, which allocated $52.7 billion to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, haven’t been touched by Mr. Trump. In fact, his push to increase domestic manufacturing by levying steep tariffs on U.S. trading partners may actually bolster some of these Biden-era initiatives.
Robert Rowland, who teaches presidential rhetoric at the University of Kansas, said that he expects Mr. Trump’s dismantling of the Biden-era agenda to last beyond his presidency.
“We’ll see what happens with the next president, but it’s hard to see the focus on climate coming back in a strong way given the current economic and political environment, so I think in that way Trump successfully undid a lot of what Biden did,” he said.
Some now wonder what Mr. Biden’s legacy will be.
He had been credited for helping bring America back from the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting Ukraine after the Russian invasion. But he is also remembered for soaring inflation, which hit 9% under his watch, and the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Unlike other one-term presidents such as Jimmy Carter or George H.W. Bush, Mr. Biden’s advanced age and health issues likely won’t give him the decades they had to make a post-presidency mark.
Mr. Rowland said Mr. Biden could be remembered like Herbert Hoover, a Republican who was decried for decades by both parties because he presided over the Great Depression. Members of Mr. Hoover’s own party despised him because he led to 12 years of Franklin Roosevelt, while Democrats used him as an example of poor leadership from Republicans.
“Democrats are not going to work to emphasize Biden’s accomplishments because they view him as a failure and blame him for not getting out soon enough and leading to Trump’s election,” Mr. Rowland said. “If he had pulled back and let the Democrats have an open process and avoided the indignity of that terrible debate, I think he would be viewed in a different light. I’m afraid now he’s going to be remembered in an analogous way to Herbert Hoover.”
