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It’s not surprising that much of the political world’s focus this week has been on Donald Trump’s legal crisis. This is, after all, a dynamic that would seem outlandish if it appeared in fiction: Federal prosecutors have evidence of the front-runner for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination allegedly engaging in a clumsy cover-up of felonies.
Is this the sort of news that’s going to dominate front pages? Of course it is. We’re talking about extraordinary political circumstances unlike anything in the American tradition.
But it’s not the only news of interest. Indeed, while the drama surrounding the former president intensified, his successor has spent the week doing something altogether different: President Joe Biden has been focused on governing. NBC News ran this report nearly 24 hours ago, which generated less attention than Trump’s superseding indictment.
President Joe Biden announced new plans to protect workers and communities from extreme heat Thursday as millions of people in the U.S. broil in record-high temperatures. ... Biden said he has directed the Labor Department to increase enforcement of heat-safety violations and inspections in high-risk workplaces, such as construction and agriculture sites.
The same report added that Department of Labor will also “issue a hazard alert to tell employers what they should do to protect workers; help ensure employees are aware of their rights, such as protections against retaliation; and highlight steps the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has to try to ensure worker safety.”
These moves came the day before Biden prepared to sign an executive order that, as an Associated Press report explained, shift decisions on “the prosecution of serious military crimes, including sexual assault, to independent military attorneys, taking that power away from victims’ commanders.”
This comes on heels of Biden taking steps to begin sharing evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
This was also a week in which the Democratic president:
- took new steps to protect renters and boost housing supply;
- announced new efforts to address methane pollution;
- unveiled new measures designed to increase coverage of mental health care;
- established a new national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley;
- announced new steps to improve access to online services for Americans with disabilities;
- and provided student debt relief to thousands of students who’d been ripped off.
To be sure, this week's measures were relatively modest. No one will be writing books or releasing documentary films about any of these individual developments.
What’s more, I realize that these aren’t necessarily the kind of developments that land on front pages or might be characterized as “click bait.”
But I’m reminded of the 2020 presidential campaign, when voters were effectively told that a Biden presidency would be a welcome shift from the daily drama and scandals of the Trump White House. Biden would use his experience and temperament to oversee an executive branch focused on problem-solving.
It wouldn’t be glamorous. It wouldn’t generate excitement. But Americans would see a president and his team doing real and worthwhile work that would help make a difference, without the West Wing circus.
This week offered a timely reminder that those election-season vows were correct.