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Last minute succession swaps had social media wondering at the Biden administration’s end game while suspecting “Sleepy Joe” wasn’t really involved.
Having commuted the sentences of death row inmates and set a modern-day record for pardons that included an unprecedented blanket pardon for his own son, Hunter Biden, many considered scrutiny of President Joe Biden’s lame duck days well-warranted.
So when a series of executive orders and memos were released late Friday altering the order of succession in departments across the executive branch, nearly as many people wondering why were asking who was really responsible.
Author and former House Foreign Affairs Committee investigator Jerry Dunleavy IV had shared a series of screenshots of the White House website and noted, “In a Friday night news dump with just over two weeks to go in his presidency before Trump takes over, Biden has issued executive orders on the order of succession within the Justice Department, [Department of Homeland Security], Treasury, [Office of Management and Budget], Agriculture, the Office of that National Cyber Director, & more.”
Sharing the post, The Spectator contributing editor Stephen L. Miller had commented, “All will be undone on January 21st and furthermore, no one believes Biden is the one doing this at 10pm est.”
All will be undone on January 21st and furthermore, no one belives Biden is the one doing this at 10pm est. https://t.co/dJmXtqRIm1
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 4, 2025
Included in the series of orders were memos designating succession for the Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Out of all the changes, Dunleavy focused in on the change in the Justice Department, contrasting then-President Donald Trump’s 2017 decision with Biden’s Friday move where the order once had the U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Northern District of Illinois and the Western District of Missouri at the top.
Biden’s order placed the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York ahead of the District of Arizona and the Northern District of Illinois.
The order of succession at DOJ that was issued by Trump in 2017 (left) placed the U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia then Northern District of Illinois then Western District of Missouri in the order of succession — Biden in 2025 (right) has elevated the SDNY… pic.twitter.com/quMCwHMukP
— Jerry Dunleavy IV (@JerryDunleavy) January 4, 2025
Many viewed the point as moot with little more than two weeks remaining in the Biden administration and with Trump fully capable of reversing the decision on day one, leading some to consider it a snare to provide fodder for the pundit class should the GOP leader act on his rights and duties as the duly elected president.
Others simply saw it as evidence in support of the notion that the incumbent had rarely, if ever, been running the show at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Still, while some pointed to staffers and interns as responsible for the move, others considered the executive orders a boon, suggesting that the administration had graciously identified the people Trump should be most concerned with, calling it a “Deep State road map.”
“No need to rescind the order, just vacate the top positions identified,” came the reaction that saw the news as “Excellent.”
Excellent. It’s a Deep State road map. No need to rescind the order, just vacate the top positions identified.
— Brian Hastings (@WeJustDisagree1) January 4, 2025
All designed for the interns to get splashing New York Times headlines and it’s just a fools game anymore
— TopSecretK9 (@TopIsMyNamek9) January 4, 2025
Of course HE isn’t doing it. The unelected people who have been running the country are doing this.
— MaryLouWestin (@LouWestin) January 4, 2025
Do they think that nobody in the new administration is paying attention?
— Chad Rice (@chad_rice) January 4, 2025
Yeah but doing this allows the media to clutch their pearls when Trump undoes it and pretend that these EOs were storied American legacies that have existed in our democracy forever
— Griggy (@GriggyGro) January 4, 2025
It’s probably because the leadership are all running for the exits to get the good post-government gigs before their fellow leaders grab them… so this leaves someone in charge
— CChrysops (@CChrysops) January 4, 2025
Trump on January 20th pic.twitter.com/2ePjztYzPX
— Uri Blago (@UriBlago_v2) January 4, 2025
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