The results are in. On Nov. 5, the Associated Press (AP) called the race, and former President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. On Jan. 20, 2025, he’ll be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States.
Since it’s only the beginning of November, President Biden is now what’s known as the “lame duck President.” This begs the question: What’s going to happen for the remaining months that Biden and Harris are still in office?
In politics, someone becomes the “lame duck” once their successor has been elected but they haven’t come into power yet. From the time the race was called until inauguration day, President Biden is now the Lame Duck.
What does a Lame-duck president do?
Lame duck politicians are seen as having less influence than before because they’re on their way out of office. There’s no re-election on the line, no more campaign to support, and nothing to lose, essentially. Decisions they make are faced with a lesser degree of scrutiny as attention shifts to the incoming position holder. For politicians like United States presidents, this lame-duck period often comes with them granting clemency or pardons.
In 2016, former lame-duck President Barack Obama granted clemency to 231 people and set a record for the most individual grants of clemency in a single day by a U.S. president. Despite using his lame-duck authority to reduce prison sentences or pardon people convicted of crimes, which U.S. presidents have historically done, Obama actually steered away from the typical path a lame-duck president takes.
Obama used his time on the way out to give people a second chance at life and to speak more freely to the public on issues like race. However, other former U.S. presidents, like Ronald Reagan specifically, used that time to push tax reform bills to go through to the Senate despite having lame-duck status. The lame duck is considered to have less influence, and with this, the burdens of the current administration often become halted and shouldered onto the next successor, which is why it is uncommon to push for things such as bills, in Reagan’s case.
When Trump was a lame duck last time, he granted some controversial pardons, like to his former National Security Advisor. The President’s power to pardon people is quite powerful, so despite having a personal connection to the subject of the pardon, it was still allowed by the Constitution.
In a shocking turn of events in 2020, though, the Trump administration carried out many executions by lethal injection despite attempts by influential figures, like Kim Kardashian, trying to sway him to use his lame duck status to commute prison sentences instead.
President Biden’s lame-duck Agenda
Biden’s team put together a four-pillar plan spanning the last six months of his term to be carried out in a lame-duck fashion: “The continued implementation of key legislation; lowering costs and growing the economy through additional moves on student debt relief and efforts to bring down prescription drug prices; defending personal freedoms and civil rights by calling out hate and extremism; and ensuring US strength, security and leadership in the world,” CNN reported.
In August, Biden was angling the fourth pillar to help Ukraine become less reliant on the U.S. in its efforts to resist Russian attacks. While that may seem confusing without context, Biden’s pushing for less reliance on the U.S. and instead securing military training for Ukrainian forces and funding from the other NATO allies wasn’t without reason. This action fortified Ukraine from possible interference if Trump were to come into power again and limit U.S. support in Kyiv. The Colorado Springs Gazette described Biden’s pillar plan as a way to “Trump-proof” his legacy before leaving office.
Foreign policy
Part of Biden’s six-month lame-duck rollout was to pass a ceasefire in the Middle East. Securing a ceasefire deal was also notably one of the campaign platforms Harris was running on: “She and President Biden are working to end the war in Gaza, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination. She and President Biden are working around the clock to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done,” reported the Harris-Walz campaign.
However, multiple ceasefire negotiations already fell through while Biden was still acting with full Presidential influence. Now that his successor has been chosen, it seems unlikely that this aspect of the fourth pillar of his plan will come to fruition. Despite the lame-duck president having the exact same executive power as before, this is where the political influence power of being lame-duck comes back around to bite them.
Biden may not be able to realize every executive aspect of his lame-duck agenda in the short time he has left in office, but he has certainly already been acting like a lame duck in the eyes of the media — even before the official period began.
Ever since announcing his withdrawal from the race, it seemed like Biden got a new burst of energy back in him. Once the weight of a second term was lifted off his shoulders, he could address the media in a less stressful manner — typical of a lame duck — and focus his efforts on supporting Harris instead.
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