Weekly Recap: Mar 2nd - 8th
A recap of the big political stories affecting the United States this past week.
This week President Biden delivered his fourth State of the Union address. Described as fiery, feisty, and energetic, Biden gave a rousing speech insisting America assist Ukraine, welcoming Sweden to NATO, calling out Trump’s horrible statements and actions but only referring to him as “my predecessor,” calling out Republicans obstructing the border and gun reform among other issues, and followed that criticism by discussing some of his largest achievements such as the economy, his tough gun control measure, unemployment, manufacturing, and infrastructure.
While Republicans naturally had their criticisms, Biden saw record-breaking fundraising immediately after the State of the Union address, which gave weight to the power of his speech.
The Republican rebuttal was delivered by Katie Britt, a senator from Alabama who was considered a rising star within the party. Britt delivered her speech from a kitchen and painted America as a nation in decline while quickly shifting between different emotions with each new line of her speech. Overall Britt’s rebuttal was panned by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Super Tuesday primaries happened this past week which saw both Dean Phillips, the Democratic challenger to Joe Biden, and Nikki Haley, the Republican challenger to Donald Trump, drop out of the race. This officially makes the 2024 Presidential election a rematch between Biden and Trump.
Trump lost the Vermont primary and had previously lost DC. In most states, Trump received less than 75% of the vote, and many Republicans said in exit polls that they would not support Trump if he were the Republican nominee.
Biden dominated Democratic primaries, routinely getting over 75% of the vote and often as high as 85-90%. A few more states with uncommitted votes served as a protest to urge Biden to do more to bring a ceasefire and aid to Gaza.
President Biden authorized a successful airdrop of aid into Gaza this week, and more drops are planned. Biden has continued to work towards a ceasefire in the region, although the talks have hit snags, such as when Hamas didn’t agree to the terms of the ceasefire after Israel did.
This action has coincided with increased messaging about Gaza. While Biden had already worked towards a ceasefire and aid in the past, how the President is messaging the situation seemed to have been adjusted in order to address the concerns of some progressive Democrats. One change in messaging has been saying more about Gaza and Palestinians without mentioning Israel, compared to in the past, when Biden was messaging more about both sides of the war to keep the alliance with Israel strong while also addressing the suffering of Palestinians.
After his State of the Union address, Biden was caught on a hot mic saying that he was going to have a “come to Jesus moment” with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, in regard to the violence and suffering happening in Gaza.
Congress finally worked out a 2024 budget just before the current deadline after numerous continuous resolutions dragged out the process as Democrats and Republicans were at odds about cuts and funding for various programs. MAGA Republicans had continually threatened a shutdown over the budget and had attempted to scuttle the latest budget but were unsuccessful.
NATO continues to get stronger, as Sweden became the newest member last year. Finland was also welcomed into NATO. Georgia, Ukraine, and Bosnia and Herzegovina have all declared their interest in joining NATO. New memberships to NATO had slowed down in recent decades, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spurred more nations to join the alliance and has led to NATO members increasing their military spending.
