During the 2020 Presidential Election, Joe Biden made history by gaining the most votes ever cast for a US President, and was inaugurated on January 20th, 2020. Since then, he’s attempted to steer the United States in the right path amidst the global pandemic, address the racial inequality currently going on in the country, and replace the immigration policies Donald Trump put in place.

On the one year anniversary of the day COVID-19 was deemed a global pandemic by WHO, Biden announced his plans in his first official prime-time speech on how he’s going to repair the country through the Coronavirus. He claimed that by the Fourth of July of this year, things will seemingly return back to normal, and called on every American to do their part to make sure that happens. He also emphasized the impact the virus made on the country, and off of a card read out loud “527,000”, the number of people who have lost their lives to the disease, and claimed to have kept it with him at all times. This action served as being effective, driving home the harsh reality of what this country and its people have faced in the past year. 

Biden’s pledge to overcome the virus dates back to his inauguration, where he claimed that, “We can put people to work in good jobs. We can teach our children in safe schools. We can overcome the deadly virus. We can reward, reward work, and rebuild the middle class and make health care secure for all.” Alongside this, Biden signed on a federal mask mandate that requires masks to be worn on all federal government property. 

In the same discourse concerning COVID-19, Biden also touched upon the ongoing discrimination with Asian Americans that has been prevalent since the initial lockdowns in 2020. He addressed that Asian hate crimes have grown significantly since last year, and declared that these acts of violence are, “wrong, it’s un-American, and it must stop.” On January 26th he also signed on an order to end the usage of private prisons and to look into the federal government’s history of discrimination within urban planning, housing supply and availability, and housing standards. 

He has also issued a ban that counters the one Trump set into place last year, which blocked a number of green card recipients and their immediate family members from gaining access to entering the country. To add to this, Biden also went against an infamous Muslim ban, a harsh veto put into action in 2017 disallowing Muslims to enter the U.S. from seven countries. 

Biden’s early actions in his presidency so far in response to the actions Trump and his administration made are a good indication of what his goals are for the next 4 years. American citizens will wait and see if he’ll live up to any of his promises in due time.