From the United Nations (UN) in New York, President Joe Biden addressed the leaders of nearly 200 nations. As the Commander in Chief of a global superpower, the eyes were definitely on the POTUS as he works to tackle issues, both foreign and domestic.
Biden spoke to the issue of climate change and touted the fact that the world is still on track to meet the pledge made at the Paris Climate Agreement. “We need more investments to meet the climate agreement” the president said. While the climate crisis is acknowledged internationally, there are plenty of critics of the U.S president that think otherwise. “Climate change is not the biggest issue facing the United States…” said Joe Pinion, a Republican politician from New York in an interview. Pinion ran a losing campaign against Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer in 2022. “The president’s policies on climate [change] make America dirtier and more unsafe,” the conservative politician said.
The United States has become a very politically polarized country, and even more so when it pertains to topics like climate change. There are two sides to the debate on climate change: there are those who believe it is a problem which should be addressed, and those who believe it isn’t a problem at all.
In a statement from the New York Young Republican Club, the organization blasted the president’s speech. “President Biden’s speech sounded like the same speech every liberal internationalist Democrat President has given to the United Nations since 1993,” Troy Olson, Sergeant-at-Arms and Veterans Caucus Chairman said. While the Young Republicans agree that the war needs to end, their stance is that the U.S. largely should be involved as little as possible.
“We shouldn’t go to war in the Ukraine, we shouldn’t even be funding the war in the Ukraine anymore, and advancing a position detached from the battlefield…”The president also spent roughly 10 minutes speaking on the conflict in Ukraine and how the United States “wants the war in Ukraine to end. And no one wants the war to end more than Ukraine.” With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in attendance, the American president definitively stated that the U.S stands squarely with the people of Ukraine. While most Americans- even Republicans agree that the war in Ukraine needs to end, the disconnect arises when discussing how to deal with the conflict. Pinion, the Saturday Agenda host, says, “America needs to draw a line.. and go to Russia and saying ‘the war is over’”. This comment was in congruence with what the New York Young Republicans told us.
The Young Republicans believe that former President Donald Trump’s stance on how to deal with the war is the best way to deal with the increasingly bloody conflict. “…instead should be listening to President Trump’s call for the two countries to negotiate and bring this devastating war to an end”. The stances of both the Young Republicans and Republican politicians appear to be in lockstep as it pertains to the issue of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The same can be said as it pertains to the view on the Democrats’ approach to international affairs. The New York Young Republican Club is an organization for Republicans between the ages of 18 and 40 in Manhattan
When the U.S. President was faced with the fallout from the United States pulling out of Afghanistan, he was faced with support- and criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. The Young Republicans mentioned it in their rebuke of the president’s handling of the Ukraine war. “A war that was brought on in part by the projection of weakness and incompetence from a new American president in his first year with the debacle of the Afghanistan withdrawal,” said Pinion, the longtime opponent of Chuck Schumer. “We cannot go back to 2012 and 2014,” in reference to military decisions made by former president Barack Obama. The former president faced immense criticism for launching airstrikes and military raids in seven or more countries- both aggressive and indisposed. During his terms, airstrikes were sent to both Afghanistan and Yemen- a country that is dealing with a humanitarian crisis of famine.
The world is at an impasse when it comes to a lot of issues. Toward the end of his speech, the President said, “we’ll be judged on if we keep the promises we’ve made.” Olson was not impressed by the comments made by the U.S. President. “He spoke from the de facto capital of America’s unipolar moment as the world has grown more and more multipolar,” Olson said.“We need a view of the world that is more realistic, responsive, and exercises restraint and prioritization of the American people first.” The Young Republicans made it clear they firmly view the president’s comments as generic.
“We had peace through strength and credible deterrence under President Trump. Under President Biden, we’ve had war through weakness and incompetence,” was how the NYYRC ended their statement to us.
