Joe Biden Calls Trump Administration’s 1776 Commission “Offensive” and “Counterfactual”
Evan James
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In a set of remarks delivered Tuesday on “racial equity” policies, President Joe Biden said the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission was “offensive” and “counterfactual.”
“In the weeks ahead, I’ll be reaffirming the federal government’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and accessibility, and building on the work we started in the Obama-Biden administration. That’s why I’m rescinding the previous administration’s harmful ban on diversity and sensitivity training and [abolishing] the offensive, counterfactual 1776 Commission,” Biden announced, adding that “unity and healing must begin with understanding and truth, not ignorance and lies.”
The Trump administration established the 1776 Commission in September 2020, and it lasted until January 20 of this year, when Biden took the Oval Office. Donald Trump himself initially conceived of the idea as an antidote to the New York Times‘ pseudohistorical nonsense called the 1619 Project. This project presented slavery as the original sin that has stained and soiled our country to the present day. It furthermore argued that the only way to fully redeem our country is to eliminate every real or perceived vestige of racial inequality. Even mainstream historians with liberal politics have admitted that the 1619 Project is political propaganda dressed up as history.
The commission released a report on Trump’s final day in office, arguing that the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and various national heroes help made our country exceptional from the beginning; that the problems of slavery and racism aren’t unique to America; and that unity is only found in a common patriotic identity.
In his remarks Biden also touched on the George Floyd incident as a “turning point in this country’s attitude toward racial justice,” lamented the disproportionate death rate among black and Hispanics due to COVID-19, and gave us standard fluff about how “we have never fully lived up to our founding principles of this nation” and how great we could be if we did.
After concluding his remarks Biden then proceeded to sign four executive orders. The first was to direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to “redress” discriminatory housing practices and policies. The second was to order the Justice Department to cease using private prisons. The third was to “reinvigorate” the government’s “consultation process” with American Indian tribes. And the fourth was to condemn and combat “racism, xenophobia, and intolerance against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders.”
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