One of the most underreported scandals of Joe Biden’s presidency was how his administration abused federal power to punish red states. While President Donald Trump’s second term has only just begun, it is already clear that his team is not returning the favor. If anything, Trump is laser focused on cleaning up the many messes blue states have created for themselves. While Biden targeted red states, Trump is liberating blue ones.
This targeting started early in Biden’s term, with America’s pastime in the crosshairs. In 2021, Biden took the astonishing step of endorsing Major League Baseball boycotting Georgia and moving its All-Star game over an election security law passed by the Republican legislature and signed into law by the governor.
As Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis has detailed, the Biden administration cemented picking “winners and losers” based on “whether you’re a Republican state or a Democrat state” into policy, attacking the energy production in red states like Wyoming and Alaska while having more favorable policies to blue state New Mexico. This politicized approach even extended to health care and natural disasters. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is being audited after employees unconscionably told survivor assistance teams to skip over helping homes with Trump yard signs during Hurricane Milton.
Despite Biden’s claim to be a strong supporter of Medicaid, his administration attempted to cut this program in red states like Florida, Missouri, and Texas, while simultaneously providing massive funding for blue states like California. According to emails obtained by Government Accountability and Oversight, Cindy Mann, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) consultant and former Obama administration official with major Democratic ties, sought to slash this funding to “stop” an executive order from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis requiring hospitals to track immigration status. As was recently reported, the same Democrats who falsely claimed Trump’s spending freeze would threaten Medicaid said nothing when President Biden’s administration attacked the program in red states.
In the last election, Trump made historic gains in deep blue states. In fact, though Trump improved his margins nearly everywhere, his largest growth was in states like New York, New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts. As a lifelong New Yorker, I am grateful that Trump—instead of targeting blue states the way Biden did to red ones—has shown he wants to continue this momentum and is willing to spend time and political capital to confront the big challenges blue states face.
Trump sent a clear message on this front by traveling to scorched California in his first week. The president provided the tough love that the state needs, pledging his support for America’s most populous state while pressing its leaders to take seriously the concerns of Californians who are frustrated by delays from excessive regulations. This has been supported by action. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to focus on providing a reliable water supply for California.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and First Lady Melania Trump look on as President Donald Trump speaks during a fire emergency briefing in Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on January 24, 2025. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
While the Biden administration complained about states like Texas sending illegal immigrants while doing nothing to solve the problem, Trump has immediately taken action and New York City residents are cheering his ICE raids rounding up violent criminal migrants. Trump has endorsed repealing the SALT tax cap and has committed to taking on Congestion Pricing, both of which hurt high tax blue states. He even reportedly told New York Gov. Kathy Hochul that he wants to fix New York City’s crime-ridden subways.
As Biden said in his DNC convention speech last summer, “the job of the president is to deliver to all of America.” Thankfully, we once again have a president who not only believes that but is putting those words into action.
Andrew Giuliani is the founder of AG Victory Strategies, a former Special Assistant to President Trump, and a former candidate for governor of New York.
