Biden’s ‘America’s back’ message at the G20 will be changed by Trump

The U.S. is Back, but What Will It Take? After Biden and Barack Obama’s 2016 World Leadership Conference in Peru

Biden made the statement that America is back as he spoke to European leaders at the annual Munich Security Conference. He said the alliance is back. “And we are not looking backward; we are looking forward, together.” He often noted that world leaders were skeptical.

“But obviously that’s going to be exceptionally difficult to do because the rest of the world is now going to be looking to hedge the United States — in other words, reduce involvement — because America is unreliable and a risky partner,” Medeiros said.

Biden expanded NATO while in office. He helped to build alliances in Asia to counter China. However, Republicans point to Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan as a foreign policy failure, and note that wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have dragged on.

Still, Trump’s policies are likely to be very different from those espoused by Biden, putting the outgoing president in an awkward bind as he meets with world leaders this week.

While Trump may have a different approach than Biden and more traditional Republican leaders, he is likely to continue to be engaged in global affairs, said Danielle Pletka, with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank.

There have been changes between Democratic and Republican administrations for a long time. “U.S. global leadership is based not simply on sentimental ideas about the beauty of NATO or about what great chardonnay we all get together at the G7,” she said.

In November 2016, former President Barack Obama was in a similar position, as he made a trip to Peru to meet APEC leaders following Trump’s first victory.

Obama was trying to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership when Donald Trump won the election. “Obama’s main message in many of these meetings was ‘You need to wait and see’.” Ben Rhodes, who was Obama’s deputy national security adviser and was on that trip, said that they did not know what a Trump presidency would be like.

“This time around, I think all these countries have their own theory of how they’re going to deal with Trump and, frankly, probably are less interested in what Joe Biden or his team has to tell them about that because they’ve lived through Trump once,” Rhodes said.

It’s not clear whether Biden will meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week. Danny Russel, a State Department official, told CNN that if Biden does that, he would use that meeting to argue that China needs to change its trade practices.

Up First Newsletter: Trump Returns Senate Leadership Contenders Donald Trump’s Justice Determinism Priorities (and, if you’re a blue or red state),

Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

This week Congress has a busy agenda. The first item on the list is electing who will lead each chamber. Donald Trump wants to influence these choices and his allies are pushing for his preferences to happen.

The leader of the Justice Department is one of the most important decisions that Trump will make. He criticized the FBI on the campaign trail. Soon, he will have the opportunity to address his grievances.

One of Trump’s campaign promises was to launch the largest deportation program in the history of America. Now, he’s appointed a ‘border czar,’ Tom Homan, to carry it out. Homan led Immigration and Customs Enforcement for part of Trump’s first term. Andrew Selee, president of the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, talks with Morning Edition about what a plan for mass deportation might look like including whether living in a red or blue state matters.

Source: Top contenders to lead the Senate. And, Trump’s DOJ priorities

The Cartel Musical About a Trans-Mexican Woman: Karla Sofia Gascón’s Role in Emilia Pérez

Karla Sofia Gascón plays the title role in the new film Emilia Pérez, the world’s first Mexican cartel musical focusing on a trans woman. Manitas del Monte, as Gascn’s character is known, rules by fear and deadly force, and she is known as the cartels leader when her character is introduced. But she wants to leave the life of violence behind and become her true self: a woman. She emerges from gender-affirming surgery with a clean slate. Gascn talked to Steve Inskeep about what drew her to the role. Listen to what she had to say about the character and more.