The 11 People Joe Biden Should Be Most Afraid Of

During the first year of Joe Biden's presidency, one West Virginian politician became an unexpected thorn in his side. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin publicly sided with Republicans against Biden over his climate policies and his proposed $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill, which sought to expand the social safety net, slowing down policies that almost every other Democratic lawmaker backed.

"I'm open to supporting a final bill that helps move our country forward, but I am equally open to voting against a bill that hurts our country," Manchin explained, according to CNN. He also called on Biden to allow the controversial Keystone XL pipeline to be built, per The Hill, arguing that America should be able to rely on fossil fuels closer to home.

The senator might have other reasons for getting in Biden's way, however: political watchdog Accountable.US reported that he had received more than $1.5 million in donations "from corporate interests" who were against the Build Back Better bill. According to The Guardian, he's also raked in more money "from the oil and gas industry than any other senator," which may explain his opposition to Biden's climate policies. Due to his disagreements with the president and his fellow Democrats, Manchin has even considered leaving the Democratic party and "becoming an independent," per Reuters. 

As of November 2021, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was one of the GOP's most popular potential presidential candidates for 2024, per Axios, and she planned on using her star power to help Republican candidates campaign and fundraise ahead of the 2022 midterms.  

Although Haley has flip-flopped on her loyalty to Trump, per Politico, which might have cost her some votes, her criticism of Biden has stayed consistent. She claimed that his "failed foreign policy" had the rest of the world "questioning his judgment" in an interview with Fox News and told the Christian Broadcast Network that his age was a problem. "Well, what I'll tell you is, rather than making this about a person, we seriously need to have a conversation that if you're gonna have anyone above a certain age in a position of power — whether it's the House, whether it's the Senate, whether it's vice president, whether it's president — you should have some sort of cognitive test," Haley insisted, hinting that Biden's mind might be impaired.

She also noted that there are a number of older politicians in power and said that age isn't the only concern that she and some voters have about the president. "It's not people hating Biden, it's Biden really showing the country that he's not totally in charge, and that makes everyone nervous," Haley posited. 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most popular members of "The Squad," hasn't been shy about criticizing Joe Biden and his policies. In February 2021, the New York politician reacted to a report by The Washington Post about immigrant children being held in specially built facilities by tweeting, "This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay – no matter the administration or party." And she was determined to hold the president accountable over compromises made in the Build Back Better bill as well.

"There is an enormous amount of executive action that they're sitting on that I think is underutilized," Ocasio-Cortez told The New York Times in an interview. She expressed her desire to see Biden take a more aggressive stance on some of the issues that are important to her and her constituents, including climate change, student loans, and immigration, even if he had to do it without bipartisan support or the full backing of his party. The young politician also complained that it was frustrating to see her party "just hand the pen to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema."

"So why are we taking this as a legislative compromise, when the opportunity is so much greater, or when Biden could do this stuff with a stroke of a pen, and is just reminding us that he's choosing not to?" Ocasio-Cortez added.

Senator Tim Scott emerged as a popular political figure after being chosen to deliver the Republican Party's official response to Joe Biden's Congress address in April 2021. As reported by The New York Times, he began by clarifying that Biden "seems like a good man," before launching into a series of criticisms of his administration. "Hear me clearly, America is not a racist country," the South Carolina politician stated, arguing against schools teaching children about race.

Scott also claimed that the president was planning to "pack the Supreme Court," despite Biden indicating otherwise: Per CNBC, the president's commission looking into Supreme Court reform actually ended up split. Scott then insisted that when it came to COVID-19, Trump was more responsible for reducing cases than Biden. "This administration inherited a tide that had already turned. The coronavirus is on the run," Scott told viewers, despite deaths reaching a daily average of over 3,000 per day during the Trump administration, according to the CDC.

His speech clearly captivated Republican voters. As Politico reported, thousands of supporters donated nearly $20 million toward Scott's re-election campaign over the course of 2021. So although he told The Post and Courier that he would "of course" support Donald Trump if he runs in 2024, the South Carolina Republican might be a threat himself as a political rival.

Although Xi Jinping has spoken highly of Joe Biden, calling him an "old friend" during recent talks, according to Reuters, there are still tensions between the Chinese leader and the American president. Donald Trump made sure to bring this topic up during a Fox Business interview. 

As the BBC News reported, Chinese state-run media accused Biden of "playing with fire" over Taiwan and the issue of its independence. The news outlet Global Times apparently explained that Xi resented the "repeated attempts by the Taiwan authorities to look for US support for their independence agenda as well as the intention of some Americans to use Taiwan to contain China," indicating that Westerners should stay out of the conflict. "Such moves are extremely dangerous ... Whoever plays with fire will get burnt," Global Times warned.

According to a briefing by the White House, Biden raised the subject of Taiwan during a virtual meeting with Xi in November 2021, clarifying that the United States "strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait." He also mentioned "concerns about the PRC's practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as human rights more broadly," insisting that American workers and industries had to be saved from the PRC's "unfair trade and economic practices."

The tense relationship between America and Russia might threaten Joe Biden's presidency if Vladimir Putin decides to invade Ukraine. Biden has been criticized for his response to Putin's increasingly aggressive attitude towards the Ukrainian border, where increasing numbers of Russian troops were being posted in 2021. White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted that the administration was "deeply concerned about the heightened rhetoric about the reported military buildup on the border," adding that America was "always prepared for any action." The New York Post used the threat of military action to support its editorial board's opinion that "the world has become a more dangerous place since Joe Biden became president."

According to Reuters, Putin was possibly hoping to draw Biden's attention in order to hold another summit and discuss Russia's security. "Our recent warnings have had a certain effect: tensions have arisen there anyway," Putin told reporters, per The Moscow Times. "It is important for them to remain in this state for as long as possible, so it does not occur to them to stage some kind of conflict on our western borders ... we do not need a new conflict." Regardless of his intentions, any sign of tension from Russia could send Biden's approval ratings even further downhill.