BARBER: Whose hidden hand was on the White House wheel?

It has always been a question regarding President Joe Biden mental decline: who is running the White House? Well, let's see. Some of the top people around the president were also key figures in the Obama White House. There has been continuity from the Obama years through the Biden years in terms of policies and initiatives. A good example is Biden’s Middle East policies, which appear to be a continuation of the Obama administration’s initiatives in that region.Vice President Kamala Harris’s messaging included that she was a candidate of change. When asked what she would do differently than Biden, she had no answer. And Biden’s policies, at least in part, are indeed a continuation of Obama’s. With Harris continuing and furthering them, it could be argued that the U.S. would have had an Obama presidency for over sixteen years ―despite Obama not actively directing things daily and there being a four years pause in the middle.The U.S. Senate has two senators from each state, making a total of 100. The election on Nov. 5 put the Republicans in the majority with 52 seats, and the Democrats only having 43 seats. The remaining seats are held by independents. The House of Representatives had a narrow Republican majority before the election on Nov. 5, and this election cemented their control with 206 Republican and 192 Democrat seats, although some numbers may change slightly if recounts are called. Finally, as the world knows, Donald Trump is projected to garner 230 electoral college votes and VP Harris is expected to receive 190.President Trump has worked tirelessly to create a very large umbrella for the Republican Party. Groups that one might not expect to have much in common shifted their voting patterns. Interviews on U.S. TV illustrated this diversity coming together. For example, both Orthodox Jews and Muslim voters supported Trump. Across all usual demographic categories, the movement has been in favor of Republicans. The question is: why? One could point to the economic disaster created by the Biden administration. Two major factors contributed to this. First, high energy costs drive up the prices of nearly everything. Second, spending trillions of dollars through borrowing deflates the value of the dollar. Another major factor is the millions of illegal immigrants flooding the country. Over the past year, multiple U.S. news outlets have reported that many of the new jobs created, touted by the administration, went to illegal immigrants or were government positions. In addition, crime is up and institutions at all levels are hard-pressed because of the large numbers. Yet, there are deeper factors at play.If only Trump had won, we could say that he is an extraordinary campaigner, a unique person only America could have produced. But it is also notable that a diverse group of people came together to elect this larger-than-life figure. This indicates that old alignments are breaking down and Trump cannot take full credit for this. Under President Clinton, the Democrats ― while still paying lip service to their traditional supporters among the poor, working class, and minority groups ―became closely aligned with Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and high-end professionals. Their traditional supporters figured this out, which is why the Republican umbrella grew with Trump’s message.Further, with both houses moving significantly in the Republicans’ favor, there is a repudiation of the Biden-Harris policies and Obama’s legacy. Policies that have been proven ineffective, costly, and burdensome. Policies favored by the UN and the World Economic Forum, screaming the luxury views of elitist. Policies very much like those promoted by Prime Minister Trudeau.Dr. A.W. Barber is the former Director of Asian Studies at the University of Calgary. He is internationally active and has wide-ranging interests.