Executive Summary
The Story So Far
Why This Matters
Who Thinks What?
Donald Trump and his Republican allies are increasingly attempting to reframe significant events and policies of 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing recession, civil unrest, and the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, as having occurred under President Joe Biden’s watch. This strategy seeks to shift accountability for a period that largely unfolded during Trump’s presidency, often contradicting established timelines and facts.
Shifting Blame for January 6
One prominent example of this revisionism involves the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump recently claimed that “THE BIDEN FBI PLACED 274 AGENTS INTO THE CROWD ON JANUARY 6.” This assertion is factually incorrect, as Joe Biden did not assume the presidency until two weeks after the event. At the time, the FBI was led by Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, and Trump’s own FBI director, Kash Patel, stated that agents were dispatched after the riot began to manage the situation, not to incite it beforehand.
Trump’s allies have sought to defend these claims by suggesting Trump implied the FBI was already aligned with Biden, or part of a “deep state” plot. However, critics argue this narrative is a convenient way for Trump to distance himself from events that occurred during his administration, particularly those involving alleged government conspiracies.
Rewriting 2020 Events
The effort to attribute events from Trump’s presidency to Biden extends beyond January 6. Several Republicans have blamed the Biden administration for the results of the 2020 census, with Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana claiming it was a “fraud” due to a “shady ‘privacy’ formula.” Vice President JD Vance and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have echoed these concerns, alleging attempts to “rig the game for Democrats.”
However, the 2020 Census was conducted under President Trump’s administration, and decisions on the statistical methods used were made during that time. While the Biden administration prepared and published the final report in 2021, there is no evidence to suggest the numbers were manipulated.
Attributing Policy and Crisis to Biden
Republicans have also pointed to other 2020 occurrences as Biden’s responsibility. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed the “Democratic Party blew out the deficit in 2020,” despite President Trump holding veto power over spending and Republicans controlling the Senate at the time. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested that FAA issues should have been fixed “during covid, when people weren’t flying,” a period predominantly under the Trump administration.
Additionally, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado has repeatedly blamed Biden for COVID-19 school closures, which were largely driven by state and local officials and occurred overwhelmingly during President Trump’s tenure. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia similarly attributed fentanyl deaths from July 2020 to the Biden administration, though Biden was not yet president.
Hunter Biden Laptop and Civil Unrest
Trump himself claimed that “the White House pushed to SUPPRESS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY” ahead of the 2020 election, a sentiment echoed by then-Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. Both statements refer to actions taken by the Trump White House, not Biden’s, which was not yet in power.
The Black Lives Matter protests and associated violence in 2020 have also been retroactively pinned on the Biden administration. Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia asserted that the Biden administration “put this on steroids,” despite these events occurring while Trump was president. This rhetorical tactic is not new; during the 2020 campaign, Trump and his team frequently discussed these protests as if Biden were already president, even running an ad titled, “This is Joe Biden’s America.”
Continued Historical Revisionism
Five years after the events of 2020, the effort by Donald Trump and his allies to assign blame for that year’s challenges to President Biden continues. This ongoing narrative seeks to reshape public perception of a tumultuous period in American history by altering the timeline of responsibility.
