As part of his “swan song,” President Biden’s slew of dramatic last-ditch efforts at policymaking opened Pandora’s Box, full of dangerous presidential precedents.
Many of these examples were highlighted by the press. There was the $6.6 billion loan of taxpayer dollars to electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive. Then of course there were the preemptive pardons that no Democrat could defend. Those pardoned included Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former President’s siblings and their spouses, and even his son who faced impending sentencing on two criminal cases.
However, one action by President Biden involving a dusty old bowling alley in Oregon occurred under the radar of the national media. It might just be one of the most egregious examples of the previous administration’s suspect moves with far reaching implications.
In his final days, President Biden—or som unknown administration official—greenlit an otherwise illegal, off-reservation casino in Medford, Oregon, in an old bowling alley and former Chinese restaurant. His decision quietly allowed an Indian tribe that also received preferential treatment from former President Obama to break existing law.
Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Indian tribes can operate casinos to generate revenue on their reservation, or lands purchased after 1988 if the tribe can demonstrate the lands were part of their ancestral homelands.
For over 10 years, however, the Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon had been pushing plans to develop an additional casino in Medford over 150 miles from its reservation—on land they had no ties to until they purchased the old bowling alley.
Oregon’s elected officials have maintained that such a move would be illegal, as it violates the state policy that allows one casino per tribe, on their reservation land, in the state.
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Despite this local opposition, the special interest attention from both Presidents Obama and Biden would make your head spin. In a move that perhaps later inspired then-Vice President Biden, President Obama’s administration, also in its final hours, deemed the Coquille’s Medford land eligible for more gaming, despite the tribe’s existing casino.
During his first term, President Trump’s Department of the Interior recognized this absurdity and denied the Tribe’s application to put the land into trust that would allow it to be used for gambling.
Then, President Biden quietly reversed this decision.
The who’s-who of Oregon’s political leadership and three neighboring tribes came out publicly in opposition to a second Coquille casino, calling the Biden decision “highly damaging” and “reckless.”
One must wonder: why were Presidents Obama and Biden so intent on letting one tribe in Oregon build an unlawful casino—even when the state’s own leaders were opposed? What did they stand to gain by, apart from in Joe Biden’s case, taking any opportunity to undo a Trump move before departing office?
President Trump was right to deny this casino the first time. Allowing one tribe to open a second casino isn’t just an innocent favor, it’s a precedent-setting decision pushing our country down a very slippery slope.
Native American tribes across the country have established rules and procedures that govern their relationships. Biden’s decision to divert from these rules was not only an egregious example of picking favorites but also threatened to disrupt the existing, functional system.
Allowing special interest exceptions for tribes to take lands into trust as “restored” lands—when they were never part of a tribe’s ancestral territory—opens the doors for Tribes to go into service areas or any area where they have tribal members living and buy property and put into trust for a casino.
Biden’s decision brought the entire distribution of power between federal, state, and tribal governments into chaos. That is why President Trump must address this issue as part of his mission to restore order to a method of governing that has been upended thanks to decades of liberal antics.
He has an opportunity and an obligation to make clear that the current administration does not pick winners and losers. The solution is simple. President Trump should direct the Department of the Interior to state that the Coquille Tribe’s land in Medford is ineligible for gaming to protect the rule of law and the status quo.
Aiden Buzzetti is the President of the Bull Moose Project, an organization dedicated to securing a dominant American future.
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