Trump already acting as he’s president as Biden takes lower-key approach

President-elect Trump is seizing the reins of power early and, according to lawmakers in both parties, already acting as president, while Joe Biden, in many ways, has kept a lower profile during the final days of his presidency.

Beyond dictating events on Capitol Hill, Trump is making headlines internationally by threatening to take back control of the Panama Canal and declaring that U.S. “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

“It’s clear he’s in charge now,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said of Trump’s impact on the spending debate when Washington was only a few hours away from a potential shutdown.

“Nobody is talking about, ‘Where’s Biden?’ in any of this. Trump is in charge,” she said. “Trump is in charge now, even without the election certification.”

At times, some lawmakers said it felt that Trump, not Biden, was wielding the veto pen as they scrambled to put together a last-minute deal to avoid a government shutdown.