From Biden to Trump, from No Malarkey to Oligarchy
Since Donald Trump took over the White House for the second time, we the people of the United States and across the globe have suffered a virtual whiplash compared to the relative words and policy initiatives during Joe Biden’s first week in office and throughout his presidency.
During his recent campaign in an interview with Fox “News” host Sean Hannity, Trump threatened to be “a dictator on day one.” Well, if his over 200 presidential executive orders in his first few days in office are any indication, the duration of his dictatorship will last much longer than he indicated.
On Oligarchy
In his farewell Oval Office speech to the nation before leaving office, President Biden warned of a developing “oligarchy” in the United States:
“I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous concern,” Biden said. “And that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people.”
He added, “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
A representative sample of the oligarchical takeover was on clear and unapologetic display under the Capitol dome during Donald Trump’s second inaugural ceremony on January 20, 2025.
Seated directly behind Trump and his family, and, by the way, in front of Trump’s proposed cabinet officials, in full view he placed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (worth approximately $211.8 billion), U.S. news anchor Lauren Sánchez (worth a mere $30 million), Washington Post and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (worth $239.4 billion), SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (worth $433.9 billion), Apple CEO Tim Cook (worth $2.2 billion), Open AI CEO Sam Altman (worth $1.1 billion), Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (worth $12.8 billion), casino owner and mega-donor Miriam Adelson (worth $31.9 billion), media mogul Rupert Murdoch (worth $22.2 billion), luxury products magnate Bernard Arnault (worth $179.6 billion), and seated with the Trump family, Jared Kushner (also a billionaire).
Executive Orders
Donald Trump’s first week actions rescinded many of Biden’s previous orders. Here are only some of the executive order Trump signed in his erratic sharpie script:
Withdrawal again from the Paris Climate Agreement and again from the World Health Organization just as Bird Flu has broken out across the U.S. In addition, the Trump administration has placed a pause on the funding of medical research and attempted to end and eventually privatize the Veterans Administration but pulled back from the latter due to public backlash.
He placed a freeze on hiring of federal workers, and fired most Inspectors General, who are responsible for investigating incidents of ethical and efficiency violations in government.
Trump reversed Biden’s foreign policy initiative by which Trump reinstated Cuba as a country designated as a state sponsor of terror. He has reversed sanctions on Israeli “settlers” on Palestinian land.
Trump has invalidated Biden’s Executive Order on the safe development and use of artificial intelligence, and he reversed the Family Reunification Task Force, which has worked to reunited families separated in Trump’s first term.
Probably the most controversial of all of Trump’s executive orders centers on his pardoning all January 6 rioters with 1500 unconditional pardons and clemency to dozens more. Many of these rioters were tried and convicted of attacking police officers in their attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 free and fair election of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as Vice President.
Trump suspended all refugee admissions into the United States, and he has declared a national emergency on the southern border. Using fear as justification, he deployed the U.S. military on the southern border on U.S. soil and the use of military aircraft to deport hopeful immigrants out of this country.
Under terms of the law, Posse Comitatus of 1878, it is illegal for the use of the military to enforce domestic laws in the United States.
In addition, Trump suspended all refugee services even for Afghanistan refugees who helped U.S. service members during the war. He has also cut off aid to improve conditions to the countries from which the people are fleeing to come to the United States.
Possibly the reason why Trump failed to place his hand on the two Bibles Melania held at the swearing in ceremony, Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. A federal judge, however, placed a temporary stay on this order since it was “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Some other important orders include delaying the US government’s ban of TikTok by 75 days because Trump realized that the ap served him well in the recent election. He also cut government incentives for people to purchase clean energy vehicles.
Trump eliminated the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department and ended all Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs in the federal government.
Restrictions on LGBTQ People and Communities
Aligning with Trump’s order of there being only two sexes – as if he could actually make such a claim, which leaves out intersex people and others — Trump’s newly confirmed Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, froze all applications for passports with “X” gender markers, which was an option formerly given to people who do not identity within the gender binary of male and female.
In an internal cable Rubio sent to State Department employees, he wrote that the country’s policy is now “that an individual’s sex is not changeable.” The Trump administration also scrubbed all federal websites of LGBTQ content, which is a repeat of an action taken in the first Trump term in office.
Of the executive orders targeting the trans community, Trump signed an order declaring that there are only two genders and with that come a series of specific policy changes. Titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” the order describes biological sex as being determined by the size of one’s reproductive cells: small for men and large for women.
Government documents, including passports, visas, and employee records, can only show “male” or “female.” The government will no longer pay for trans-related health care, such as for government employees, military personnel, or federal prisoners. In addition, all transgender women incarcerated in federal prisons will now be thrown into male prison facilities.
In another of Trump’s orders, the federal government will no longer even recognize the existence of trans people and will prevent federal funds from being spend on any programs that do so.
The order says, “Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology” and it directs the Bureau of Prisons to revise its policies to ensure that federal inmates do not receive “any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”
Trump has threatened to kick out trans service members from the military. Rubio has banned Rainbow flags from flying in U.S. embassies.
The day following Trump’s inauguration, Trump, Vance, and their families attend a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC led by Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde. Toward the end of her sermon and looking directly into Trump’s eyes in the front row, Budde asked him to “find compassion” and “have mercy” on gay and lesbian people and on immigrants.
Trump shot back in a tantrum following the sermon on Truth Social calling the Rt. Rev. Budde’s remarks “nasty” and not smart. “The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” he said.
Trump claimed in his inaugural address that “I was saved by God to make America great again.” But it seems that he did not simply forget to place his hand on the two Bibles held by Melania at his swearing in ceremony to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States, since one of his executive orders was to end “birthright citizenship” enshrined in the 14th Amendment.
So, Trump has already violated his commitment to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Could this be considered as him committing perjury under oath since he wrote this order before raising his right hand?
Approximately two-thirds of the 200 executive orders signed by Trump during his first few days of office are directly connected with the recommendations of Project 2025, the far-right democracy busting Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for Trump’s second term.
Cruelty is the point in the Trump MAGA agenda to turn the United States into a dystopian society.