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.” He alerted the public that the media and other means of communication are being taken over by the very rich to propagate their points of view even to a greater degree than previously.

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).

The combined estimated fortune of Joe Biden’s cabinet was approximately $120 million, while the worth of Trump’s proposed cabinet in his second term is about $20 billion – the wealthiest cabinet in the history of the United States. This sum does not include Elon Musk who will not be part of the cabinet.

Trump has recently launched his own “meme coin” or cryptocurrency in honor of his inauguration. The “currency” has reached an estimated $58 billion, and the grifting marches on.

Executive Orders

Trump signed a total of 220 executive orders during his first term, and Biden signed some 162 over his four years in office. The orders, however, between the two consecutive presidents took a very different focus as did their agendas for their first 100 days.

Joe Biden had inherited a bad economy and a widespread and raging pandemic. During his first 100 days he pledged and succeeded in providing 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine (which turned out to equal over 200 million doses), utilize the Defense Production Act to produce personal protective equipment, raise the refugee cap set by Donald Trump from 15,000 to 125,000, revoke the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, stop construction on the Mexico–United States border wall and end travel restrictions from Muslim countries (“Muslim Ban”), rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement^] and the World Health Organization, end United States involvement in the War in Afghanistan and the Yemeni Civil War, and halt new oil drilling on federal lands.

Donald Trump’s first week actions, on the other hand, 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, though, has founded the so-called Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk as its head, even though there are serious conflicts of interest as Muck has received several U.S. government contracts.

In his reaffirmation of the constitutional guarantee of Freedom of Speech, “Restoring Freedom of Speech & Ending Federal Censorship,” Trump has talked in doublespeak since this order restricts fact checking on social media.

Trump has 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 14110, titled Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (sometimes referred to as “Executive Order on 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.

On his campaign threats on issues of our southern border, Trump has suspended all refugee admissions into the United States, and he has declared a national emergency on the southern border.

Using fear as justification, he has triggered the deployment of 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. The federal military can only be deployed on U.S. territory to maintain “sovereignty and territorial integrity” by invasion from another nation, as, for example, Russia’s invasion into the sovereign territory of Ukraine.

Hopeful immigrants coming to our borders do not risk our sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is not an invasion. This is not a national emergency. Members of the National Guard, though, are not covered by the provisions of Posse Comitatus since they are controlled and deployed by the 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.

Also, Trump designated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

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 indicated that he might eliminate FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and may condition aid for California fires to that state instituting a voter photo ID program and change its water distribution policies (which would not have mitigated the results of recent wind-blown wildfires).

He also declassified official records in the investigations of the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Trump eliminated the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department and ended all Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs in the federal government. He declared that all employment be based on “merit” and not on social identities.

The continuing and perennial need for DEI programs in schools and industry lay bare the lie that the United States stands as a meritocratic nation build on the dream and practice that hard work, talent, and ambition alone is the ticket to success, regardless of one’s former background in terms of social identities.

While of course, we are all accountable and liable for our actions, this concept of meritocracy fails to consider the long legacy of differentials of power and privilege based on the social identities of race, socioeconomic class, gender and gender identity, sexual identity, ability, age, and others.

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,” which is as reasonable as Trump declaring he is currently a fit 35-year-old weighing 180 pounds.

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.

“She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people,” Trump continued. “Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions,” the president added. “It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one.”

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 14^th Amendment.

Like any good dictatorial autocrat, Republican Rep. Mike Colling of Georgia said Budde “should be added to the deportation list” (even though she is from New Jersey) and he accused her of “theological malpractice.”

The term “mercy” appears nearly 300 times in the King James version of the Bibles.

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.

—

This Post is republished on Medium.

***

You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project

Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often

Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It

The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex

..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything

—

Photo credit: iStock