A constitutional crisis, hostile takeover or complete pandemonium — while appropriate labels — all seem like understatements when describing President Donald Trump’s approach to enacting his “America First” agenda during the first months of his administration. However, it’s as he boasts: promise made, promise kept.
Since Trump seized the levers of power on Jan. 20, a flood of executive actions and administrative changes — too many to detail — have shaken the precedents of the Executive Branch. The prevailing theme among these actions? A stark transition from democracy to oligarchic rule.
Oligarchy is defined as a government where a small few exercise power for corrupt and selfish purposes — in our case, the wealthiest in America.
The extremely wealthy haven’t approached this transition subtly either; in fact, the flaunting of political power by the 1% has been obnoxiously obvious. The richest men on earth weren’t lurking in the shadows of the inauguration; rather, they were perched proudly next to the Oligarch-in-Chief, Trump.
Whether through large donations or out-of-court lawsuit settlements, money has been flowing into Trump’s hands from these allies, showing that political power, while not cheap, can be bought.
Billionaires have also been elevated to top positions of power within Trump’s administration, illustrating his vision for government — most egregiously, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE. Serving as a “special government employee,” Musk possesses immense power for an individual not elected by the people or confirmed by the Senate.
DOGE, seemingly staffed primarily by racist college students barely older or more educated than I, have already successfully forced the United States Agency for International Development into a state of suspended animation — with no staffers or funding to continue operations.
USAID, a vital organization for global humanitarian assistance, was only the first of many agencies within the Administrative State on the chopping block.
Other casualties include the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has directed its employees to cease working, and the Department of Education, which is actively being dismantled via executive order. These agencies are responsible for returning billions to consumers and educating the public, respectively.
However, Trump’s claimed mandate, from the American people, to dismantle the government this way has some validity — despite being agonizing to accept. This begs the question: How were so many convinced to vote for oligarchy and uncertainty?
Given the chaos of the current political moment, dwelling on how we got here as a country may not seem to be the most pressing matter. However, it’s intrinsically linked to preventing this catastrophe from worsening beyond the point of irreparability. Namely, we need to understand that Trump didn’t win the 2024 election; the Democrats lost — and they are still losing.
People feel left behind, and this goes beyond party lines. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center poll, only 23% of Americans feel the economy is good despite solid economic data showing otherwise. Life is still a struggle for most Americans.
Regardless of the valid arguments made by economists that Trump’s plan would weaken the economy, at least he had a plan: gutting the administrative state, centralizing power with the Executive branch, mass deportations and widespread tariffs.
Of course, this platform was based on an otherizing and hating of America’s large immigrant population as well as a fake populism founded on anti-establishment rhetoric — the “establishment” being a dog whistle for our liberal institutions.
Conversely, Trump’s opposition, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party, built a platform on preventing a Republican win rather than offering actual policy goals to address the American people’s desire for a government that works for them.
As it goes, a plan beats no plan — even if that plan is built on hatred and chaos.
Looking at the current state of society and government, it can be hard to understand what we can do to protect ourselves, each other and our democracy. Continuing to live life like this is normal — as we see footage of college students being captured by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for voicing opinions — feels to me like everyone has been convinced to not believe their lying eyes.
Assuredly, people are concerned, scared and desperate. However, the fact that nothing feels different worries me. We are currently witnessing a fascist takeover of the government by the wealthiest people in the world — why is nothing being done?
At this moment, it seems that the Democratic Party has resigned the American people to experiencing the next four years of this — undoubtedly hoping to raise millions off our misery.
Leadership like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer exemplifies this, supporting and allowing for the passage of a Republican budget bill, ultimately legitimizing DOGE’s current ransacking of the U.S. Government.
However, while we are at this point because of the Democratic Party’s feckless nature, we must still rely on them to protect the country from further collapse — a prospect I languish in accepting.
In all likelihood, the party’s gerontocracy will continue to navigate normal channels of opposition and use similar flaccid rhetoric to seem powerless. Still, as we see, there are no more rules, and they need to act like it.
We are limited in what we can do as citizens, but if everyone does a little, it can do a lot. Whether you engage in messaging with people you know, get involved in a local community organization, pressure your senators and representatives or simply stay informed, it all matters.
Just remember, we can get through this as a nation, but we don’t have to sit by while it happens.
Grayson is a sophomore in LAS.
This post was originally published on here
