The era of commonsense is over

On January 20th,2025, Donald Trump’s inaugural speech declared tHAT the Unitedstates government would only recognize two genders – male and female. At the same time, the administration would end the radical and wasteful diversity, equity, and inclusivity(DEI) Programs within federal agencies. Officials called these measures common-senseorders, part of a broader agenda to restore sanity.

Ironically, the gender-related orders were described as policies aimed at protecting women from the extremist ideologies ofgender identity and returning biology truth to the federal government. The orders also prohibited theuse of taxpayer funds for gender transition-related medical procedures and opposed the introduction ofprivacy clauses in private spaces in prisons, refugee shelters, and rape crisis centers.

A Trump propaganda commented sarcastically that Kamala supports “they/them,” whilePresident Trump supports you. This commented on the use of ‘they’ as agender-neutral pronoun rather than ‘she’ or ‘he’. Another controversialstatement claimed that these orders were fitting to announce on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as they aimed to return to the promises and hope captured by the civil rightsfighter – that one day all Americans would be treated equally based on their character,not their skin color.

One may ask why Trump announced two national emergency states (one for ecological and one for immigration issues) without declaring an emergency to defend ‘normal’ sexual orientation. On the ecological issue, Trump withdrew the United States fromthe Paris Agreement, stating that the US would become a manufacturing country again, withthe largest reserves of oil and gas – something other manufacturing countries would never have.To implement this measure, Trump declared a national energy emergency and ended his speech withhis famous slogan: “We will drill, baby, drill.”

Moreover, Trumpannounced the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization – a move thatcould cause immense pain in the outbreak of a new virus pandemic (or when iterupts). Likewise, alIGNing with his anti-global cooperation stance, Trump issueda series of administrative orders against immigration: declaring a national emergency at the southern border, immediately suspending a border application called CBPOne that allowed immigrants to enter theUS legally, and taking measures to end birthright citizenship policies.

As a result, we witness an emergency state targeted at immigrants, another at environmental protection, anda third seemingly implicit emergency state aimed at protecting ‘normal’ sexual orientation. Meanwhile, two genuine emergency states are missing: one for environmental crises and another to addressthe impact of artificial intelligence. Despite Trump’s realization of AI’s importance– announcing a collaboration with three top tech companies to invest $500 billionin a new company called Stargate to advance AI infrastructure – his actions undermine responsibleAI regulation.

In 2023, Biden issued an executive order toestablish standards for AI safety, trustworthy, and responsible development across multiple domains. Thisorder instructed the US Department of Health and Public Services (HHS) to createa safety plan to ensure responsible deployment of AI in healthcare and public services. However, Trump abolished this order on his first day in office, clearly demonstrating the neoliberalessence of his so-called freedom: granting elite corporate power without public oversight.This abolition means the public may still be unaware of the extent to which AI systemscontrol or regulate their behaviors.

Trump also implemented many other measures that defy common sense. For instance, his nominated US ambassador to the United Nations publicly supported Israel’s biblical right to the entire West Bank during Senate confirmation hearings – a regressionto religious fundamentalism. Another questionable action involved cryptocurrency. Economist Yanis Varoufakis pointed out that de-dollarization poses a threat to US dominance; however, Trump himself seems to be moving in this direction. Not only did he surroundhimself with deep involvement in crypto speculation, but before his inauguration, the first couplelaunched a high-profile MEMecoin that was already worth billions on paper.These memecoins are highly volatile cryptocurrencies inspired by online or cultural trends and haveno intrinsic value but can experience significant price fluctuations.

Leaving behind the list of relativelydry measures, we should focus on those neutral terms like common sense and sanity.The problem is that the era of common sense – where we could rely on traditionalvalues and customs in our daily lives – has ended (not just limited to thefield of gender). The evidence comes from the tech feudal owners who sit beside himat his inauguration and share his table – figures like Elon Musk whose Neuralink projectaims to connect our minds directly to digital space and create a fundamental shift in ourdefinition of humanity. Or扎克伯格的Meta目前也在开发自己的读心装置。When asked about the privacy implications of this technology, Zuckerberg replied that it was assumedusers voluntarily choose to use it. Who made this assumption?Secret agencies that can read my thoughts without my consent?If they peek into my