By Tim Bakamjian

The four-year national nightmare known as the Biden administration has mercifully ended. They exited the White House at high noon on Monday, January 20th just the way they entered: Stage Left. But not before they inflicted almost incalculable damage to America both domestically and overseas.

Space limitations won’t allow an adequate recitation of their madness. But any summary would be derelict if it failed to include the following:

– In a naked grab for votes, they opened if not destroyed the U.S. southern border, which allowed 10-12 million illegal entrants to pour in completely unvetted. Tens of thousands were hardened criminals, human traffickers, terrorists and drug dealers, while most at a minimum caused severe hardship to our housing supply, schools and hospitals. “The most powerful nation in the world hasn’t had operational control of its border,” said incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan.

– The Biden Treasury Department has borrowed more money more quickly than any in U.S. history, adding nearly $2 trillion a year in annual deficits and ballooning our debt to nearly $37 trillion. Prices have risen more than 20% since he took office, which means you need $120.00 to buy what $100 did in January 2021. A wave of layoffs swept across industries in the last year, with job cuts reaching a 15-year high. Corporate bankruptcies surged to a 14 year high in 2024, U.S. credit card defaults reached their highest point since 2010, the country’s trade deficit topped $100 million annually, interest and mortgage rates shot up and consumer inflation and confidence concerns reached their highest number since 2008.

– Never has a president refused or been so incapable of leading the free world against tyranny, death and destruction. First there was the Afghanistan debacle, which signaled to Russia that there would be no consequences if it invaded Ukraine (which it did), or to Iran if it unleashed Hamas and Hezbollah on Israel, (which they did), or to China, which regularly threatens war with Taiwan and other vulnerable countries, or to North Korea, which launched more test missiles than ever and sent troops to Ukraine. “We are fast approaching the point,” says foreign policy expert Gordon Chang, “where we won’t be able to stop Russia, China or their proxies, from merging these external conflicts and turning them into the next world war.”

– Rarely if ever has an administration allowed the FBI, CIA, DOJ and Pentagon to abandon their respective missions, flagrantly break laws, raid a former (and now current) president’s home, partnered with the media to suppress the news or unleash their immense power against certain American people. They raided the homes of their political opponents, spied on parents at school board meetings, monitored Catholics, imprisoned pro-life activists, made it more difficult for citizens to exercise their 1st Amendment rights and colluded with social media companies to censor viewpoints they deemed unacceptable – just to name a few of their injustices.

– From his first day in office, Biden declared war on the oil and gas industry, shutting down the Keystone XL Pipeline, placing moratoriums on drilling and embracing a radical Green New Deal that incentivized electric vehicles and alternative forms of energy such as wind and solar. He recently hamstrung the incoming Trump energy agenda by announcing an executive order that placed huge areas of offshore waters in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, along with the Gulf of Mexico, off limits to oil and gas drilling. He also announced two new national monuments in California, preventing federal drilling on 840,000 acres of land. Such policies have increased our energy costs, caused widespread poverty and enriched our greatest rival, China.

– Despite a recent poll which rated him the worst president in modern times, Biden made other controversial decisions during the transition period. He granted clemency to 1,500 federal inmates (the largest single day clemency in history), pardoned his son Hunter by giving him “blanket immunity” for an eleven-year period, commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death row inmates and released 11 Yemeni inmates from Guantanamo Bay, a move Senate Majority Leader John Thune said “jeopardizes our national security.”

Oklahoma Republican leaders are elated this ungodly disaster of an administration is in our rear-view mirror. As well, they are excited to work with President Trump to implement the America First agenda. “Something special is happening in America,” said Governor Kevin Stitt after having dinner with President Trump earlier this month. “Americans are fed up with the weird progressive policies of the Biden administration. In his last month, Biden’s added additional environmental regulations to Oklahoma’s administration and ability to enforce current laws. They also increased the cost of owning gas-powered water heaters, which came on top of their regulations on dishwashers.” Once fully implemented, Biden’s plans to make household appliances more environmentally friendly could cost families an extra $9,000. “A free market,” said Stitt, “allows we the people to decide what works for us, not the federal government.”

The governor also applauded President Trump’s leadership in persuading DAMAC properties to agree to invest $20 billion in U.S. data centers. The move, which Stitt facilitated by traveling numerous times to Dubai and several Asian countries, could create thousands of jobs in Oklahoma and boost the state’s role in AI and cloud technology.

Attorney General and recently announced 2026 gubernatorial candidate Gentner Drummond is equally glad “we turned the page on that failed administration.” One of his top priorities the last two years has been to protect Oklahoma’s state sovereignty against “the relentless overreach of the Biden-Harris administration.” Exercising Oklahoma’s right to crack down on illegal immigration, defend its robust oil and gas industry, protect women’s sports, impose its own ozone emissions plan, and pursue allowable healthcare policies under Title X funding grants are just some of the battles he’s fought on Oklahoma citizen’s behalf. Drummond said his final two years as attorney general will be spent standing with President Trump to “secure the border, deport illegal immigrants and make Oklahoma better than it ever has been.”

“Good riddance,” said 1st District Congressman Kevin Hern who was elected Chair of the House Republican Policy Committee. Hern says the American people became fed up and rejected Joe Biden’s failed America Last agenda on November 5th. He said Biden’s last-minute cuts to the popular Medicare Advantage program left 1.3 million seniors without that coverage and was one of many examples of “how he tried to do as much damage as possible on his way out of the White House.” However, he said “a new dawn has come to America. As newly elected Republican Policy Chair, my top priority will be to deliver President Trump’s America First Policy agenda. The next two years will determine our country’s future, and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and deliver the policy wins America deserves.”

Another Republican who was recently elected to a party leadership position is Senator James Lankford, who was elected Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, which gives Oklahoma a key representative on the Republican leadership team. The senator’s priorities echo those of his fellow conservative colleagues. “There’s a lot to get done in the days ahead as President Trump starts his second term,” he said. “From day one let’s take action to secure the border and cut government waste.”

Lankford secured assignments on two of the most important committees for the 119th Congress: Finance and Homeland Security/Government Affairs. The Finance Committee handles such issues as trade, taxes (including the IRS), regulation and the federal budget. He already has introduced seven DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) related bills and expects to work closely with the President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which he calls “the most important office no one has heard of.” The Homeland Security committee deals with such key issues as immigration, border and cyber security, terrorism as well as oversight and investigations.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” said Senator Markwayne Mullin about now ex-President Biden. Never one to mince words, Mullin said Communist China has been “eating our lunch the last four years.” He said Biden “exited the world stage on fumes, having been fired” and that his “unforgivable deadly Afghanistan debacle will forever define his single term.” He called Biden’s farewell speech “ineffective, tired and unifying – just like his presidency.”

In contrast, he said that President Trump “defied all odds and completed the greatest political comeback of the century to become our 47th president” and that liberals should quit playing games with the president’s “powerhouse cabinet nominees.” He was especially praiseworthy of Pete Hegseth, the Department of Defense nominee, who he said is “highly qualified, battle-tested, and uniquely understands the needs of America’s warfighters.” When Hegseth was criticized by Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren, Mullin remarked that he “won’t take advice from someone who falsely claimed to be a Cherokee.”

“Republicans,” said Oklahoma’s most conservative congressman, 2nd District representative Josh Brecheen, “have been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to deliver to the American people. Now is the time to deliver results.” While a co-sponsor of bills dealing with mass illegal immigration, border security Second Amendment rights and protecting women’s sports, Brecheen said the federal budget and ballooning debt have been his primary focus. He said the process of reconciliation is key to reform, which means you only need 50 senate votes not 60, to get something passed. The work of the Senate and House Budget Committees (he’s a member of the latter) is critical for the American people to see results from DOGE. “Each child,” Brecheen adds, “owes America $107,000 from the moment they are born. The Washington swamp has failed the next generation.”

While Oklahoma’s senators and congressmen are united and hopeful in their support of the America First agenda, it remains to be seen whether the many reforms needed will be executed. The next100 days will provide much of that answer.

Tim Bakamjian is an independent real estate broker and investor living in Tulsa. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kenyon College in Ohio and a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Tulsa. He’s married with one grown child. Political and economic issues have been a life-long interest. He may be contacted at: tbakamjian@gmail.com