Six executive orders Trump will sign tomorrow, in order of escalating lunacy

PRESIDENT Trump takes office today and has promised a flurry of new laws. These six are ranked from lunatic to fixed-stare vibrating insanity: 

EO 14145: Prohibiting the Consumption of Dogs and Cats For Food

Hitting his opponents where it hurts, Trump proves he’s about action not words. Cutting off the favoured food supply of illegal immigrants – beloved household pets – will make them so hungry they’ll flee back to their home countries. America, your dogs are safe.

EO 14146: Establishing Tesla as the Standard Measure of Safety

A justly deserved reward for Elon: his standard of safety is now the nation’s. His self-driving cars can take any road, anywhere, without harming anyone except those foolish enough to be run over, involved in crashes or immolated in stationary vehicles. Legally each of those situations is their fault.

EO 14147: Pardoning the Entirety of Trump Supporters

Pardoning only the January 6th rioters, who shall henceforward be known as the January 6th Lovers, would not be enough. Therefore any prisoner, no matter their crime, prepared to make a statement about their support for Trump is now freed. The prisons are empty and the nation filled with joy.

EO 14148: Annexing the Willing and the Beautiful

Declaring Greenland, Canada, Mexico and Panama become America on day one: what other president has ever achieved such greatness? To take the number of American states from 50 to 75, and all without a shot fired? The relevant governments are dissolved unilaterally and immediately.

EO 14149: Redefining 2020-2024 as a Rest Period

Biden did not win an election but stole one. His presidency, during which he was largely unconscious, is now a period where Trump was president but taking a well-earned rest. This also removes the needlessly prohibitive concept of term limits: as Trump has already been president three times, they no longer apply. A fourth is a given.

EO 14150: Providing a new National Anthem for the United States

The Star-Spangled Banner served the nation for almost a century, but it is old. A reborn nation that is proud and certain in its masculine power deserves a new one. From this moment, the national anthem is YMCA, performed at the inauguration by the Village People. The country will sing along joyfully while performing the national dance.

How I survived without TikTok for a whole evening: A lesson for Americans by Ryan Whittaker, aged 22

ON Saturday, the unthinkable happened. TikTok went dark in the US. Millions had nothing but words and images to scroll. And it could happen again, so learn from me. 

Picture this scene, if you dare: after a long hard day of vaping and sharing memes over WhatsApp, you go to log into TikTok only to find that it’s not there anymore. Instead, it’s been cruelly yanked off like a good film from Netflix or your dad when he’s horny.

That’s the grim future which awaits us, but I’m ready. Over the weekend I decided to simulate a TikTok ban, and I learnt that it’s as easy to get through as a sped-up Olivia Rodrigo song.

With a few clicks, I realised that there’s actually other content on the internet which fries your dopamine receptors. YouTube Shorts and Instagram Explore are basically TikTok’s reheated leftovers, meaning you can continue to waste your life doomscrolling.

And believe it or not, there are actually news websites which contain short videos with arresting content. Clicking around through the BBC homepage then bouncing over to PornHub on a loop was almost like homemade TikTok, and obscurely comforting.

Even archaic technology can be useful. Most homes contain a television and many, due to a quirk of the elderly, don’t just stream but have ‘channels’. Flick through randomly for six hours and you’ll be surprised at how comfortingly disordered your thoughts are.

Feeling brave? Then venture outside and create your own TikTok by asking someone to do something, watching it through your phone then when boredom sets in after 20 seconds pivoting to another person and repeating your request. It’s vapid and treats people like nothing but objects, just like your favourite app!

Anyway, I’ve still got TikTok, so I have no further need for interaction. Not when one of my favourites is pretending to be a woman by placing a towel atop his head. Ah, all human life is here.