“If you can’t get the votes … you can’t [legislate] by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus.” —Joe Biden in October

That was then; this is now. Acting like a dictator is now a virtue. Under cover of the mass hysterics about the Capitol ‘insurrection’ and the impending Trump impeachment farce, the Biden/Harris regime has decreed a record number of executive diktats with Joe Biden’s pen, enacting their radical leftist agenda. Members of Congress prefer this because they don’t have to take tough votes or worry about GOP opposition.

He has blown away the previous record for executive actions in the opening days of his presidency. He signed a whopping 17 executive orders and actions in his first few hours and has followed that up with even more in his first 10 days — the total is close to 40, including at least 25 executive orders. The Dispatch reports, “Over the same timeframe, Donald Trump and Barack Obama had both signed 20, George W. Bush five, and Bill Clinton 11.” We fully expect Biden is only just getting started playing the role of dictator, and whenever Kamala Harris takes over she’ll do likewise. (And on that note, Mark Alexander says, “It is my estimation that Biden’s massive EO dump is an effort to hurriedly establish his presidential legacy as it will be short-lived.”)

But even The New York Times is telling Joe to “ease up on the executive actions.” While cheering on the substance of his actions, the Gray Lady’s editorial board lightly chastises, “This is no way to make law.”

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield slammed the Times editorial on social media: “As the NYT ed board criticizes President Biden this am for taking swift executive action to reverse the most egregious actions of the Trump Admin, I can’t help but recall that during the primary they encouraged voters to consider what a president could accomplish through exec Action.”

Most presidents resort to executive orders when they cannot get a measure through Congress. But last time we checked, Biden was a Democrat and the House and Senate are both controlled by Democrats.

What has Scranton Joe done to rule your life? Plenty. What follows is a list of his executive orders so far and their significance:

• Systemic racism is now the policy of the federal government. Executive Order 13985 disguises this as direction to “pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all,” but in practice this will mean counting by race in everything the federal government does. Biden’s order also rescinds President Donald Trump’s September order banning racist “diversity” training (known as critical race theory) in federal agencies. Furthermore, our Douglas Andrews explained why equity isn’t equality, and our Lewis Morris recounted Biden’s related dismissal of the 1776 Commission.

• If not racism, fighting climate change will henceforth dictate Biden administration policy. Executive Order 13990 makes it official policy to pursue “environmental justice.” This “justice” includes killing hundreds of thousands of jobs by rescinding oil drilling in federal areas, axing the Keystone XL pipeline, and undoing a slew of Trump’s energy-related deregulation. Moreover, Biden’s order will “restore science” to its rightful place as the state religion. Just don’t tell the girls competing against boys after the aforementioned order or Biden’s “transgender” HHS pick.

• Executive Order 14008 likewise is about “tackling the climate crisis at home and abroad.” Primarily, this means “putting the climate crisis at the center of … foreign policy and national security.” Specifically, it means advancing a plan to “rejoin the Paris Agreement.”

• And because Science™ is so important to these mad political scientists, Executive Order 14007 establishes the “President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.”

• It’s fair to say the term “China virus” is now effectively banned for federal agencies and public health documents, per a presidential memorandum. “China virus” was, of course, President Donald Trump’s favorite label because, well, the virus came from China. While Biden doesn’t specifically use the words “China virus,” his directive does say that the federal government shouldn’t continue advancing “xenophobic sentiments” by referring to COVID “by the geographic location of its origin.” Moreover, he says without evidence, “Such statements … have contributed to increasing rates of bullying, harassment, and hate crimes” against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

• Executive Order 13987 is about “organizing and mobilizing” the U.S. government to effectively combat the China virus. Oops — we forgot the other directive. Biden’s plan is primarily to plagiarize Trump’s plan, but the Leftmedia will dutifully treat his work with awe and wonder. The main difference is to reengage with and “strengthen” the World Health Organization, which Trump exited because of its Chinese puppet strings. Strangely, Biden’s new order does not include the word “mask.” Maybe that’s because he forgot to wear one on federal property…

• Speaking of which, Executive Order 13991 mandates masks on federal property.

• Not done with COVID, Executive Order 13994 proclaims that the federal government will now enact a “data-driven response.” Brand new concept, we’re sure.

• Still not done with COVID, Executive Order 13995 requires “an equitable pandemic response.” Based on the Biden administration’s policy of counting by race and gender (“identity”), we’re pretty sure that violates his order on the response being “data-driven.”

• Okay, he’s really not done with COVID. Executive Order 13996 establishes a “pandemic testing board” for increased and politically charged testing, as well as ensures a “sustainable public health workforce,” whatever that means.

• We give up. Here’s another COVID one, and another hypocritical one at that: Executive Order 13997 is aimed at “improving and expanding access to care and treatments for COVID-19,” including an effort to “accelerate the development of novel therapies.” Remember when Trump tried to do that? He was mercilessly mocked by Democrats. Now his policy is their policy.

• Executive Order 13998 enacts mask mandates and xenophobic travel restrictions to combat COVID. Just kidding. When Biden does it, it’s not xenophobic.

• Protecting workers from COVID is the goal of Executive Order 13999. We’ve read it and we’re still not sure exactly how it changes anything.

• It’s time to reopen schools, says Executive Order 14000. The Chicago Teachers Union didn’t get the memo.

• Executive Order 14001 calls for “a sustainable public health supply chain.” Nowhere does the order mention China or its dominance of the supply chain.

• Economic relief related to the pandemic is the goal of Executive Order 14002. Translation: The government will redistribute even more of your great grandchildren’s money to fix the government-caused economic crisis blamed on the pandemic. Trillions have already been spent, with trillions more on the way.

• Executive Order 13988 ostensibly prevents and combats “discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.” In reality, it turns the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on its ear, putting boys in girls’ locker rooms and endangering women’s sports entirely.

• In a similar vein, Executive Order 14004 removes restrictions on “gender identity” and “transgender” individuals serving in the U.S. military. This has nothing to do with enhancing military readiness. Quite the contrary, it’s about making the Armed Forces a petri dish for social engineering.

• Executive Order 13989 calls on “every appointee in every executive agency” to take an ethics pledge, which says in part, “I commit to decision-making on the merits and exclusively in the public interest, without regard to private gain or personal benefit.” Take a moment to marvel that the hypocrite issuing this order is the father of Hunter Biden — the “Big Guy” himself.

• Executive Order 14003 is all about “protecting the federal workforce” … from the accountability orders enacted by President Trump.

• Executive Order 13992 continues the work of undoing Trump’s deregulation by revoking several of his orders. Biden’s goal is to restore “robust regulatory action.” Translation: Big Government.

• The census question regarding citizenship was revoked by Executive Order 13986. Biden calls this “ensuring a lawful and accurate enumeration” of people.

• Executive Order 13993 “revises” immigration enforcement by rescinding Trump’s order to ensure things like … enforcing immigration law. Fling the border open wide, says Biden. In fact, Biden even hopes to remove the word “alien” from U.S. code.

• “Make it in America again” might as well be the title of Executive Order 14005, which aims to have more stuff “made in all of America by all of America’s workers.” Don’t question Joe’s patriotism.

• Donald Trump worked across the aisle to undo the damage done to minorities by Joe Biden’s 1990s crime bill, but Biden didn’t leave that untouched either. Executive Order 14006 eliminates the use of “privately operated criminal detention facilities.” Because Democrat-run government has a way better track record on race.

• Ostensibly to “strengthen” healthcare, especially for women, Biden signed an executive order restoring U.S. taxpayer funding for international abortions. That doesn’t help women, and at least half of the babies terminated before birth are girls. Ironically, there’s unity on this issue — three-quarters of Americans oppose Biden’s order. The order is also for “strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.” That basically means more regulation of healthcare. And beware the Democrats’ real strategy of pushing the nation toward Medicare for All.

Remember: With one exception, the above list is just the executive orders. We didn’t list the other actions and memorandums from the Oval Office, or even scratch the surface of all the edicts being pumped out of his cabinet offices and other bureaucracies. The clear goal is to erase as much of the last four years as quickly as possible. That may be good for Democrats, but it’s absolutely terrible for America.