Even though the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Day, are two separate and distinct federal holidays, they inadvertently collide in 2025. Ergo, federal employees will be gypped of one to observe the two concurrently, according to the Office of Personnel Management. For the nation, discussions about inflation, “light speed” deportations; weaponizing of the U.S. Justice Department, and an ominous prediction about “an oligarchy taking shape in America” are emerging on the National Mall.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,” Martin Luther King Jr. said, “but rather where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” A sentiment not lost on either of the two most adversarial U.S. presidents in the nation’s history.

Donald Trump logs two assassination attempts; two impeachment trials; and four legal challenges to his presidency, business, and person. Likewise, as Biden defends his 50-year political legacy he begins with a challenge. Less than half of all Americans have a positive view of his leadership, according to Gallup. Even though Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act spent $1.2 trillion to “build back better;” declared the NATO alliance to be “more united than ever;” left economic growth stable; unemployment at 4.1 percent; and after 15-months of negotiations was integrally involved in the Israel-Hamas War's cease fire deal.

What the majority remember is the catastrophic US withdrawal from Afghanistan; a spike in undocumented migration at the US-Mexico border; 46,700 Palestinian casualties; $175 billion to Ukraine since Russia's invasion; and the American Rescue Plan’s $2 trillion in subsidies and mortgage relief during the Covid era triggering inflation to peak at 9.1 percent in 2022. Gas, electricity, groceries and rent soared upwards of 20 percent. 

The nation’s credit card debt exceeds $1 trillion; mortgage costs are 89 percent higher; a promised “manufacturing boom” never materialized; and at the core of Biden’s proposal for Small Businesses was to increase their taxes into the trillions while at the same time claiming to be the most pro-labor president in American history.

It’s a lot. Perhaps we're oversharing. Because legacy is reductive. We tend to be remembered for just one thing. So with that in mind, what we predict will linger most in the hearts and minds of Americans’ isn’t the Biden administration suing a former US president and political adversary; implementing DEI regulations into every policy, agency or department; or even granting his own son a blanket 10-year pass for crimes in which he was neither accused nor convicted.

What we project will linger most in the hearts and memories of America is the money. The Inflation Reduction Act hit corporations with a 15% across the board income tax bill; triggering a surcharge on corporate stock buybacks; and redirecting tax-preferred profits from their domestic shareholders back to the government. The Biden-Harris war on the “wealthy and corporate tax cheats to pay their fair share” in sum collected hundreds of billions of dollars in additional revenue for the federal government.

Moreover, Biden’s Justice Department (DOJ) sued the United States’ largest companies, including Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft. The Biden DOJ sued the United States’ themselves for various reasons, including, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Arizona, Florida, Virginia, et. al. The Biden DOJ sued Municipal City, County and State Police Departments; Commercial airliner JetBlue for not being on time; VISA for growing too big; even 6 United States’ landlords for using a shared algorithm to regulate rents and this just in: The SEC has just sued Elon Musk for $150 million.

Legacy is driven by selection bias which create overly optimistic beliefs while multiple failures are overlooked. Example: Martin Luther King Jr. organizing the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” in 1963 lifted Blacks from poverty. Sixty years on, it can fairly be said it failed to place them on equal par with Whites re: employment, housing, education, medical care, and wages. That said, the nation wasn’t designed for the Equality of Outcome. It was designed for Equality of Opportunity.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and rehashed the same with Joe Rogan later in the day. “It’s been a journey” Zuckerberg said, “regarding free speech and free expression. Meta has been heavily pressured by the Biden administration to remove content the administration saw as misinformation on the platform.” Zuckerberg continued:

The Biden administration would basically call up our team and like scream at them and curse, and it’s like, these are documented, it’s all kind of out there. They even threatened Meta to remove a meme suggesting that people who get the Covid-19 vaccine could end up being part of class action lawsuits.

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) covers eligible claimants’ out-of-pocket expenses, loss of income, and pain and suffering. The VICP has paid over $4.6 billion to 10,000+ eligible claimants over the past 35 years. Dissuading Americans otherwise is misleading.

Likewise, Trump floating ideas about acquiring Greenland, controlling Panama, and even absorbing Canada into the United States “are flattering non-starters,” according to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. “He's just positioning himself for negotiations.” And herein lies the reset.

For most of the past century, the U.S. federal government — on both sides of the aisle — has moved cooperatively toward a laissez-faire approach to the economy. An economic philosophy that opposes government intervention and fosters free-market capitalism.

McKinsey & Company, an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm, is at 15+ billion in annual revenue among the crown jewels of American enterprise. When Biden’s DOJ launched a probe into their consultancy with Purdue Pharma, to boost the sales of the highly addictive drug OxyContin, McK agreed to pay $650 million to settle a federal investigation. While the U.S. economy added 256,000 entry level positions in retail, hospitality, health care and the federal government in December 2024, McK was announcing massive layoffs in response to a systemic slowdown in the consulting sector.

The Robin Hood theatrics aside, the majority of Americans projected that both outgoing Trump and Biden would be remembered as below average or poor US presidents, according to Gallup. But as Trump descends the steps of the U.S. Capitol tomorrow, taking on the yoke as the 47th President of the United States, he’ll stand opposite the Lincoln Memorial. In 1963, a civil rights leader spoke to a crowd of 250,000 people, ‘the likes of which no one had ever seen before.’

"Tell 'em bout the dream, Martin!” Mahalia Jackson yelled out from the crowd, and in that moment King went off script “grasping at the first run of oratory” which culminated after 6 minutes and 30 seconds into the iconic American speech: “I Have a Dream.”

Juxtaposed on either side of the National Mall, two men, by rights, historic figures in the American experiment, have and continue to stake their respective claims in the American Way. A half century apart, civil and economic equality continues to wrestle for outcomes, whilst all too often losing sight of their opportunity.

The 21st century’s legacy will go to one leader, either the United States or China. MIC 2025 — China’s investment strategy to reduce its reliance on foreign goods, and to become the world’s dominant manufacturer “means that in less than 10 years, virtually everything that matters to us in life — from the medications you take to the movies you watch and everything in between — will entirely depend on if or whether China allows us to have it or not,” says Secretary of State-elect, Marco Rubio.

Geopolitics is about economics. A leader shepherds their economy. And “no one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions. He had money as well.”