Please explain how Trump managed to implement this ban with a democrat controlled senate and Joe Biden as president.

I don’t think there was any grand Machiavellian scheme. Trump just capitalized on historic democrat incompetence to make himself look good.

Completely agree, that was just a quote ripped straight from the article. From everything I’ve heard it seems like people are having problems just running stock settings. Your best bet to absolutely avoid any damage is probably to literally shut your system down until the patches are available.

What, if anything, can customers do to slow or stop degradation ahead of the microcode update?

Intel recommends that users adhere to Intel Default Settings on their desktop processors, along with ensuring their BIOS is up to date. Once the microcode patch is released to Intel partners, we advise users check for the relevant BIOS updates.