Donald Trump has had a busy week since he took over the White House last week.
President Trump was sworn into office for the second time on Monday (January 20) as the 47th president of the United States and it’s fair to say, he’s had a busy week.
The 78-year-old kicked off his plans for the ‘golden Age of America’ by reversing most of the work of his predecessor Joe Biden.
From 26 executive orders to presidential pardons, here’s everything Trump has done so far.
Trump has had a busy week (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Immigration
At the top of the bill is Trump’s promise to crack down on immigration, having declared a national emergency at the southern border and sent more than a thousand troops to the US-Mexico border.
Trump also ordered the construction of the border wall while suggesting the Gulf of Mexico should be renamed to the Gulf of America, which got some laughs from Hillary Clinton during his inauguration ceremony.
Beyond that, he’s asked Homeland Security to halt all refugee and asylum seekers admissions, as well as remove illegal migrants (with the term ‘illegal alien’ now reinstated).
He also tried to put an end to birthright US citizenship for the children of non-US citizens which was blocked by a federal judge in Seattle, calling it ‘blatantly unconstitutional’, reports the BBC.
Trump further threatened to prosecute officials and strip funding from sanctuary states that refuse to cooperate with deportation orders.
Gender
Trump has wasted no time in clamping down on transgender rights, too.
His order defines sex as either ‘male’ or ‘female’, which he claims are ‘not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality’.
This means transgender people won’t be able to change their legal documents to reflect their gender, for instance on passports.
The State Department has already ordered all applications from people to change their gender on passports, or to replace it with an ‘x’ marker, to be suspended.
TikTok
The President pretty much immediately suspended the proposed TikTok ban with hopes to strike a deal with the company.
The social media giant has been granted a 75-day extension to find an American buyer.
TikTok was restored almost immediately (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Diversity
Another controversial move out of the White House this week has been the scrapping government diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programs which were designed to protect workers from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.
He revoked the Executive Order 11246, established in 1965, and ordered employees working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the Department of Labor to be put on paid leave while their work was shut down.
Advocates for DEI initiatives have long argued it presents a level playing field for underrepresented minorities such as LGBTQ+ people, but Trump’s order slammed the programs as ‘illegal discrimination and preferences’ and said they would be scrapped to ‘restore merit-based opportunity’.
He’s also slammed the brakes on working from home practices for federal workers and has frozen almost all federal agencies from hiring, apart from military, immigration enforcement, national security and public safety jobs.
Presidential appointees fired – and the WHO
Trump has promised on Truth Social to fire more than 1,000 presidential appointees from the previous administration.
The president said those in the firing line are ‘not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again’, including retired Army general Mark Milley, who was fired from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.
Trump also withdrew the US from the World Health Organization (WHO), claiming it ‘mishandled’ the pandemic.
Presidential pardons
Hundreds of people were pardoned by the president last week, including the almost 1,600 people charged in connection with the January 6 riot at the Capitol, 23 anti-abortion protesters and two Washington DC Police officers, Andrew Zabavsky and Terence Sutton, convicted for the death of a Black man during a police car chase in 2020.
However, the biggest name to receive a pardon is Ross Ulbricht, a 40-year-old tech pro from Texas who created and operated the darkweb market website, Silk Road, from 2011 up until his arrest in 2013 and conviction two years later.
Declassified files
Trump declassified files about the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King Jr and further files about Robert Kennedy.
Capital punishment
Trump outlined a commitment to seek the death penalty for federal crimes that involve the murder of law enforcement or in cases where an illegal migrant commits a capital crime.
Anti-abortion
Trump has made several anti-abortion moves already, such as restoring the Mexico City Rule, which bans federal funding to any overseas nongovernmental organization that performs abortions.
While he praised the annual ‘March for Life’ rally, he made a statement ‘strongly’ supporting the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act and shut down the Biden administration’s pro-abortion government website.
He also restored the Hyde Amendment, which stops taxpayers from paying for abortions.
He said only American flags will be used in US embassies (DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Flags
Trump is also taking a stand against flags, having issued guidance that US embassies should fly only the American flag.
The notice comes after activist flags like Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ+ Pride flag flew over government buildings during Biden’s term.
Climate change and energy
The President declared a national energy emergency and ordered the US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, which saw almost 200 countries sign the legally binding treaty on climate change in 2015.
While most countries are trying to move away from oil and gas as sources of energy with climate change in mind, Trump has signed orders aiming to promote the the two things in Alaska.
“We will drill, baby,” Trump said in his inaugural address on Monday.
“We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have – the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it. We’re going to use it.”
If that’s not enough, he also tore up the electric vehicle mandate and announced plans to get rid of regulations on household items like lightbulbs, water heaters and washing machines.
Economy and foreign relationships
One executive order looks to deliver emergency cost relief to Americans in the housing and healthcare sectors with a view to cut back on climate policies and create more jobs.
In line with his ‘America First’ trade policy, which looks at collective revenue related to foreign trade, Trump also ordered to pause assistance to foreign countries for 90 days.
Trump spoke to several foreign leaders, including one such ‘fiery’ call with the Danish prime minister on national security concerns, and others like the El Salvadoran President about illegal immigration.
He also called on Putin to ‘stop this ridiculous war’ in Ukraine – or Russia would face sanctions.
Trump also said Canada could joint the US as a state.
Donald Trump has wasted no time in making some drastic changes to the way America will be run following his inauguration.
President Trump returned to office for a second time on Monday (January 20) and took back the White House from Joe Biden — whom the businessman lost to in 2020.
While Trump declined to attend Biden’s inauguration and host him at the White House ahead of the ceremony, Biden welcomed his successor with open arms, declaring ‘Welcome Home!’ when he and Melania Trump arrived in Washington DC earlier this week.
Immigration
Trump has clamped down on immigration once more, regarding the US-Mexico border in particular.
It was announced yesterday (January 22) that The Pentagon is deploying as many as 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the US-Mexico border in the coming days, officials said (via Associated Press).
The active duty forces would join the roughly 2,500 US National Guard and Reserve forces already there.
He’s further insulted Mexicans by suggesting that the Gulf of Mexico should be renamed the Gulf of America.
Away from the US-Mexico border, Trump has ordered the suspension of refugee admissions into the US and all refugee travel was canceled just a day after he became president.
Donald Trump returned to office on January 20, 2050 (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Employment
Trump also wasted no time in sharing his intentions of scrapping the country’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes.
All DEI workers were put on paid leave from 5pm EST yesterday (January 22), ahead of their offices being shut down.
While many have felt that the DEI scheme has helped the LGBTQ+ community in particular, Trump’s new order will remove aims to stop companies hiring candidates on the basis of race and sex.
Elsewhere, the new president has ordered for federal workers to return to the office full time and for agencies to stop giving remote working options to employees.
Trump has also frozen almost all federal agencies from hiring, apart from military, immigration enforcement, national security and public safety jobs, Reuters reported.
Environment and climate change
Trump has ordered for the US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement; a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
The agreement came into force in 2016 and was agreed to by nearly 200 countries, the US included.
This marks the second time Trump has ordered for America to withdraw from the agreement in 2020, but Biden reversed his predecessor’s decision when he became president in 2021.
While most countries are trying to move away from oil and gas as sources of energy with climate change in mind, Trump has signed orders aiming to promote the the two things in Alaska.
Trump wants to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
“We will drill, baby,” Trump said in his inaugural address on Monday.
“We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have – the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it. We’re going to use it.”
Oval office changes
Of course, Trump has made himself at home since returning to the White House and has already made some tweaks to the Oval Office.
He’s already reinstated his infamous Coca-Cola button, and – obviously — swapped out any Biden portraits from his time in office.
Meanwhile Trump’s added his own personal photographs, as well as swapping out Biden’s darker rug for a neutral-colored one.
As Donald Trump prepares to be inaugurated to the White House a second time, we take a look at all changes he’s vowed to usher in.
The Republican Party leader is set to officially become the 47th US President, as he’s sworn into office in Washington DC later from 11.30am Eastern Time today (20 January).
From cryptocurrency to education and everything in between, here’s everything Donald Trump has promised to do as he returns to office…
Be a ‘dictator’
Donald Trump is the 47th President of the United States (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Trump admitted that one of his plans for his first day back in the Oval Office would be to be a ‘dictator’ when discussing the possibility of his win in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity last year.
He referred to himself as a ‘dictator’ during the interview, when asked by Hannity if he was promising to ‘never abuse power as retribution against anybody’.
In response, Trump said: “Except for Day 1.
“I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling,” he continued.
“After that, I’m not a dictator.”
Delay the TikTok ban
The TikTok ban has been delayed (TikTok/ Twitter/ @amyewong)
TikTok went dark yesterday (January 19), but it was bought back after mere hours with a message reading: “Welcome back! Thank you for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the US!
“You can continue to create, share and discover all the things you love on TikTok.”
Trump will reportedly sign an executive order to delay the ban saying he wants to ‘make a deal to protect our national security.’
Scrap ‘electric vehicle mandates’
Trump has vowed to scrap EV mandates (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Trump plans to scrap Biden administration’s so-called electric vehicle mandate, referring to new pollution standards that incentivize auto manufacturers to increase production of electric and lower-emission vehicles.
Despite vowing to get rid of the policy on his first day, Trump told podcaster Joe Rogan the move could take ‘maybe two days, because it’s a little bit busy’.
