Trump’s First 48 Hours
Sources:
Steve Peoples, Nicholas Riccardi, Bill Barrow, Trump makes sweeping promises while ripping into the country’s past leaders during his inaugural address, PBS Newshour, Jan. 20, 2025, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-makes-sweeping-promises-while-ripping-into-the-countrys-past-leaders-during-his-inaugural-address
Rachel Reisman, Trump has signed three types of executive actions — orders, proclamations and memorandum, NPR, Jan. 21, 2025, https://www.tpr.org/government-politics/2025-01-21/trump-is-signing-a-flurry-of-executive-orders-heres-how-those-work
Executive Orders: An Introduction, Congressional Research Service, March 29, 2021, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46738
Social Media Influencer Douglass Mackey Sentenced after Conviction for Election Interference in 2016 Presidential Race, DOJ, Oct. 18, 2023, https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/social-media-influencer-douglass-mackey-sentenced-after-conviction-election
US International Climate Finance: FY2025, Congressional Research Service, May 6, 2024, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12652
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Trump Withdraws U.S. from World Health Organization, New York Times, Jan. 20, 2025 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/trump-world-health-organization.html
David Lawder, Trump effectively pulls US out of global corporate tax deal, Reuters, Jan. 20, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-declares-oecd-tax-deal-has-no-force-or-effect-us-2025-01-21/
Amanda Yeo, Did Trump's executive order just make everyone in the U.S. female?, Mashable, Jan. 22, 2025, https://mashable.com/article/trump-executive-order-sex-female-male-gender
Transcript:
We are on day 3 of the second Trump administration and already it has been a chaotic whirlwind of atrocity after atrocity with truly no end in sight. I don’t know about you but the news cycle this week has me feeling Very Bad! From an inaugural address filled with falsehoods and terrifying promises, to “Roman salutes” *wink*, more drama over cabinet picks, and a flurry of executive orders meant to overwhelm us so we look away, it’s hard to know what’s worth paying attention to. And most people, when overwhelmed, will simply shut down. That’s the point. So instead of looking away, today I’m going to break down all the executive actions Trump has taken in his first full 48 hours as the 47th president, at least the ones that are on the public record, and look ahead to what he’s promised to do next. This is going to be a long 4 years. Let’s get into it.
AD
The inauguration on Monday was met with a wide array of emotions across the media landscape.
For me it was personally met with emotions of “this is very bad!” and “wow! Four years is so long!”
This article from PBS NewsHour has the headline “Trump makes sweeping promises while ripping into the country’s past leaders during his inaugural address”
Using the Ground News browser extension, it’s helpful to see that this news source has a left leaning bias. I really love the Ground News web browser extension because I can see it while I browse news articles and if I want to see how other sources are framing the story I can click full coverage.
On the Ground News website you can see that there are 282 sources covering the inauguration.
Among them, the left-leaning publication truthout uses the headline: “Trump Makes Frightening Far Right Promises in Inauguration Speech” while the far right The Gateway Pundit frames it as: “President Trump Humiliates Democrats With Blistering Opening Lines of Inauguration Speech---Destroys Crooked Joe Biden and His Dirty Shadow Regime”. Very different takes, and if you’re only reading content that skews left or right, you may not know how the other side is interpreting the situation.
This is where Ground News comes in - and why I've been using them for over a year. Today’s partner Ground News is an app and website that offers tools to help you critically analyze the news you read, providing context to understand the full picture.
If you scroll down you can see the overall factuality rating of the sources–81% of these sources score high factuality ratings, so you can tell which sources you can trust. You can also see more information about who owns which source, only 13% of sources are independent, with fully 56% part of larger media conglomerates
I’ve also seen many comments from people asking for insights into “what the other side is saying.” And I’ve been using the Ground News’s Blindspot feature to help me, they highlight stories that one side of the political spectrum is covering more heavily than the other.
I’m always really impressed with Ground News and genuinely think they’re a great resource. If you want to stay informed on US Politics you can subscribe or gift Ground News to your friends or family for the holidays. Scan my QR code, or click the link in the description or go to ground dot news slash leeja to get 40% off the same Vantage plan I use which comes to about $5/month. Subscribing supports my channel and an independent team working to keep the media transparent. Thanks Ground News!
I’m not going to give a full rundown of the inauguration because frankly so much has already happened since Monday that it’s not worth going into detail. The most notable aspects, to me, were that the tech billionaires got better seats than the cabinet, and that Trump disparaged a country that he himself ran for a solid 4 years, after making similar promises in 2016 to fix things and bring us back to glory. So which is it–did you fix things and bring us back to glory or does that work still need to be done? According to his speech on Monday, we’re a land in disarray about to enter a new golden age by “taxing” other countries, which isn’t a thing, kicking out millions of criminal aliens who don’t exist, and also drill baby drill, which is a thing that very much does exist especially now thanks to his latest executive orders. Oh also God saved him from assassination so he could come back and make America great. And the gulf is now called the Gulf of America oh aaaand we’re taking back the Panama Canal, apparently by force? But also we’re not getting involved in new wars, peace only. But the canal is ours. Then he saw Biden and Harris off, with Melania at his side dressed as the hamburglar. Did I get it all? Great, let’s move on, because Trump certainly did, swiftly passing 27 executive orders by my count as of 10am eastern time on January 22, 2025. The national archives keeps a historic register of all the executive actions ever taken, you can search them at archives dot gov HOWEVER it usually takes a couple days for the documents to be signed, delivered to the national archives, and then published in the federal register. So the BEST way to keep tabs on what Trump is doing is by going to White house dot gov, exing out of the corny pro-trump video pop up, and clicking on “Executive Actions.” That will take you the press section of the website, where you can browse his official remarks, which just includes his augural address at this point, briefings and statements which are like press releases or propagandized interpretations of his actions, and official presidential actions which are his official acts, the documents that will eventually be published in the national register. Under Presidential Actions you will find a few different types of documents: memoranda, proclamations, and executive orders. They’re pretty easy to decipher because the very first sentence of the document will either say MEMORANDUM, or “I hereby proclaim” or “I hereby order.”
According to reporting from NPR, the main difference is that an executive order must cite the President’s constitutional authority by literally saying “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: etc.” By contrast, Presidential memos are sent to administrative heads and bodies and are used to manage administrative matters within the executive branch. The president doesn’t have to cite to his constitutional authority AND they don’t tend to be published in the Federal Register. So they can fly under the radar more easily. And then proclamations typically address the activities of private individuals and don’t have the force of law.
That being said, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service, all three: orders, proclamations, and memos don’t technically have much distinction–they could all have force of law if the President is issuing them pursuant to some legal right he has to do so, which he would cite to in the document. So while we can say he officially has passed 27 executive orders, all of the presidential actions should be scrutinized because they very well could have the full legal weight of an executive order.
In any case, if an executive action, whether an order, memo, or proclamation DOES have the force of law, meaning the President cites some legal authority he has to issue the document, then it is The Law. Congress can’t override a presidential action UNLESS it was taken by authority vested in the president by Congress itself. So Congress could say hey we take it back, you shouldn’t have that authority. Because executive orders cite to his authority from the constitution, it is only through judicial review that THAT power of the president can be checked. Which is why, in response to this flurry of presidential actions, we are also seeing a flurry of lawsuits. But we’ll get into that. First, let’s do a quick review, because while there is much in the news about TikTok and Elon Musk and other tech billionaires and Pete Hegseth being a drunk, etc etc etc, all of which are important to talk about but all of which are much flashier than presidential actions published on white house dot gov, it can be easy to get distracted. But it is our civic duty to be watching like a fucking hawk.
Okay, the first few actions are official nominations for cabinet, cabinet-level, sub-cabinet, and acting cabinet positions. Those are names that have been dropped already, this is just the official means by which the president submits the appointees for consideration by Congress. Then there’s a proclamation that the flag always be flown at full staff on inauguration day because Trump was a big baby about it being at half staff still to honor the death of Jimmy Carter.
Okay so the first substantive executive action was taken January 20th via an executive order titled Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions. This action rescinded a LONG list of Biden-era presidential actions. So Biden’s memos, proclamations, and executive orders. Which is kosher, a successor president can rescind previous presidential actions. A large swath of the rescinded biden-era actions were related to what conservatives generally call “diversity equity and inclusion” so anything that mentions race, gender, or sexual orientation, including protections for trans members of the military, for example. There are also several revocations of actions meant to protect the environment, and several revocations of actions meant to manage immigration, migration, family reunification, and refugee resettlement.
But others were also included in the mix, including a Biden executive order titled “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.”
He revoked Executive Order 14087, “Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans” which lowered drug costs for people receiving medicare and medicaid.
He revoked executive order 14074 titled “Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices To Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety”
He revoked executive order 14023, “Establishment of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States” which is meant to review Supreme Court ethics.
And He revoked executive order 14019, “Promoting Access to Voting.”
Okay so that was all just in his first executive order from January 20th. Let’s keep going. His actions fell under a few broad categories, so I’m going to go through them by category to keep things easier to follow and remember. Those categories are general federal administration, environment, immigration, Identity-based issues like gender and DEI, international issues, and a category I’ll call general politicking which are mainly just there for the show of it all. SO lets go down the line.
GENERAL FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION
He issued a number of administrative memos aimed at executive branch workers. This included a full hiring freeze, a return to full time in-office work for all federal executive branch employees, and a memo titled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” which barred all agencies from issuing any new rule until a department or agency head appointed by trump reviews and approves the rule. This ensures that all future rules created by any agency must be approved by someone with direct loyalty to Trump. He also issued an executive order titled “RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY TO POLICY-INFLUENCING POSITIONS WITHIN THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE” which reinstated Trump’s executive order from 2020 titled “Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Services” but expands it beyond “schedule F” to anyone who has a “policy slash career position.” Basically it revokes employment protections for tens of thousands of federal employees, making it easier to fire them for political disloyalty. The order explicitly says that workers don’t HAVE to pledge political loyalty to Trump, but the implication is there. If you do not perform the duties ordered of you by the administrative head, appointed by Trump, without question, then you will be on the chopping block. This revokes protections put in place that are meant to allow federal employees to continue doing their jobs without direct influence of whoever happens to be in office. He also issued a memo titled “RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CAREER SENIOR EXECUTIVES” which applies to Career Senior Executive officials, stating because they “wield significant governmental authority, they must serve at the pleasure of the President.” It says “officials who engage in unauthorized disclosure of Executive Branch deliberations, violate the constitutional rights of Americans, refuse to implement policy priorities, or perform their duties inefficiently or negligently should be held accountable.” This is an extension of that schedule F to higher level officials within governmental agencies, basically saying they too are on the chopping block if they don’t sufficiently bend the knee.
He also issued the executive order titled REFORMING THE FEDERAL HIRING PROCESS AND RESTORING MERIT TO GOVERNMENT SERVICE which states “Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of “equity,” or one’s commitment to the invented concept of “gender identity” over sex.” So removing DEI from the federal hiring process, basically.
Next executive order is called “HOLDING FORMER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE FOR ELECTION INTERFERENCE AND IMPROPER DISCLOSURE
OF SENSITIVE GOVERNMENTAL INFORMATION” which outlines Trump’s personal vendettas against “at least 51 former intelligence officials” who “coordinated with the Biden campaign to issue a letter discrediting the reporting that President Joseph R. Biden’s son had abandoned his laptop at a computer repair business. Signatories of the letter falsely suggested that the news story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.” and against John Bolton, his former National Security Advisor, because he wrote a memoir “rife with sensitive information.” It then revokes security clearances for those intelligence officials and John Bolton specifically. This one was petty.
Next there’s the Memorandum to Resolve the Backlog of Security Clearances for Executive Office of the President Personnel which gives the white house counsel the authority to provide a list of people who will be immediately granted interim top secret security clearance. Seems fine.
Next is the executive order titled ESTABLISHING AND IMPLEMENTING THE PRESIDENT’S
“DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY” which tasks DOGE with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” It repurposes the existing US Digital Service, which was already tasked with managing Federal technology, and just renames it and moves it under the Executive Office of the President. So Elon Musk will be reporting to Trump’s Chief of Staff, but really will have a direct line to Trump. Also, another note on the name, so DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency but then they repurposed the US Digital Service, but to keep the acronym the same, they are calling it the US DOGE Service or USDS. So it’s an acronym within an acronym and for a department tasked with cutting down on bureaucratic waste that’s funny. The order also requires all agency heads to “ensure USDS has full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.” So we’re giving Elon Musk, one of our government’s largest recipients of handouts, access to the software and IT systems of our entire government. That seems fine.
Next category is the Environment:
His next executive order is titled “PUTTING AMERICA FIRST IN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS” in which he ordered the UN Ambassador to immediately withdraw from the Paris Agreement and any other similar climate-change related commitment under the UN framework convention on Climate Change. It also revokes the US International Climate Finance Plan which, according to the Congressional Research Service, “provides financial and technical assistance for climate change initiatives in the developing world.” The original 2025 budget was around $3.3 billion dollars and I guess now is zero.
Next executive order is called UNLEASHING AMERICAN ENERGY and gets rid of “burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations” and encourages “energy exploration and production on Federal lands and waters.” It also eliminates the “electric vehicle mandate” by removing any incentives put in place for the production and purchase of electric vehicles, including emissions requirements, and getting rid of subsidies like the electric vehicle credit that makes EVs more affordable. It is framed as a means of safeguarding peoples’ right to choose what vehicle they want. It also names a number of other goods like lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, water heaters, etc, again getting at the subsidies and other governmental programs in place meant to assist people in making choices that are more environmentally friendly. It also revokes another list of past Biden-era presidential actions, some of which were listed in the first executive order, some weren’t, all related to climate change and clean energy. It also revokes all guidance from any environmental agencies or working groups that were created under Biden, and it takes issue with things like calculations of the social cost of carbon and other harmful emissions, saying they’re “marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation.” This executive order also terminates the green new deal, calling all agencies to pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act. It also ties the increase of natural gas and drilling in the US to national security. This one was lengthy and quite technical, an example of how prepared Trump’s cronies were, likely with ties to Project 2025, just waiting in the wings with extensive executive orders to thoroughly rebuke science and regulation and tie it to American jobs, prosperity, and security, none of which will matter when we’re all smoldering piles of ash because the earth has become uninhabitable.
The next memo has a fun name “Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California”. It’s a memo to the secretaries of commerce and the interior, directing them to route water from the Sacramento-san Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state of California to help increase their water supply. He tried to do this before but the State of California filed a lawsuit to halt the order in order to protect various species of fish, because it turns out it’s incredibly environmentally damaging to reroute water like that. But, according to Trump in this memo “this enormous water supply flows wastefully into the Pacific Ocean.” Which is such a WILD way to reframe the natural and normal flow of water that sustains life on this planet?? WASTE!!
The next executive order is called DECLARING A NATIONAL ENERGY EMERGENCY. An emergency declaration allows for more resources to be dispersed to address the emergency. By declaring that we have an “energy emergency” he is ordering agency heads to use all emergency authorities available to them to facilitate the production of domestic energy, including through eminent domain and the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to forcibly obtain land under certain circumstances. Because it’s an “emergency” that also means there are loopholes within the EPA and clean water acts that allow them to forgo certain testing and regulations around environmental protection. Oh yeah and because it’s an emergency the army can get involved as well. National security is a powerful argument in favor of doing all sorts of heinous things.
Next there’s the memo “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects” which pretty much sums it up. Offshore wind? Bad. We will no longer allow it and we’re going to do an overhaul of leasing and permitting for wind projects, meaning it’s going away. He expresses great concern for marine life and the fishing industry in this one, which is interesting it’s almost like he only cares about shit when it helps him get his way, weird??????
And then finally the executive order titled “UNLEASHING ALASKA’S EXTRAORDINARY RESOURCE POTENTIAL” which will likely do what the other executive orders already do: expedite energy production on US land. But specifically Alaska in this one because Alaska has some specific protections that Trump has pretty much fully rescinded. Basically, it’s open season for Alaskan oil and really all federal lands.
Next category is Immigration
First we have the proclamation: DECLARING A NATIONAL EMERGENCY AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF THE UNITED STATES. Pretty self explanatory. When a President declares a national emergency, it allows for the use of extra force and funds directed at the declared emergency. Great for reacting to floods and fires, not great when directed at individuals. His declaration includes that the emergency requires use of the armed forces and gives the Secretary of Defense, who I’ll remind you is the incredibly unqualified Pete Hegseth whose former sister in law just released a sworn affidavit saying his second wife was physically afraid of him and had a secret safety word with her just in case. Hey if you need a secret safety word with someone to protect you from your partner, that is abuse. Nkay? Anyway old Pete once he’s confirmed will have the authority to order as many units or members of the Armed Forces down to the border as he deems fit.
Next executive order is titled “CLARIFYING THE MILITARY’S ROLE IN PROTECTING THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF THE UNITED STATES” and orders the armed forces to “prioritize the protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States along our national borders. … by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.” This, combined with the national emergency declaration, just makes it easier to send troops to the border.
Next executive order is called “REALIGNING THE UNITED STATES REFUGEE ADMISSIONS PROGRAM which suspends the US Refugee Admissions Program “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.” ie never, at least according to Trump. Again, it’s all about public safety and national security. Historically the government gets away with doing a lot of heinous shit to people in the name of “national security.” So anytime national security is invoked, my ears perk up, because it’s a convenient catch-all. Tiktok ban? National security. Rejecting refugees? National security. Internment camps for all Japanese Americans? National security.
Next executive order is called “PROTECTING THE MEANING AND VALUE OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP.” This is the one that reimagines the 14th Amendment to no longer grant birthright citizenship to anyone born in the US to parents who aren’t citizens or permanent residents. The language of the 14th Amendment says “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The executive order claims “the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Which is not true and an absurd stretch of legal language. The 14th Amendment was passed in the wake of the civil war to grant citizenship to African Americans and clarify who is a citizen, a question that was deeply debated prior to the civil war. There is extensive contemporaneous evidence at the time the 14th Amendment was written and I think they’d be hard pressed to prove the language “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” somehow excludes people whose parents were not lawfully present or were here temporarily, as this order asserts. It is commonly established law that wherever you are physically renders you subject to the jurisdiction of that location. If you live in Minnesota and are speeding in Ohio, you better bet you are subject to the jurisdiction of Ohio’s driving laws. If you live in Mexico and are speeding in Ohio, you will also be subject to the jurisdiction of Ohio’s driving laws, whether or not you are in this country legally. To say that the CHILD, born within the United States, to a person here illegally is not subject to the jurisdiction of the US is legally absurd and is already being challenged in court. Trump also does not have the authority to interpret what the constitution means or to override the constitution, that is the sole purview of the courts or through the passage of constitutional amendments. Which is why they used the language “has NEVER been interpreted to extend citizenship universally” because then they can claim they’re NOT overriding the constitution, because it doesn’t say that at all and everyone knows it!!! And it is true that there ARE incredibly limited exceptions to birthright citizenship. The 1898 supreme court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, lays it out clearly. It says “the Fourteenth Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens.” The exceptions are for foreign diplomats who have children here OR of “enemies within and during a hostile occupation of part of our territory.” And this is important language because Trump and his cronies have been increasingly backing up their repudiation of birthright citizenship by framing immigrants as “enemies from within” who are hostile occupants of our territory. This is one that will affect millions of Americans who have lived here their entire lives. The lawsuits pending against it are asking the courts to temporarily halt the order from going into effect next month pending the outcome of the litigation, and I think it’s highly likely the order will be halted and will not be upheld in court. But it sends a very clear message nonetheless.
Next executive order is called SECURING OUR BORDERS, which appears to be a catch all additional declaration about his intent to secure the borders but does what his other orders already did, it just says the US will take all appropriate action to secure the borders through building the wall, preventing illegal immigration, detaining and deporting immigrants who commit crimes and “obtaining complete operational control of the borders of the United States.” Again, a lot of flashy language about a thing that no prior administration has ever achieved and neither will this one.
Next is the executive order titled “PROTECTING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AGAINST INVASION” just kinda hammers home that it is his policy that the government will enforce existing immigration laws. But this time enforce them really good! Be really thorough and better! That outa do it. Again, lots of showy words, not much substance beyond laws that already exist and directives that are already in place.
Next is executive order titled Designating Cartels And Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations And Specially Designated Global Terrorists. It provides a process by which drug cartels can be officially recognized as terrorist organizations. This is aimed at our southern border. Designating groups as terrorists opens up a lot of options for persecuting them and anyone deemed connected to them, and allows for greater influence from the military.
GUARANTEEING THE STATES PROTECTION AGAINST INVASION is a proclamation, which is made as a result of his declaration of an emergency at the southern border, that entry at the southern border be completely suspended for “aliens engaged in the invasion across the southern border.” Who counts as an “alien engaged in the invasion”? That’s unclear. But I can wager a bet it is probably brown people, and its vagueness certainly opens the door to race-based discrimination.
Next category is DEI and Gender
First executive order is called DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Basically, women have to be protected from men pretending to be women to gain access to single-sex spaces, a thing that literally doesn’t happen. It establishes that the official policy of the United States is that there are two sexes, male and female. It identifies a female as “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.” and a male as “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.” We are, I guess, ignoring that there are intersex people who naturally produce both or have chromosomes that fall outside the XX or XY binary. Many have already pointed out that scientifically this order doesn’t make much sense, indicating the lack of knowledge of gender science held by whoever wrote this monstrosity. Specifically, the language “at conception” doesn’t make any sense. According to reporting from Mashable, at conception, when sperm meets egg, all human fetus’ sex organs are identical. They don’t exist. Because it’s a couple cells lumped together at that point. And as the fetus develops, it does not have any testes, the thing that produces the “small reproductive cell” until six or seven weeks later, which is when the Y chromosome begins to express itself. Without the Y chromosome, the testes won’t form and the fetus will continue to develop into a female. So, basically, we’re all ambiguously owners of female-like genitalia for a solid month and a half after conception. The lack of mention of chromosomes or anything approaching science-based language in this order makes it incredibly vague and hard to enforce. It also requires all official government documentation to reflect the person’s sex assigned at birth and bars all federal agencies and employees from using the term “gender” and bars federal funds from being used to “promote gender ideology.” This is straight out of the Project 2025 playbook. This one is long but if you’re going to read any of them, I would suggest you read this one. I could do an entire episode just on this one. And I just might do it.
The next executive order is titled Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing which claims “the Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government” and calls for the termination of all DEI mandates, policies, and programs, “under whatever name they appear” because to them DEI is so much more than the initiatives labeled DEI. It also calls for the elimination of “environmental justice” offices and positions, and pretty much anything with “equity” in the title.
Next is the action titled Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation which is a continuation of anti-DEI actions that specifically calls on the secretary of transportation and the FAA to end DEI hiring initiatives in air travel industries.
And he issued an order called ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY in which he co-opts the importance of civil rights protections to say that DEI creates immoral and demeaning race and sex based preferences in violation of civil rights. DEI is also DANGEROUS because it diminishes “the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services in key sectors of American society, including all levels of government, and the medical, aviation, and law-enforcement communities.” It then calls on all governmental agencies to terminate DEI initiatives, which is redundant given his other orders, but ALSO orders all agencies to enforce civil rights laws by combating “ILLEGAL” private-sector DEI programs. So in this order he’s deemed private DEI programs to be illegal too, which could open up the floodgates of litigation against private companies who will get sued by white guys who feel discriminated against because there’s a Chief Diversity Officer or something at the company. This will provide a strong incentive for companies to gut whatever meager DEI initiatives they have.
Next category is international
First up, executive order titled “WITHDRAWING THE UNITED STATES FROM THE WORLD
HEALTH ORGANIZATION.” Trump withdrew us from the WHO in 2020 in response to COVID-19 and this executive order complains of “onerous payments” required of the US and not of China. According to the New York Times, “Public health experts say U.S. withdrawal from the W.H.O. would undermine the nation’s standing as a global health leader and make it harder to fight the next pandemic.” It will leave the CDC without access to global health data and will harm US interests and national security, according to experts. But in this case, I guess, national security concerns don’t matter.
Then there’s the memo titled, simply, “America First Trade Policy.” Which tells government officials to do a bunch of flashy sounding things that are vague and not actually implement-able. But it includes a call to the Secretary of Commerce to look into a global tariff, and for the secretary of the treasury to establish an “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs. It then orders various agency heads to review various trade agreements and figure out ways to make them more favorable for the US, basically. Specifically with China, Canada, and Mexico.
Next is the executive order titled “REEVALUATING AND REALIGNING UNITED STATES FOREIGN AID” which puts a 90 day pause on all US foreign development assistance until it can be reviewed to see if it aligns with US foreign policy. The purpose, according to the order, is to end foreign aid that serves to “destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.” You know this is about Gaza and Ukraine. Any organization supporting the wellbeing of Gaza could be said to be “directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries” by our pro-Israel government.
Then there’s the memo called “Organization of the National Security Council
and Subcommittees” which feels very procedural but does something important: it adds, in addition to the members of the national security council that are mandated by statute, a few additional members to his national security advisory committee, so that he will be surrounded by his most hawkish advisors who will all have their hands in the national security pie, including members of the white house staff that do not require senate confirmations.
Next is the memo titled “The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Tax Deal” which pulls out of the Global Tax Deal of the OECD. According to reporting from Reuters, the global tax deal was negotiated by the Biden administration with 140 other countries. Most other countries adopted a 15% global corporate minimum tax, which is a tax meant to help close the loopholes that large corporations use to avoid paying taxes, but our Congress never approved that rate, so we have a 10% global minimum tax, though some countries may be able to collect a “top-up” tax from US companies paying a lower rate. Trump calls that retaliatory in this memo and pulls us out of the agreement, citing “discriminatory foreign tax practices.” We are the victims of our own agreements, I guess. Even the ones where we’re the only ones paying less than everyone else.
Next is the executive order “PROTECTING THE UNITED STATES FROM FOREIGN TERRORISTS AND OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC SAFETY THREATS.” This one is specifically concerned with ensuring that immigrations “do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.” This gives broad authority to deny visas for any number of things, because any group can be deemed to be supporting a “terrorist” organization, as evidenced by the dismissal of pro-Gaza protestors as sympathetic to terrorists. But also now that cartels can be dubbed terrorist organizations, anyone with any connection to cartels, even people who have been coerced into said connections, even made up connections, could be denied visas.
And finally the executive order called AMERICA FIRST POLICY DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE which makes it the official policy of the US that foreign policy “shall champion core American interests and always put America and American citizens first.” That’s it. Lots of flashy words, no substance.
And finally a category I’ll call general politicking. Lots of words for show and to rile people up, if the aforementioned actions didn’t do so already.
The first order is called “RESTORING FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ENDING FEDERAL CENSORSHIP” which states “Over the last 4 years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve.” It then bars federal government employees and tax dollars from being used to unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of US citizens. This, and the revocation of the Biden-era order about safe and secure development of AI, are some of his first major favors to the tech billionaires who paid Trump off. It could be used to bar any sort of federal investigation into social media platforms in the future on the grounds of first amendment protections, even though social media platforms themselves are private entities and are thus not bound by the first amendment. This is trying to get around that by saying hey we can’t force them to do anything through “substantial coercive pressure.” Because the first amendment says so.
Next we have an executive order titled “ENDING THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT” which states “The prior administration and allies throughout the country engaged in an unprecedented, third-world weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process. It targeted individuals who voiced opposition to the prior administration’s policies with numerous Federal investigations and politically motivated funding revocations, which cost Americans access to needed services. The Department of Justice even jailed an individual for posting a political meme. And while the Department of Justice has ruthlessly prosecuted more than 1,500 individuals associated with January 6, and simultaneously dropped nearly all cases against BLM rioters.”
I believe the political meme reference is about a guy named Douglass Mackey who was convicted last year of election interference. Prior to the 2016 election, according to the DOJ, Mackey “tweeted an image depicting an African American woman standing in front of an “African Americans for Hillary” sign. The ad stated: “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,” “Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925,” and “Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.” The fine print at the bottom of the deceptive image stated: “Must be 18 or older to vote. One vote per person. Must be a legal citizen of the United States. Voting by text not available in Guam, Puerto Rico, Alaska or Hawaii. Paid for by Hillary For President 2016.” But according to this executive order he was persecuted for posting a political meme. The executive order then orders the DOJ and director of national intelligence to investigate activities over the last 4 years where actions were taken that “appear to have been contrary to the purposes and policies of this order.” The purpose and policy of the order of course being to give free reign to people who break the law in furtherance of Trump’s mission.
His next action was titled “Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis.” It blames Biden for an “inflation crisis” and orders the heads of all executive departments and agencies to take “appropriate actions to: lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply; eliminate unnecessary administrative expenses and rent-seeking practices that increase healthcare costs; eliminate counterproductive requirements that raise the costs of home appliances; create employment opportunities for American workers, including drawing discouraged workers into the labor force; and eliminate harmful, coercive “climate” policies that increase the costs of food and fuel.” Which is just wildly vague. The purpose of this is to be showy but not actually do anything. And in fact the purpose of a lot of these executive orders, while scary sounding, is to be showy and not actually do anything. A lot of what he’s ordering is not possible or is too vague to be actually implemented. An important thing to keep in mind as we go through these–showy language and scary promises don’t necessarily lead to action.
Then he made a proclamation titled: GRANTING PARDONS AND COMMUTATION OF SENTENCES FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES RELATING TO THE EVENTS AT OR NEAR THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6, 2021. I assume you can guess what that one was about. It commuted the sentences of certain individuals by name, including Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers. It then grants a full, complete and unconditional pardon to ALL other individuals convicted of offenses related to January 6th. And it orders the attorney general to dismiss all pending cases. This affects, according to Trump, about 1500 people.
His next executive order is titled “APPLICATION OF PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROLLED APPLICATIONS ACT TO TIKTOK” which gives him 75 days to review the tiktok ban before it goes into effect. So sometime in April we should have an answer as to how he plans to move forward, or not, with the TikTok ban. Until then, it will remain available, though idk about you but I feel less enthusiastic about it since Monday when it publicly thanked Trump for saving it. And now, at least anecdotally, they are censoring certain hashtags related to Trump, though I’m not sure what their official stance is. I’m just generally feeling grossed out by social media lately. YouTube is the only major platform that has so far not made any public appeals to Trump’s authority, so I’m happy to be mostly on this platform, but I do hate that my fate is in the hands of the whims of a social media platform, so please join my patreon or follow my newsletter haha it’s scary out here!
The next executive order is called RESTORING THE DEATH PENALTY AND PROTECTING PUBLIC SAFETY which claims “Capital punishment is an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens” and also “capital punishment continues to enjoy broad popular support.” This is partially true, according to Pew research, 60% of Americans somewhat or strongly favor the death penalty. But at the same time fully 78% of Americans say “there is some risk that an innocent person will be put to death.” Yikes. The executive order doesn’t really do anything, it just restates his love for the death penalty and orders the AG to pursue the death penalty for all crimes where it is allowed to be used, especially in the murder of a cop and in murder committed by an illegal alien. Again, very showy, generally vague or just restating already established laws and rules.
Then there’s the memo to the administrator of the general services administration titled “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” directing them to submit “recommendations to advance the policy that Federal public buildings should be visually identifiable as civic buildings and respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage in order to uplift and beautify public spaces and ennoble the United States and our system of self-government.” Which is giving propaganda it’s very much giving Third Reich.
Similarly is executive order RESTORING NAMES THAT HONOR AMERICAN GREATNESS which states “It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes.” It is generalized to all national monuments but specifically renames Mount Denali, the native American name, to Mt. McKinley. Once again its giving propaganda its giving third reich.
I mean, a lot of these are, if we’re being honest. I’m currently reading Anatomy of Fascism by Robert Paxton, highly recommend if you can stomach it, it’s wild to read about the rise of European fascism after world war 1 at this moment in history. Again, keep your eyes on the Executive Action section of white house dot gov, because remaining aware of what’s happening is important. If any of these particularly caught your attention, I can guarantee you there is an organization that was prepared for this and is fighting against it. There are lawsuits in the works related to the creation of DOGE, birthright citizenship, anti-trans orders, and more. You can support those organizations, or you can turn towards your own community to create connections and find ways to support one another because a lot of this is out of our hands at this point, but there are everyday things we can do to strengthen our existing support networks.
And you can join me over on my Patreon where I just launched the Why, America? Co-Learning Lab, a learning community having discussions and making connections, along with a monthly syllabus curated by me. All year we’ll be covering topics under the umbrella theme of “Eat the Rich: Building Solidarity in the New Gilded Age.” This month’s topic is all about learning from history to fight for the future. We’re looking at and discussing past movements to see where we can learn from history, because it does have a tendency to repeat itself. This is all hosted over on Patreon, which is linked down below. If you’re interested, please join us.
Thank you to my multi-platinum patrons Art, David, R_H, L’Etranger (Lukus), Joshua Cole, Thomas Johnson, and Tay. Your generosity makes this channel what it is, so thank you!
And if you liked this episode, you’ll like the from a couple weeks ago discussing the rollback of fact checking at Meta.
