Trump's Busy First Day

As promised (threatened?) Trump issued a flurry of executive orders on day one but less than some of his cronies said were going to be issued. It was hardly "shock and awe." Here are the biggies and my opinions on them.

Pardoned 1,500 convicted January 6th rioters.

This is by far the most egregious and disgusting thing that Trump has ever done. There can't be any doubt now who instigated the riot and there can't be any doubt about Trump's disdain for the rule of law.

Declared an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.

He did this in his first term as well. Basically it allows him to deploy federal troops to help guard the border and divert defense funds towards building his long promised wall.

This is a big meh. Troops aren't very effective in this role and the wall never seems to get built. I'm still waiting for Mexico to pay for that wall by the way.

Designated "certain international cartels" and organizations, such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13, as foreign terrorist organizations and announced plans to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target them.

Saying you're going to do something and effectively doing it are two different things. I'll reserve judgement on this one but I don't have any particular problem with the idea.

Signed an order withdrawing from the Paris Climate Treaty.

He withdrew in his first term as well claiming that the treaty was biased against the US. Honestly I haven't heard much about the treaty recently so I'm not sure how effective it is anyway. So also a big meh.

Froze federal hiring, except for members of the military or “positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.”

We'll see how long this lasts as people continue to resign and things don't get done. Hiring freezes from the top usually backfire and I expect this one to backfire as well.

Restored a category of federal workers known as Schedule F, which would lack the same job protections enjoyed by career civil servants.

As I've said before this may well be the most dangerous thing. It basically allows replacing civil servants and matter experts with political loyalists. Can you spell Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? This is what the USSR used to do. They put party loyalists in positions of authority for which they had no qualifications.

Halted new federal rules from going into effect before Trump administration appointees can review them.

I don't really have a problem with this one. I would have done the same. Unfortunately I'm not sure the people reviewing these rules have the expertise to review them properly.

Granted top secret security clearances to White House staff without going through traditional vetting procedures.

Given that the Trump team doesn't seem to have properly vetting this staff this strikes me as extremely stupid and dangerous. 

Ended remote work policies and order federal workers back to the office full time.

OK, but I would have left this up to the middle managers who have a better handle on how well remote work is getting things done.

Barred asylum for people newly arriving at the southern border.

Not a big surprise. This sounds reasonable but this is outside my area of expertise.

Moved to end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, for the children of undocumented immigrants.

Basically claiming that illegal immigrants and thus their children are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States as required in the 14th Amendment. This has been a conservative talking point for at least a decade. This has already been challenged in court. The SCOTUS has rejected similar arguments in the past but what this court will do is anybody's guess.

Terminated DEI programs across the federal government.

I'm not a fan of DEI so I'm all for this.

Recognized two sexes: male and female.

I'm not aware of anyone that said there are more than two. Does it actually refer to genders? I'm not sure this will have any practical effect.

Removed protections for transgender people in federal prisons.

This sounds like it could get someone killed and I honestly don't see the point.

Directed federal agencies to begin an investigation into trade practices.

I have no problem with this one. I also expect nothing to come of it.

Ordered the government to assess the feasibility of creating an “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs and duties.

The Office of Tariff Affairs & Trade Agreements already does this. This is a big change from his declaration that he would create such an agency. Apparently the moron didn't know it already existed.

Ordered a full review of the U.S. industrial and manufacturing base to assess whether further national security-related tariffs are warranted.

This is also a big retreat from assessing punishing new tariffs on day one. I don't really have a problem with this and it looks like somebody in the administration might actually understand how tariffs work and what they're good for.

Ordered his attorney general not to enforce a law that banned the TikTok site for 75 days to give the administration “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward.”

I think TikTok is a cesspool that we would all be better of without but I don't really see a problem with taking this direction.

Withdraw from the World Health Organization.

He did this in his first administration. The WHO is just a boogey man for some of his ignorant followers. This is a mistake that may come to bite us in the ass down the road.

Rename Mount Denali and the Gulf of Mexico.

I suspect everyone will ignore his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America but I'm not sure about Denali going back to McKinley. I think this is a petty and stupid move. It's something that I would expect from a petulant child and not a president.

Ensure that states carrying out the death penalty have a “sufficient supply” of lethal injection drugs.

I think we should be banning the death penalty rather than insuring death sentences can be carried out. Again, I don't see the point of this.

Implement the Department of Government Efficiency, the Elon Musk-led cost-cutting initiative.

This one is apparently violating several laws and has already been challenged. But, again, it's impossible to say what this SCOTUS will decide and I'm pretty sure that's where this will end up.

Revoked security clearances for 51 signers of a letter suggesting that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop could be Russian disinformation.

This is just petty and stupid.

The bottom line is that Trump has again demonstrated that he's a petty, vindictive narcissist that shouldn't be allowed anywhere near any position of authority. But let's see how these things work out in practice before we get too bent out of shape.