Trump returns to Oval Office
On Jan. 20, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Alongside Vice President JD Vance, President Trump returns to office with unified Republican control of the House of Representatives, Senate and a conservative majority in the Supreme Court.
The inauguration ceremony which took place around noon (EST), held inside the Capitol Rotunda due to cold weather, followed a series of customary events that saw both outgoing former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the election to Trump in an unprecedented race, interact with the incoming administration. The scene was a stark contrast to Biden’s inauguration in 2021, when Trump sat out, refusing to certify the election outcome.
Hundreds of figures, such as former presidents, government officials, Supreme Court justices and prominent tech CEOs, including Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerburg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, were all in attendance at the ceremony. Trump’s inauguration was the first to welcome foreign leaders, with Argentine President Javier Milei, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng in attendance among others. His reelection has also come with other firsts; Trump is now the oldest elected president in American history, and the first convicted felon to serve as president.
Following the oath of office, Trump then went on to make a 30-minute inaugural address, outlining his plans for his presidency and declaring major policy changes, some of which he signed as an executive order later that evening. These plans included everything from tighter restrictions on immigration to increased utilization of American oil and gas reserves, imposing tariffs, “reclaiming” free speech, “taking” back the Panama Canal and planting the American flag on Mars. Planting the flag on Mars was something Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump and head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), looked very enthusiastic about. Musk also drew fire later that day for doing what resembled a Nazi salute at the end of a speech.
Post-inauguration, Trump’s first day back in office saw swift action, with the newly elected president repealing more than 78 of Biden’s policies and reinstating many of his own from his first term in 2016. Signing executive orders in front of supporters, Trump held a ceremony inside Capital One Arena, which housed multiple celebrations throughout the weekend. He later made his way back to the Oval Office, from which he signed more orders while answering questions thrown out to him by the press.
One of Trump’s first actions was to initiate the process of withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organization (WHO), with formal withdrawal in one year. This move makes the US one of four countries in the world not in the Paris Climate Accords, which aim to limit greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and one of two UN countries not in the WHO. Trump, adhering to promises he made along the campaign trail, also pardoned roughly 1,500 defendants facing criminal charges following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021. This includes leaders of far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and towards rioters charged with assaulting police officers.
The topic of immigration, an issue paramount to Trump’s success in November, was also at the core of many of his executive orders. Declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, Trump has restored much of his immigration policies from 2017. Through these orders, Trump is calling for mass deportations by conducting raids using federal agents and local law enforcement, ending American intake of asylum seekers, restarting the building of a wall on the border, ending federal grants to “sanctuary” cities and states, deploying the military to the border and ending birthright citizenship, among other things.
Pushing his anti-transgender agenda, Trump also declared in his inauguration speech that “it will henceforth be the official government policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.” Later that day, he repealed a law allowing transgender troops to serve in the military, a bill passed by his predecessor. This paves the way for a complete ban on trans troops in the military. Trump also signed an order banning trans women from competing in female sports, which passed through the House of Representatives on Jan. 21.
Other executive orders ranged from policies regarding energy, to targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. These orders effectively ban DEI hires in the federal government and place all DEI-related offices on administrative leave. Emails sent out on Jan. 22 by the Trump administration to federal employees also called to report any DEI initiatives they see.
While executive orders do not require congressional approval and cannot be directly overturned by lawmakers, it’s important to note that Congress “has the power to overturn an Executive Order by passing legislation that invalidates it,” and the courts possess the power to “ultimately overturn an Executive Order that is found to be beyond the President’s constitutional authority,” per the American Bar Association. Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship, for example, was almost immediately challenged in court, with more than 20 Democratic state attorney generals and multiple immigration rights groups filing federal lawsuits.
Trump’s first acts as president have already evoked both praise and significant backlash from the public and politicians across the board, painting a picture of what may become the new norm for the next four years.