[Salon] Trump's return to power

World Politics Review 1/21/25

United States: President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second nonconsecutive term yesterday, and soon after issued more than two dozen executive orders, the most ever by a U.S. president on their first day in office. He also rescinded 78 executive actions implemented by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. (Washington Post)

Our Take: One might have expected Trump’s inauguration to be anticlimactic, given the steady stream of provocative pronouncements he has made since the election. But after taking the oath of office and delivering a relatively traditional speech, the proceedings took on all the aspects of one of his campaign rallies. A second speech he delivered at the Capitol was filled with inflammatory rhetoric and falsehoods, and he went on to sign his barrage of executive orders in front of an arena of cheering supporters, underscoring the resemblance.

Indeed, several of those orders seemed tailor-made for the occasion, including one that renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” and another that bars censorship of U.S. citizens, which is already guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

But in addition to the symbolism for the consumption of his supporters, many of these orders have real policy implications. We’ve separated them into three broad categories:

First up, there are the ones that will have an immediate impact on U.S. foreign policy and global affairs, including orders that:

Withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, which Trump also did during his first term before Biden reinstated U.S. participation.
Withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization, perhaps the only unexpected move of the day.
Declare an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, direct the military to boost border security and halt new refugee admissions for at least four months.

Another granting top secret security clearance to members of his administration without the normal vetting procedure will be particularly alarming to the other members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership, which in addition to the U.S. includes Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

There are also some actions that foreshadow the more substantive foreign policy changes that Trump had promised, including orders that:

Begin a reassessment of U.S. trade policy with Mexico, Canada and China, which could usher in the tariffs that Trump has threatened against all three.
Pause U.S. foreign development assistance for 90 days pending programmatic reassessments.
Begin the process of designating drug-trafficking cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Finally, Trump issued several orders that raise significant concerns about how he may degrade the rule of law during his second term. First, he pardoned nearly all defendants who had been charged and/or convicted for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and cut short the sentences of those he didn’t pardon. He also issued an order delaying the enforcement of a federal law banning TikTok that had briefly gone into effect Sunday, which at best pushes the limit of the president’s authority. Finally, he moved to end birthright citizenship, which is enumerated in the Constitution.

All three of these will face significant legal scrutiny, and the order on birthright citizenship is likely to be struck down. But the fact that Trump signed them in the first place demonstrates that he is already willing to unilaterally arrogate powers outside of the president’s authority, and that it will take the resilience of the institutions that check executive power to prevent him from doing so. That’s a dangerous development for U.S. democracy, and one that will be with us for the next four years.