Photo: SHT
Trump’s first few days back in office have been a jarring shift in both style and substance, with the new President signalling his desire to leave a mark during his second term.
After his first week in power, what have we learned about how the Trump plans to govern for the coming years? And what can we expect this time around?
DONALD TRUMP’S FIRST WEEK
Deportations. Firings. Pardons. A blizzard of executive orders.
The Gulf of Mexico became the Gulf of America.
What a week it has been as President Donald Trump moved with dizzying speed during his first week back in power, beginning the process of enacting his agenda.
Trump’s aggressive use of presidential power out of the starting gate left some observers stunned and his supporters cheering, as he wasted little time delivering on a slew of campaign promises, sometimes in provocative and boundary-testing ways.
The moves sent shock waves from Washington to the nation’s southern border, as Trump’s disruptive agenda came into clearer focus. The tempo of the changes has been remarkable.
“The Trump team is moving much more swiftly and aggressively than it did eight years ago,” GOP consultant Mike DuHaime said of the President’s efforts.
Take a look back at some of the most significant moments from Trump’s first week back in office.
MASSIVE WITHDRAWLS
President Donald Trump announced Monday he is withdrawing the U.S from the World Health Organization, in a significant move that drew criticism from public ‘health experts’ on his first day.
Trump has long been critical of the United Nations’ health agency, and his administration formally began a withdrawal from the WHO in July 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to spread.
But four years ago, then-President Joe Biden halted the U.S’ exit from the body tasked with coordinating the international response to ‘health emergencies’ in one of his first actions.
The text of Monday’s executive order cites the “…organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” as reasons for the U.S withdrawal.
WHO said in a public statement that they are ‘saddened’ and ‘disappointed’.
As one of the biggest funders of the organisation, the financial toll will certainly be felt.
But this wasn’t the only withdrawal that was announced.
Trump also revealed he is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement — again.
Under the international accord, first negotiated in 2015, countries across the world agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to ‘limit global warming’ and ‘forestall the impacts of climate change’.
Trump has argued the agreement imposes unfair burdens on the American economy, and he withdrew the U.S. during his first term in office. The U.S officially rejoined under Biden in 2021.
On Monday, Trump started the process over again, signing an order onstage before supporters at the Capital One Arena, just hours after taking office.
Both moves have no doubt sent shockwaves through both groups.
Speaking of supporters, many of those involved in the Jan 6 ‘insurrection’ were also the focus of the new President during his first few days in the White House.
PARDONS
Trump showed in his first week that he plans to test the limits of Presidential power.
One of the President’s first acts upon his return to the Oval Office was to sign an order pardoning almost 1,500 people involved in the January 6 riots.
The pardons were among his first actions after taking office Monday – which concerned even some GOP leaders because they included many people who reportedly assaulted police.
Everyone involved in the riots has been pardoned, except for 14 prisoners whose sentences have been reduced to time already served.
Trump said many of the imprisonments were a ‘disgrace’ as he fronted the media and drew parallels between BLM burning and looting of cities when confronting reporters.
SECURITY REVOKED
Trump was also hard at work revoking security clearances for 51 former intelligence officials he has criticised for signing a 2020 letter saying the disclosure of information from Hunter Biden’s laptop “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
He also revoked the security clearance and protective detail for John Bolton, a former Trump administration official turned critic, and the security detail for former federal health official Dr. Anthony Fauci, another person who served under him during COVID.
A doctor for the National Institutes of Health for more than half a century, Fauci led the federal health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to harsh criticism from Republicans about studies of the origin of the disease and the lockdowns to combat it during the first year.
“When you work for government, at some point your security detail comes off,” Trump told reporters during a press briefing in Fletcher, N.C. “You can’t have them forever.”
Trump also fired the head of the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and as many as 17 inspectors general at various federal agencies.
BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
He also signed an executive order doing away with birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
A judge appointed by former Republican President Ronald Reagan quickly shot the order down, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional,” after 22 Democratic-led states challenged it in court.
The ruling indicated there are still some checks on Trump’s power, but he vowed to appeal and seems determined to keep testing the Democratic system of checks and balances.
TIK TOK
Over the last week, Trump has railed against a bill that would remove TikTok from U.S. app stores unless its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, sells its stake.
To many, the move came out of left field.
As President, Trump signed an executive order to ban TikTok unless it was acquired by an American company, alleging the Chinese government was using the video-sharing service to surveil millions of Americans. The order never went into effect after it was challenged in federal court.
But now Trump sees some utility in helping to keep TikTok around, especially after President Joe Biden said he would sign the bill into law.
This mentality is reflected in his choice of unconventional Cabinet members and in executive orders like one keeping the social media company TikTok operating.
“Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it,” he told CNBC. “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.”
Did he ever stop to think they are crazy now with it?
WORK FROM HOME ENDED
Trump sought to end work-from-home for many federal workers and ordered diversity, equity and inclusion offices to close, their employees put on leave and plans drawn up to fire them.
The new President signed an executive order directing department heads to require federal employees to “return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis” immediately, with exemptions allowed.
In addition, about 160 National Security Council employees were told to stay home while their positions were evaluated, it was reported.
Meanwhile, at least 15 senior Justice Department officials were re-assigned as the agency realigns to focus on immigration.
The president accused bureaucrats of undermining his first administration, and he wants a more compliant workforce this time – especially in health.
HEALTH GAG ORDER
Health agencies have been told not to communicate with the public, temporarily pausing everything from advisories to scientific reports, website updates and social media posts, until Feb. 1.
The communications pause has since extended to advisory boards that routinely meet to discuss ‘emerging public health threats’.
For example, an advisory council for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria cancelled a meeting scheduled Jan. 28 and 29, according to a notice.
The overhaul of federal agencies is a prime target for Trump’s culture war promises on issues such as DEI, but Trump’s first week was a culture shift in many other ways.
In a statement, a CDC spokesperson said HHS issued a pause on mass communications and public appearances “not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health.”
In other health news, Trump thrilled anti-abortion activists with a memorandum reinstating a policy preventing federal funding for organisations in other countries that support abortions.
Health will perhaps be the most interesting space to watch over the coming months and years.
CRYPTO AND CBDC
Trump also signed an executive order promoting cryptocurrencies, which he embraced during a campaign that heavily targeted young men who often are crypto enthusiasts.
Trump has his own crypto venture that initially soared in value when it was launched.
He said he is wasting no time fulfilling his vow to make America the “crypto capital of the world.”
The executive order, with a grand title “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” aimed to “…support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy.”
The order establishes the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, chaired by the newly appointed crypto & AI czar, David Sacks.
The group will propose a federal regulatory framework for digital assets — stablecoins included — and consider creating a “national digital asset stockpile.”
In practical terms, that likely means the government could simply hang on to all the bitcoin, ether, and possibly even FTT tokens (from Sam Bankman-Fried’s collapsed FTX) seized from criminals.
Trump’s order also slams the door on a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) — a digital version of the dollar critics warned would allow the government to track every transaction.
THE BORDER
Next, we move to one the most polarising promises by Trump, to secure the border.
Trump had campaigned on mass deportations, and border czar Tom Homan said before the inauguration to expect “shock and awe” on the immigration issue.
One of Trump’s first executive orders regarding the border designated Mexican drug cartels as a ‘foreign terrorist organisation’, and border crossings as an ‘invasion’.
The Department of Homeland Security this week deputised thousands of additional federal law enforcement officers to arrest immigrants, including U.S. Marshals and DEA agents.
U.S military service members have also been sent down to act as immigration and border enforcement officers, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Friday that “deportation flights have begun” – sharing pictures on X of people loading into a military plane.
“President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences,” Leavitt added.
He was not messing around, either, claiming an early victory for his foreign policy of tariffs and hard coercion on Sunday – after Columbia had dared to reject said migrant flights.
COLUMBIA DRAMA
It all started when Colombian President Gustavo Petro blocked U.S military flights carrying undocumented migrants from landing.
As a result, the president unveiled swift and painful punishment – including huge tariffs on the U.S ally – in his most overt attempt yet to make an example of any nation that crossed him on this issue.
Trump jumped at a chance to show his supporters how tough he can be, and to demonstrate to other countries in Latin America the price of resisting migrant repatriations.
Just an hour later, the President would announce Colombia had backed down on the dispute, with the White House said Colombia agreeing to accept migrant flights, including on military aircrafts, and that tariffs would be held off pending its implementation of the deal.
“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement late Sunday.
“President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”
Supporters of Trump were happy with the result. However, not all of Trump’s decisions have been met with a warming response from the public – including those surrounding vaccines and AI.
AI GRANTS AND CANCER VACCINES
Donald Trump’s pledge on the second day was a surprising one: To ‘cure cancer’ through an artificial intelligence mRNA initiative – part of a $500 billion investment into the AI sector.
Calling his mammoth infrastructure project “Stargate,” the President said the AI investment would create 100,000 new jobs “almost immediately.”
A number of supporters and vaccine sceptics criticised the President after he talked up the multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence infrastructure project, which, it was suggested, could help develop vaccines for cancer and other diseases.
Trump then prompted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to explain more about the medical hopes for the plan spearheaded by three of America’s AI leaders.
Altman said it was “the most important project of this era” and claimed that diseases from cancers to heart ailments “will be cured at an unprecedented rate.”
Trump, who still proudly takes credit for Operation Warpspeed, the vaccine program he launched to fast-track the manufacture of COVID-19 mRNA shots, is looking to ‘change the game’ yet again.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM SPEECH
Finally, the U.S President made a virtual appearance at the World Economic Forum for their annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, addressing international business leaders.
He vowed to bring down oil and gas prices, eliminate regulations, introduce tax cuts for domestic producers, and bring in tariffs on foreign goods.
At the summit, Trump claimed his administration has “accomplished more in less than four days” than other presidents achieved in four years.
Which you can certainly make the argument for.
“Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on Earth to create jobs, build factories, or grow a company than right here in the good old USA,” Trump proclaimed.
Indeed, if this past week is anything to go off, the next four years will be very interesting.
Already Trump has made his presence felt, whether for good or for bad.
Strap yourselves in, ladies and gentlemen. We are in for a wild ride.
What are your thoughts on all these developments?
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Some good things Trump has done but so disappointed in his support for MRNA Vaccine poison and AI developments. I guess he is lured by the money making proposal.