Executive orders mark first week back in office

Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, 2025. Trump’s return to the presidency following his victory in the November 5 presidential election is a historic comeback following his departure from office in 2021 and subsequent civil and criminal trials, as well as two assassination attempts. 

Within hours of taking the oath of office, Trump signed a battery of executive orders. The wide-ranging orders address many of the issues Trump campaigned on, most notably immigration, foreign affairs, and ending DEI practices. He immediately withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, which the U.S. had rejoined under Biden after Trump had left it during his first term, as well as the World Health Organization.

Trump also stayed enforcement on the suspension of TikTok’s operations for 75 days pending further review. TikTok had been disabled for less than a day the Sunday evening before the inauguration, restoring services with an announcement that once in office, Trump would not enforce any penalties towards their data providers. 

Keough Hall resident and TikTok connoisseur Nathan Ogden was enthused by Trump’s actions, telling the Rover, “While I’m by no means a ‘Trump guy,’ I am thankful that somebody took initiative to not only save our app but work to increase the safety of American users on the platform.”

Directly reversing actions of the Biden administration, Trump reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terror and reversed sanctions related to Israeli settlements within the West Bank, which is nominally under Palestinian jurisdiction. Hadar Hazony, a Ph.D. student in political theory and constitutional studies, described the impact of Trump’s policy shift on Israeli politics, telling the Rover, “There is already a sense amongst people on the Israeli right that the Trump administration is going to be significantly more favorable. … people on the Israeli right are going to feel emboldened.”

Following through on campaign pledges to reform the federal workforce, Trump eliminated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies from federal hiring standards and set a full freeze on all hiring across the federal government. Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said, “His action is not about making the federal government run more efficiently but rather is about sowing chaos and targeting a group of patriotic Americans that President Trump openly calls crooked and dishonest.

Quinlen Schachle, a member of Notre Dame College Democrats, was disheartened, telling the Rover, “Trump overturning DEI hiring practices within the federal workforce displays a lack of respect towards the importance of women and people of color in the labor force.” He added that the executive order demonstrates “a disregard for dismantling racism and sexism within hiring practices.”

Controversially, Trump issued sweeping pardons for more than 1,500 people sentenced following the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The proclamation states that it “ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation.” 

Professor A. James McAdams, William M. Scholl Professor of International Affairs, told the Rover, “Regardless of party loyalty, anyone who thinks it’s okay to pardon criminals in this particular case either doesn’t understand the rule of law or has disdain for it. No rule of law, no democracy.”

Sam Bley, a freshman in Keough Hall, agreed with the move, telling the Rover, “Trump released Americans who were falsely accused and slandered by the media.”

Further, Trump’s twelfth executive order titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” eliminated birthright citizenship as previously interpreted under the 14th amendment. As of publication, the order has been blocked in court by Judge John C. Coughenour of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington following a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of 22 states. 

The Rover reached out to faculty in the department of political science, but they declined to comment.

Put on notice by Trump’s rhetoric during his campaign, foreign leaders have taken note and have made overtures to the new administration. Japanese SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son pledged 100 billion dollars in direct investment into the U.S., attributing this to Trump himself, saying, “My confidence level to the economy of the United States has tremendously increased with his victory.” Son is also participating in a newly-announced 500 billion dollar AI development partnership along with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle. Additionally, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a call with President Trump, stated his desire to invest 600 billion dollars into the U.S. economy over the next four years. 

Thus far, President Trump has followed through on dozens of his campaign promises less than two weeks into his second term. While still early in his term, it is clear that Trump has hit the ground running with a zeal and efficiency not seen in his first years in office. 

Sam Marchand is a sophomore studying political science and finance from Beaumont, Texas. He squanders much of his spare time by reading the Current Events section of Wikipedia preparing arguments for ND Speech & Debate, of which he serves as president. He can be reached at smarcha3@nd.edu.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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