DONALD John Trump, re-elected as the 47th president of the United States last November 2024, returned to the Oval Office on January 20, 2025, and immediately signed nearly 200 executive orders (EOs) aimed at dismantling whatever ‘legacy’ his predecessor, President Joe Biden, intends to leave behind while putting the country into an entirely new direction.
During his inaugural speech that was interrupted with several standing ovations, Trump claimed his second term is the start of a ‘New Golden Age’ for America anchored on his policy of putting the interest of the United States first. “I will simply put America first,” Trump said, to much applause from the crowd.
Stop to illegal immigration
Among Trump’s significant executive actions are: declaring a ‘state of emergency’ at the US Southern border with Mexico allowing him to mobilize the US Armed Forces to help stem the surge of illegal immigrants entering the country that reached over 11 million under the Biden administration; declaring drug cartels as ‘foreign terrorist organizations’ (FTOs); denying ‘birth right citizenship’ to illegal immigrants;
Immediate stop to a software application that allows illegal immigrants to enter the US by a scheduled appointment; reintroduction of the ‘wait in Mexico’ policy whereby immigration applicants are made to wait in the border while their application is being reviewed; suspension of the ‘Refugee Admission Program’ pending review.
Only two genders: Male and Female
Removal of all ‘DEI’ (diversity, equality, and inclusion) programs in all federal agencies of the US government of which the first casualty appears to be Linda Lee Fagan, the first female commander of the US Coast Guard (USCG).
Fagan was removed even before Trump’s inaugural celebration was ongoing in Washington for her “excessive focus” on DEI programs and for “leadership deficiencies, operational failures and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the U.S. Coast Guard,” reads the statement released by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In his speech, Trump declared that under his administration, the United States recognize that there are only two genders: “Male and Female.”
Withdrawal from Paris Accord, WHO
Trump also signed an EO again withdrawing the United States from the ‘Paris Agreement,’ a global treaty to combat climate change. Unlike his Democrat opponents and other “radical leftists and liberals,” Trump is not a believer on climate change, calling it a “hoax” peddled by some quarters for their private profit.
In 2015, it was Obama who spearheaded the signing of the Paris Agreement involving some 200 countries, including the Philippines.
Trump withdrew from the treaty in November 2020, before the US presidential election where he was beaten by Biden.
Despite losing to Trump, Biden, in December 2024, again restored US membership to the agreement but which was now promptly revoked by Trump.
Trump’s intention is to help revive the dying US auto industry and allow the drilling of more oil to put the United States back at the top of the world’s largest oil producers.
Trump also signed another EO withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization (WHO), which many of his supporters, like new US health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., believe has become a haven for a global cabal of private pharmaceutical corporations and rich individuals like Bill Gates that is conducting “experiments” on humans such as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
In this regard, Trump also ordered the reinstatement of all US military personnel, “with full backpay,” who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccines.