President Donald Trump began his second term this week with an explosion of actions, spending his first few days in office going full speed on his agenda and reversing the work of his predecessor.
The dizzying march of executive orders, presidential pardons, firings of Biden appointees, calls with foreign leaders, and visits to disaster zones started immediately after the inauguration on Monday, and the breakneck pace did not let up for the rest of the week.
On day one, Trump signed more than three dozen executive orders on the southern border, gender ideology, American energy, the economy, and other issues.
In a flurry of orders on immigration, his signature issue, Trump took several drastic actions.
The president <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-emergency-at-the-southern-border-of-the-united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> a national emergency at the southern border, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/clarifying-the-militarys-role-in-protecting-the-territorial-integrity-of-the-united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deployed</a> thousands of troops there, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/securing-our-borders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> construction of the border wall, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-american-people-against-invasion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> Homeland Security to remove illegal migrants and go after the drug cartels, which he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/designating-cartels-and-other-organizations-as-foreign-terrorist-organizations-and-specially-designated-global-terrorists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designated</a> as terrorists.
The executive orders also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/guaranteeing-the-states-protection-against-invasion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blocked</a> all illegal entries including asylum seekers and refugees, shut down the CBP One app, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-united-states-from-foreign-terrorists-and-othernational-security-and-public-safety-threats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beefed</a> up visa screening, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attempted</a> to end birthright citizenship for the children of non-citizens, which is already facing legal challenges.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/trump-starts-immigration-crackdown-enlisting-the-military-and-testing-the-law.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in his inaugural remarks after taking the oath of office.
Trump also <a href="https://x.com/JennieSTaer/status/1882071203369865550" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threatened</a> to prosecute officials and strip funding from sanctuary cities and states that refuse to cooperate with his deportations, which have already begun.
Less than 48 hours after Trump was sworn in, ICE had already <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-400-illegal-immigrants-arrested-in-first-few-days-of-trump-admin?topStoryPosition=2">arrested</a> more than 460 illegal migrants.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security reinstated the term “illegal alien.”
One of Trump&#8217;s biggest moves of his first day — and week — was granting <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/granting-pardons-and-commutation-of-sentences-for-certain-offenses-relating-to-the-events-at-or-near-the-united-states-capitol-on-january-6-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pardons</a> to nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the January 6 riot at the Capitol.
Most of the defendants received full pardons, while 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, most of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy, got their sentences commuted. The Justice Department was directed to dismiss any pending indictments related to the riot.
On Thursday, Trump pardoned 23 pro-life protesters prosecuted by the Biden administration, including a woman in her 70s, and the mother of a two-year-old, both imprisoned.
Relatedly, two more executive orders <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-freedom-of-speech-and-ending-federal-censorship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ban</a> the weaponization of the federal government against political opponents <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-the-weaponization-of-the-federal-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including</a> censorship of free speech, and they direct investigations into past government misconduct.
Another day one <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> addresses gender ideology, which became a hot button issue during the election. The order officially recognizes &#8220;sex&#8221; as biological, either &#8220;male&#8221; or &#8220;female.&#8221; The order reverses allowing people to change their gender on passports, bans federal funds from promoting gender ideology or paying for medical gender transitions for prison inmates, and protects women and girls from trans-identifying men in women&#8217;s prisons, rape shelters, and &#8220;intimate spaces.&#8221;
Trump also took an axe to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives with several actions.
In one order he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrapped</a> all government DEI programs and put their <a href="https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dace49741569f7585670378b3&amp;id=5bdf3a103b&amp;e=fee98947f0" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Ddace49741569f7585670378b3%26id%3D5bdf3a103b%26e%3Dfee98947f0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1737839244832000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1WbQvQBcGqiJvTHYWNZY89">staff</a> on leave. Trump also rescinded an executive order from President Lyndon Johnson that mandated affirmative action by government contractors, and in another order he directed the Federal Aviation Administration to stop DEI hiring practices, noting that it is responsible for the safety of nearly 3 million airline passengers every day.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113864692804149616" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> that his first day in office was not over yet.
He was busy firing more than 1,000 presidential appointees from the previous administration, “who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again.”
Among those who got the boot from presidential advisory councils was retired Army general Mark Milley, who was fired from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. Milley has called Trump a fascist and was granted a preemptive pardon by Biden just hours earlier.
“YOU’RE FIRED!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, Trump&#8217;s State Department <a href="https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dace49741569f7585670378b3&amp;id=d7ba5f6af1&amp;e=fee98947f0" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Ddace49741569f7585670378b3%26id%3Dd7ba5f6af1%26e%3Dfee98947f0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1737839244832000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2ponWQ4F1AehM4BjD8BZyK">issued</a> guidance that U.S. embassies should fly only the American flag and not activist flags like the pride and Black Lives Matter flags, both of which flew over government buildings under Biden.
In another spate of executive orders, Trump took action on energy.
He <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-energy-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> a national energy emergency, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/putting-america-first-in-international-environmental-agreements/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withdrew</a> from the Paris climate agreement, revoking any related financial commitments, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> the deregulation of domestic energy production <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-alaskas-extraordinary-resource-potential/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">especially</a> in Alaska, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/temporary-withdrawal-of-all-areas-on-the-outer-continental-shelf-from-offshore-wind-leasing-and-review-of-the-federal-governments-leasing-and-permitting-practices-for-wind-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paused</a> all new federal leasing and permitting for wind farms, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eliminated</a> the electric vehicle mandate, and announced plans to get rid of regulations on products like lightbulbs, water heaters, and washing machines.
On the economy, one order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/delivering-emergency-price-relief-for-american-families-and-defeating-the-cost-of-living-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aims</a> to deliver emergency price relief to Americans by having executive agencies work to lower the costs of housing and healthcare, eliminate harmful climate policies, and create jobs, &#8220;drawing discouraged workers into the labor force.&#8221; Another order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/reevaluating-and-realigning-united-states-foreign-aid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pauses</a> assistance to foreign countries for 90 days as they are reviewed. The president also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/america-first-policy-directive-to-the-secretary-of-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> the Secretary of State to issue guidance on putting America first.
He <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/america-first-trade-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> an &#8220;America First&#8221; trade policy that includes exploring an External Revenue Service to collect revenue related to foreign trade.
Several other executive orders took aim at the federal bureaucracy and directed a regulatory <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/regulatory-freeze-pending-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">freeze</a>, a federal hiring <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/hiring-freeze/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">freeze</a> with exceptions for areas like the military, and required federal employees return to in-person work. More orders <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/establishing-and-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">establish</a> the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/reforming-the-federal-hiring-process-and-restoring-merit-to-government-service/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encourage</a> federal hiring based on merit, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-accountability-to-policy-influencing-positions-within-the-federal-workforce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aim</a> to restore accountability to federal workers who can influence policy.
In one fell swoop, Trump also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revoked</a> nearly 100 of former President Joe Biden&#8217;s executive actions on day one.
The Biden actions involved advancing &#8220;racial equity,&#8221; preventing discrimination over &#8220;gender identity,&#8221; ensuring an &#8220;equitable&#8221; pandemic response, &#8220;restoring science&#8221; to tackle the &#8220;climate crisis,&#8221; immigration enforcement, &#8220;clean energy,&#8221; &#8220;accountable policing,&#8221; establishing an &#8220;African diaspora&#8221; council, withdrawing parts of the U.S. from oil or gas leasing, along with dozens more moves.
Trump also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-the-worldhealth-organization/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withdrew</a> from the World Health Organization, citing its &#8220;mishandling&#8221; of the pandemic. He called the move a &#8220;big one.&#8221;
In a hotly-anticipated move, the president <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/application-of-protecting-americans-from-foreign-adversary-controlled-applications-act-to-tiktok/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspended</a> the TikTok ban and expressed hopes to strike a deal with TikTok&#8217;s parent company.
Trump also made several anti-abortion moves during his first few days in office.
He joined every Republican president since Ronald Reagan in restoring the Mexico City Rule, which prohibits federal funding to any overseas nongovernmental organization that performs or promotes abortions. He also restored the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayers from being forced to pay for most abortions.
On Friday, Trump <a href="https://x.com/POTUS/status/1882891449366138893" target="_blank" rel="noopener">addressed</a> the annual March for Life in a video message in which he praised their aim to &#8220;protect every child as a beautiful gift from the hand of our Creator.&#8221; Vice President JD Vance addressed the march in person, his first speech as vice president.
The new administration also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/01/statement-of-administration-policy-h-r-21-born-alive-abortion-survivors-protection-act/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made</a> a statement &#8220;strongly&#8221; supporting the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which passed the House but was blocked in the Senate this week, and he <a href="https://x.com/sbaprolife/status/1881455332985327982" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shut</a> down the Biden administration&#8217;s pro-abortion government website.
On Thursday, Trump spoke virtually to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and accused the CEO of Bank of America to his face of debanking conservatives, saying, &#8220;what you&#8217;re doing is wrong.&#8221;
He spoke with several foreign leaders, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/5105602-donald-trump-greenland-denmark/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including</a> a &#8220;fiery&#8221; call with the Danish prime minister about national security concerns around Greenland, a call with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on illegal immigration, and a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said he wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years.
The administration said it has already secured a total of over $1 trillion in new investments in the country.
The president also re-designated Yemen&#8217;s Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization.
Trump also signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/putting-people-over-fish-stopping-radical-environmentalism-to-provide-water-to-southern-california/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> aimed at &#8220;putting people over fish&#8221; in California, ordering federal agencies to work on routing more water from Northern California to the southern areas damaged by wildfires and stop prioritizing the Delta smelt fish.
Trump declassified files related to the John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations, a move praised by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump&#8217;s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
On technology innovation, Trump issued an executive order aimed at eliminating Biden policies &#8220;harmful&#8221; to America&#8217;s global Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominance. He also set up special groups to focus on science and technology as well as cryptocurrency regulation.
Trump also revoked the taxpayer-funded security details of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his former national security adviser, John Bolton, and Anthony Fauci, who was the face of Trump&#8217;s White House pandemic task force.
Another order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/holding-former-government-officials-accountablefor-election-interference-and-improper-disclosure-of-sensitive-governmental-information/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revokes</a> the security clearances of the 51 former intelligence officials who signed a letter discrediting the Hunter Biden laptop story.
He also pardoned two Washington, D.C., police officers convicted in the death of a black man during a police car chase back in 2020.
He <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-the-death-penalty-and-protecting-public-safety/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> the Attorney General to seek the death penalty for federal crimes involving either the murder of law enforcement or an illegal migrant committing a capital crime.
Trump also directed the Secretary of the Interior to officially <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rename</a> the Gulf of Mexico the &#8220;Gulf of America&#8221; and restored the name &#8220;Mount McKinley&#8221; to the country&#8217;s highest peak after the Obama administration changed it to a Native Alaskan name in 2015.
Other orders addressed smaller issues including withdrawing Biden&#8217;s menthol cigarette ban, getting rid of the Biden administration&#8217;s White House security clearance backlog, recognizing North Carolina&#8217;s Lumbee Tribe, and promoting beautiful civic architecture.
On Friday, Trump turned his attention to disaster zones, flying to North Carolina to view hurricane damage and then California to survey wildfire destruction.
He is set to hold a rally in Nevada on Saturday, saying he wanted to &#8220;thank&#8221; Nevada voters for supporting him.
Meanwhile, Trump&#8217;s Cabinet confirmations are working their way through the Senate. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was the first to be confirmed on Tuesday, and Pete Hegseth was confirmed as Defense Secretary late Friday evening, with Vance casting the tie breaking vote.

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Here’s Everything Trump Did His First Week Back

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Here’s Everything Trump Did His First Week Back