The historic inauguration of President Trump is behind us, and now he has gone to work. Within just 48 hours, President Trump made several political splashes, including mass pardons and several executive orders.
January 6 Pardons
President Trump quickly made a controversial decision on his first day, as he issued pardons and commutation of sentences for those convicted for their actions on January 6th, 2021. The presidential action is granted authority by Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. President Trump’s pardons from January 20th can be viewed here.
The pardon comes just a few hours after President Biden pardoned many of his family members “FOR ANY NONVIOLENT OFFENSES against the United States which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through the date of this pardon.”
Both presidents have taken criticism for their pardons, as many see President Trump’s actions as a way of downplaying the events of January 6th, and many see President Biden as having family curruption for pardoning his family members for unknown actions to the public.
Executive Orders
One of the major campaign promises from President Trump’s campaign was to take immediate action on the U.S. southern border. On January 22nd, President Trump issued a proclamation stating “Today, President Trump signed an Executive Order that suspends the physical entry of aliens engaged in an invasion of the United States through the southern border.” This is the first of many actions that the President stated he would accomplish to secure the borders through: “Establishing a physical wall and other barriers monitored and supported by adequate personnel and technology; deterring and preventing the entry of illegal aliens into the United States; detaining, to the maximum extent authorized by law, aliens apprehended on suspicion of violating Federal or State law, until such time as they removed from the United States,” along with several more means, which can be reviewed here.
President Trump also issued an executive order withrdawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). Regarding his decision, the President stated, “World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore.” WHO released a statement concerning the U.S. withdrawal stating, “We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe.”
The President also made a few decisions regarding government workers, including the return to in-person work, as well as a hiring freeze on the “hiring of Federal civilian employees, to be applied throughout the executive branch.” The order states that it “does not apply to military personnel of the armed forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.”
Several other executive orders and declarations have been submitted on the Presidential Actions public website, which can be viewed here. A few of the major orders include:
- Announcement of cabinet and cabinet-level appointments
- Rescissions of “harmful executive orders and actions”
- President Trump’s America first priorities
- Designating cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorist organizations
Establishing Department of Government Efficiency
A major issue that President Trump ran on was the need to reduce government spending and waste. He had previously discussed creating a new government agency known as “DOGE.” In an executive order, the President established the Department of Government Efficiency.
The creation of the department was not a straightforward creation of a new section of government. Instead, the DOGE structure included a reorganization and renaming of the United States States Digital Service (USDS) . The USDS, whose mission is “To deliver better government services to the American people through technology and design,” was created by President Obama in 2014.
President Trump previously stated that Tesla CEO and owner of X social media platform Elon Musk along with former Republic Presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy would run the department. However, Ramaswamy will no longer be leading the department along with Musk. The President has stated that DOGE is a temporary department, and will have a small staff to run the department.
The FF Post will continue to follow the Presidents executive orders along with his presidency over the next four years.
