Trump Signs Massive Slate of Executive Orders Hours into Second Term
Moments after being sworn into office, President Donald Trump signs his first executive orders during a signing ceremony in the President’s Room just off the U.S. Senate Chamber in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on Monday, January 20, 2025. (Image courtesy of the White House)
President Donald Trump began his second term today, signing a slew of executive orders before the American people.
Article by Avery Junker, Junior White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON - President Trump signed many executive orders today, cementing his political agenda as well as following through on promises made during his reelection campaign. Signing more items than President Biden on his first day back in 2021, President Trump once again made his mark on American politics. Back in 2021, President Biden signed nine executive orders and seven executive actions. Today, President Trump signed nearly fifty.
The president's hectic inauguration day started at St. John’s Church and ended with Inauguration Balls. In between these events was a celebratory inaugural parade at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. where Make America Great Again hats covered the stands, supporters cheered loudly, and the President spoke enthusiastically.
At the celebration President Trump recognized the families of the hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, and invited them up on stage, shaking their hands and introducing himself to each individual. He expressed the importance of bringing their loved ones home. Additionally, he thanked his family, staff who helped him get elected, and his supporters before moving along to sign a slew of items.
President Trump signed nine executive orders at this rally, the first of which being “the rescission of 78 Biden era executive actions, executive orders, presidential memoranda, and others.” The next order signed was a regulatory freeze, meant to delay bureaucrats until the Trump administration gained full control over the government. Following this was a freeze on federal hiring excluding the military and others until, once again, the Trump administration gained full control of the government. Next President Trump grabbed the microphone saying, “could you imagine Biden doing this? I don't think so.” This resulted in an onslaught of laughter from the crowd.
The fourth order was “a requirement that federal workers return to full-time in-person work immediately” and the fifth was a directive aimed at federal agencies and departments with the intention to “address the cost of living crisis.” Next, President Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Treaty, repeating the same action he took in 2017 that President Biden later overturned. The next order was a letter addressed to the United Nations expressing the United States’ withdrawal from the treaty.
The eighth item, ordered “the restoration of freedom of speech and preventing government censorship of free speech going forward.” And finally, last but not least, President Trump aimed to end the “weaponization of government against the political adversaries of the previous administration as we’ve seen.”After each signature, the president held up the order to the crowd and received loud cheers of praise.
President Trump threw the pens he used to sign into the audience before returning to the Oval Office to sign more items. Here the president took questions from a pool of reporters, signing documents at a much slower rate than before. The documents signed included a withdrawal from the World Health Organization and a pause on the expulsion of TikTok from America, among other items.
Two of these other items stand out. One of the most contentious executive orders expressed the president's displeasure with the current birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Birthright citizenship guarantees that all individuals born within the country are citizens; this executive order attempts to overturn the clause. However, its place within the constitution will make the implementation of this degree difficult. Secondly, President Trump signed another controversial order, pardoning nearly 1,600 of the January 6th insurrectionists. When exactly these individuals' sentences will be commuted is undisclosed, however, it seems that President Trump is pardoning everything from non-violent crimes to violent offenses.
President Trump’s 46 presidential actions addressed topics from immigration to January 6th insurrection pardons, setting a standard of what day one can look like for incoming presidents. How many orders and actions he will sign in the coming days will provide more clarity on what these next four years will look like for Americans.