'Shock and awe': Trump's plans to kickstart his second term

Trump plans sweeping day-one executive orders: hardline immigration policies, mass deportations, ending birthright citizenship, banning transgender women in sports/military, freeing Jan. 6 rioters and slashing funds for schools with vaccine mandates

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly stated his intention to act as a "dictator in the first 24 hours," promising to sign "at least 100 executive orders" immediately after his inauguration.
Trump's allies, including the initiators of Project 2025, a 900-page conservative policy plan that Trump claimed on the campaign trail to be unfamiliar with, have prepared a stack of executive orders for him. These orders cover a wide range of topics, including immigration, transgender rights and the dismantling of large parts of outgoing President Joe Biden's energy and climate policies.
"I can undo almost everything Biden did through executive orders, and on the first day, a lot of it will be canceled," Trump told Time Magazine last November. However, many of the orders may be more symbolic than practical, and some could exceed the scope of his authority, as a president cannot overturn laws. Nevertheless, according to his advisers, the plan is to create a "shock and awe" effect within minutes of his return to the White House.
The first orders on immigration, a central topic in Trump’s campaign, may include closing the southern border, reinstating entry bans for migrants from certain countries, and halting the acceptance of refugees. "I want to close the border," Trump said at a campaign rally in July. "On the first day, I will reinstate the entry bans, suspend refugee admissions, stop the colonization of America and keep terrorists out of our country."
Stephen Miller, Trump’s most extreme adviser on immigration, said last month that Trump would issue a series of executive orders on the first day to "initiate the largest deportation operation in American history."
Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma said he expects the president-elect to initially focus on deporting about one million immigrants. "That’s the easy part," Lankford said. "These are people who recently crossed the border, immigrants who are legally present but have been convicted of crimes, and those whom the court has ordered deported. That’s over one million people who can be deported immediately."
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Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald Trump
(Photo: Brian Snyder / Reuters)
Trump has pledged during his campaign to end the automatic birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants born in the U.S. If he indeed signs such an executive order, it would be one of the most radical ones in presidential history and seemingly unconstitutional. It would also face immediate legal challenges. Another order may involve withholding federal resources from liberal cities designated as "sanctuary cities" for immigrants and refugees.
Beyond immigration, no issue has energized Trump’s supporters more than the fight against transgender rights and the rights of non-binaries. This is also where it will be easiest for him to sign orders that take immediate effect, as they do not overturn existing laws but rather create new prohibitions.
For example, Trump promised during the campaign to protect women's rights by banning transgender women (biological males who have undertaken procedures to transition to women) from competing in women’s sports.
"We’re going to stop the transgender madness on day one," Trump said. "I will sign orders to end the sexual mutilation of children and remove transgenders from the military." During his first term, Trump already banned transgender people from serving in the military, a ban that was later reversed by Biden. "Under the Trump administration," he noted, "it will be the official policy of the U.S. government that there are only two genders: male and female."
(House passes bill to ban transgender participation in women's sports)
Another expected order involves directing the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to "convene an external panel to investigate whether hormone treatments for transgender people increase the risk of severe depression and violence."
Another element of Trump’s cultural war appeal to his supporters may involve cutting federal funding for schools that teach the history of race relations in the U.S. or implement diversity and inclusion policies, commonly known as DEI. Schools that enforce vaccine mandates may also face funding cuts.
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Another significant order may involve granting blanket pardons to more than 1,500 convicted of crimes related to the storming of Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. In an interview with Time after his election victory, Trump said that pardoning those convicted in connection to January 6 would be something he’d do "within the first nine minutes." He said, "If they weren’t violent and were punished without reason, I’ll release them. I’ll also review the convictions of those accused of violence."
It seems the area most likely to see a flood of orders on Monday will be a comprehensive attack on Biden’s climate and energy policies. Trump received tens of millions of dollars in donations from U.S. oil and gas industry leaders and reciprocated with a laundry list of promises. First, he will cancel regulations imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on car emissions, which were designed to encourage automakers to sell more electric and hybrid vehicles.
Trump is also expected to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement for the second time. During his first term, leaving the agreement took several months due to opposition from some close advisers and cabinet members, but this time, his plans are expected to advance unopposed.
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