Trump intended his second inaugural address to be uplifting and unifying, though
it is riddled with questionable claims, downright lies, and is hardly unifying. (See a
transcript of the address at: https://nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/trump-
inaugural-speech.html.)
As of Jan. 20, his first day in office, he began implementing many of the policies to
which he referred in the address as well as in speeches during the presidential
campaign, and, in some cases, over many years. There are some issues that he
avoided discussing; for example, whether he will issue a federal ban on abortions.
By the end of his first days in office, he issued hundreds of “executive actions,”
many of which will be contested in courts (https://apnews.com/article/what-has-
trump-done-trump-executive-orders-f061fbe7f08c08d81509a6af20ef8fc0). Here
are some examples of Trump’s actions and anticipated actions and the effects.
They threaten to destroy the tenuous democracy that we know, and replace it with
a authoritarian system that is the antithesis of democracy.
He has not unified the country
He asserts in his inaugural address, for example, “National unity is now returning
to America” and “I [Trump] want to be a peacemaker and a unifier.” His rhetoric
and actions belie such claims. Rather, his views have been and continue to be
disruptive and anti-democratic, more to generate fear and ignorance rather than
relief or understanding.
The vote count does not support Trump’s claim that his victory reflects national
unity. The 2024 presidential vote indicates that the presidential vote was close and
that there are 75+ million Americans who voted against him, 77+ million who
voted for him, and, according to data from the University of Florida Election Lab,
“an estimated 89 million Americans, or about 36% of the country’s voting-age
population [who] did not vote in the 2024 general election”
(https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-11-15/how-many-
people-didnt-vote-in-the-2024-election#google_vignette).
His bizarre notion that he is the country’s savior.
With respect to the earlier attempt on his life, he says, “I was saved by God to
make America great again.” In Trump’s view, he is America’s savior. If people do
what he wants, America will thrive. This pseudo-religious self-characterization is
arrogant and even psychopathological. But millions of Americans voted him into
the White House. Indeed, the largest segment of Trump’s base are Christian
Nationalists who believe America should be viewed as a right-wing evangelical
Christian country, disregarding the constitionally-based separation of religion from
politics (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/07/christian-nationalists-
embrace-trump-as-their-savior-will-they-be-his).
Here's another report on Trump’s beliefs by Ken Bensinger of the New York Times
(https://nytimes.com/2024/01/11/us/politics/trump-god-video-pastors-iowa....).
“A viral video praising former President Donald J. Trump has offended a key Iowa
constituency in the lead-up to next week’s critical Iowa caucuses: faith leaders.
The video, which Mr. Trump first posted to Truth Social last Friday and then
played before taking the stage at several rallies in Iowa over the weekend, is called
‘God Made Trump.’ In starkly religious, almost messianic tones, it depicts the
former president as the vessel of a higher power sent to save the nation.
“God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker,’ so God
gave us Trump,” begins the video….”
Trump wants to increase US production of fossil fuels, ignoring or
denying the climate effects
Trump notes in his inaugural address that America “has the largest amount of oil
and gas of any country on earth and we are going to use it.” As is well known, he
has long rejected the scientifically-proven realty of a growing climate crisis that is
caused mostly by fossil fuels (80%). Nonetheless, if he has his way, there will be
more fossil fuels extracted and utilized in America and liquified natural gas exports
will go up.
In an in-depth article for The Guardian, Oliver Milman and Dharna Noor report on
the Trump’s executive orders boosting fossil fuels
(https://theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/22/trump-big-oil-energy-pri...
explained). Here’s some of what they write.
“Through a flurry of executive orders, a newly inaugurated Donald Trump has
made clear his support for the ascendancy of fossil fuels, the dismantling of
support for cleaner energy and the United States’ exit from the fight to contain the
escalating climate crisis.
“‘We will drill, baby, drill,’ the president said in his inaugural address on Monday
[Jan. 20, 2025].
‘We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have – the
largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it.
We’re going to use it.’
Milman and Noor continue. “Trump has promised to cut Americans’ energy costs
in half within a year and he claimed removing all restraints on drilling for ‘liquid
gold’ will achieve this, even though the US is already producing more oil and
gas than any other country in history.”
There is little place for climate treaties, wind or solar energy, and electric vehicles
in Trump’s energy plans.
Milman and Noor write: “Climate treaties, wind energy and electric vehicles are
not part of this vision, with Trump signing orders to ditch or stymie them.” Trump
ignores scientists who say “the world must urgently move away from fossil fuels to
avoid the ever-worsening impacts of the climate crisis, as evidenced by last year
being the hottest ever recorded and Los Angeles suffering ruinous wildfires.
The energy oligarchs invested in Trump’s presidential campaign and are now being
rewarded, as Milman and Noor point out.
“It was a good day, though, for the fossil fuel executives who poured tens of
millions of dollars into Trump’s election campaign. Some celebrated a few blocks
away from the inauguration in Washington at a party where they sipped
champagne and nibbled on pastries with Trump’s face on them.
“Trump declared a “national energy emergency” on Monday – part of a spate of
actions meant to boost the already-booming fossil fuel industry. Invoked under the
National Emergencies Act, the order aims to unlock an array of executive powers
to fast-track the production and distribution of energy.”
Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the green non-profit Natural Resources
Defense Council, says there is no energy emergency. Rather, there is a “climate
emergency.”
And despite the existential threat of fossil-fuel-driven climate disasters, “Trump
has again initiated the U.S. exit from the Paris climate deal, a non-binding
agreement to avoid the world hitting temperatures that would deliver disastrous
heatwaves, floods and storms upon societies and economies already strained by
extreme events. In joining just three other countries – Yemen, Iran and Libya –
outside the Paris process, the world’s second-largest carbon emitter is walking
away from this shared goal while also halting funding for poorer countries at most
risk of climate-driven calamities.”
Trump also overturned two of Joe Biden’s attempts to restrict fossil fuel
development. One, which the former president put forth earlier this month, meant
to withdraw swaths of the US coasts from future oil and gas drilling, including the
entire US east coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, parts of the Pacific coast and
portions of Alaska’s Bering Sea. Another 2023 order limited drilling in nearly 3m
acres of the Arctic Ocean in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska….”
Make the U.S. military ever more globally dominant
Trump points out in his inaugural address that America has the world’s ‘strongest
military’ and he plans to make it even stronger by increasing military spending. It
is well known outside of Trump’s circles that we have an inflated and wasteful
military budget that needs to be reduced.
William Hartung, an expert on military spending and its effects, substantiates this
point in many articles, including this one in Counter Punch
(https://counterpunch.org/2024/02/28/war-is-bad-for-you-and-the-economy).
Here’s some of what he writes.
“…the opportunity costs of throwing endless trillions of dollars at the military
means far less is invested in other crucial American needs, ranging from housing
and education to public health and environmental protection. Yes, military
spending did indeed help America recover from the [1930s] Great Depression but
not because it was military spending. It helped because it was spending, period.
Any kind of spending at the levels devoted to fighting World War II would have
revived the economy. While in that era, such military spending was certainly a necessity, today similar spending is more a question of (corporate) politics and
priorities than of economics.
“In [recent] years Pentagon spending has soared and the defense budget continues
to head toward an annual trillion-dollar mark, while the prospects of tens of
millions of Americans have plummeted. More than 140 million of us now fall into
poor or low-income categories, including one out of every six children. More than
44 million of us suffer from hunger in any given year. An estimated 183,000
Americans died of poverty-related causes in 2019, more than from homicide, gun
violence, diabetes, or obesity. Meanwhile, ever more Americans are living on the
streets or in shelters as homeless people hit a record 650,000 in 2022.
Extending and sealing off US territory
Trump is hardly a unifier or peacemaker in the U.S. or abroad. He wants to acquire
Greenland and retake control of the Panama Canal. He wants to rename the Gulf of
Mexico the Gulf of America. He has even said that he would like to annex Canada
as the 51st state. And he has toyed with the idea of using the military to invade
Mexico to stop the flow of immigrants into the U.S. He will withdraw the U.S.
from the Paris Peace Accord. And has opened up the door to removing the U.S.
from NATO.
In an article in Foreign Policy, Alexandra Sharp delves into what we know about
Trump’s foreign policy (https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/21/donald-trump-
executive-orders-day-one-us-immigration-who-tiktok). Here’s some of what she
writes.
“U.S. President Donald Trump hit the ground running for his first day in office on
Monday, signing 26 executive orders and issuing a slew of other promises intended
to prioritize Washington’s interests on the global stage. ‘The golden age of
America begins right now,’ Trump vowed at the start of his inaugural address.
“Among his first acts, Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico
border, fulfilling a key campaign pledge to curb migration. To address border
security, he ordered the deployment of troops; resumed construction of the border
wall; reinstated the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program, which forces asylum-seekers to
wait in Mexico during immigration proceedings; and shut down the CBP One app,
a Biden-era program that allowed some migrants to enter the United States legally
through an appointment lottery system. Trump also designated cartels and foreign gangs as ‘global terrorists’ in an effort to expand government efforts to combat
human trafficking and drug smuggling.”
“To drive home his America First approach, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico
the “Gulf of America,” implemented a 90-day pause on U.S. foreign development
assistance, and signaled his intention to leave the World Health
Organization within 12 months” [He has already pulled America out of WHO.]
Trump also ordered the United States to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement
in a major blow to global efforts to limit climate change.”
Attempting to end birthright citizenship
Sharp continues.
“In addition, Trump directed federal agencies to stop recognizing birthright
citizenship for the children of undocumented migrants, a right guaranteed under
the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Attorneys general for 18 states, the city
of San Francisco, and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit on Tuesday
challenging the order.
A Line-by-Line Breakdown of Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Executive
Order
Elie Mystal offers a “line-by-line” breakdown of Trump’s birthright Citizenship
Executive Order in an article for The Nation, Jan 22, 2025
(https://thenation.com/article/politics/trump-birthright-citizenship-exec...).
Mystal starts out arguing that “Almost every sentence of the order is wrong,
misleading, or flagrantly unconstitutional.” Here’s more.
“I cannot tell you the worst thing Trump did in his first hours—“the worst” is a
subjective assessment largely based on how close you are to the people Trump
would like to harm. There is, however, one executive order that attempts to nullify
an entire constitutional amendment by fiat, so that is the one I have decided to
focus on.”
“Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship”—better known as
the birthright citizenship executive order—attempts to cancel the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Getting rid of constitutional amendments via executive
order is new, and, for me at least, “the worst.”
“Nearly every line of this order is wrong, misleading, or flagrantly
unconstitutional. To appreciate the depths of racism and lawlessness embedded
within it, you need to read every line. Lawyers have done that, and a lawsuit
has already been filed attempting to stop the order. But I believe every single
person in this country who is not a mouth-breathing racist deserves to understand
just how despicable this thing is. I want you to be able to fight the racists in your
family, chapter and verse, on this unmitigated piece of trash.”
Mystal considers Trump’s order in depth. Here are highlights.
“Section 1. Purpose. The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and
profound gift.”
“This is simply wrong. Citizenship is a privilege, but it is not a “gift.” It’s not
bestowed by individual benevolent white folks when they happen to be in a good
mood. Birthright citizenship is a right, one that has been enshrined in the
organizing document of our country.
“There is a legal process for taking away rights, but that process has nothing to do
with the bigoted orders of an aging despot. Taking away the right to birthright
citizenship requires nothing less than a constitutional amendment. Trump wants
you to forget that by pretending that citizenship is a gift.”
“The Fourteenth Amendment states: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and
of the State wherein they reside.’ That provision rightly repudiated the Supreme
Court of the United States’s shameful decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S.
(19 How.) 393 (1857), which misinterpreted the Constitution as permanently
excluding people of African descent from eligibility for United States citizenship
solely based on their race.”
Mystal continues.
“Even if the courts do get around to ‘stopping’ the order, Trump controls the
military. He controls the State Department and the Justice Department. He controls
the Social Security Administration. I don’t have a lot of belief that he will follow a
court order on this, even if the courts order him to stop.
“All I can do is tell you that the order is unconstitutional, and racist, and obviously
so. The people who support this order are wrong, and racist. The journalists who
promote and normalize the order are wrong and racist. This order violates one of
the fundamental principles of the United States, and people should react to it like it
does”.
Pardoning insurrectionists
On January 20, 2025, his first day as president, Trump pardoned 1,500 or 1,600
people who were imprisoned for their violent participation in the Jan. 6
insurrection. This is a reflection of Trump’s “big lie,” that is, despite the
overwhelming evidence, he denies that they engaged in destructive actions on Jan.
6 and continues to insist they were wrongly punished and incarcerated.
Dan Barry and Alan Feuer analyze “How Trump Inverted the Violent History of
Jan. 6 (https://nytimes.com/2025/01/05/us/politics/january-6-capitol-riot-
trump.html).
“In the wake of the attack on the Capitol, Mr. Trump’s volatile political career
seemed over, his incendiary words before the riot rattling the leaders of his own
Republican Party. Myriad factors explain his stunning resurrection, but not least of
them is how effectively he and his loyalists have laundered the history of Jan. 6,
turning a political nightmare into a political asset.
“What began as a strained attempt to absolve Mr. Trump of responsibility for Jan.
6 gradually took hold, as his allies in Congress and the media played down the
attack and redirected blame to left-wing plants, Democrats and even the
government. Violent rioters — prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned — somehow
became patriotic martyrs.”
The violence
The facts tell a different story. Barry and Feuer give this well-documented account
of events.
“That day [Jan. 6, 2021] was an American calamity. Lawmakers huddled for
safety. Vice President Mike Pence eluded a mob shouting that he should be
hanged. Several people died during and after the riot, including one protester by
gunshot and four police officers by suicide, and more than 140 officers were injured in a protracted melee that nearly upended what should have been the
routine certification of the electoral victory of Mr. Trump’s opponent, Joseph R.
Biden Jr.
Trump explains away the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, pardons the
insurrectionists, and wants to punish those who investigated those who were
incarcerated
“But with his return to office,” Barry and Feuer write, “Mr. Trump now has the
platform to further rinse and spin the Capitol attack into what he has called ‘a day
of love.’ He has vowed to pardon rioters in the first hour of his new administration
[which he has done], while his congressional supporters are pushing for criminal
charges against those who investigated his actions on that chaotic day.”
When asked about the reframing of the Capitol riot, and whether Mr. Trump
accepts any responsibility for what unfolded on Jan. 6, his spokeswoman, Karoline
Leavitt, instead referred in a statement to the “political losers” who tried to derail
his career and asserted that “the mainstream media still refuses to report the truth
about what happened that day.” She added, “The American people did not fall for
the Left’s fear mongering over January 6th.”
“The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted him of incitement, but its leader,
Mitch McConnell, declared him ‘practically and morally responsible for provoking
the events of the day’ — a sentiment apparently shared by most Americans,
with nearly 60 percent saying in polls that he should never hold office again.”
The denial
Barry and Feuer write, “Before the Capitol had even been secured, Representative
Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, was asserting on Twitter that the events had
‘all the hallmarks of Antifa provocation.’ Hours later, the Fox News commentator
Laura Ingraham was telling viewers that ‘there are some reports that antifa
sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd.’ And by morning,
Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, was claiming on the House
floor that some rioters ‘were masquerading as Trump supporters and in fact were
members of the violent terrorist group antifa.’ (Mr. Gaetz would become President-
elect Trump’s first choice for attorney general before being derailed by scandal.)
“According to M.I.T. Technology Review, this fabrication was repeated online
more than 400,000 times in the 24 hours after the Capitol attack, amplified by a
cast of MAGA influencers, Republican officials and members of Mr. Trump’s
family.”
Through the spring and summer of 2021 [and into the present], Mr. Trump’s
Republican allies sought to sow doubt and blame others.
Glorifying the rioters
“Amid the conspiratorial swirl of antifa agitators and deep-state plots, a related
narrative was gaining traction: the glorification of those who had attacked the
Capitol. Instead of marauders, vandals and aggressors, they were now political
prisoners, hostages, martyrs. Patriots.”
“At a mid-January rally in Florence, Ariz., he [Trump] described the Jan. 6
defendants as persecuted political prisoners. Later that month, in Conroe, Texas, he
promised that if he was re-elected, and if pardons were required, ‘we will give
them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.’”
“His efforts seemed to be working. By mid-2022, an NBC News poll found that
fewer than half of Americans still considered Mr. Trump ‘solely’ or ‘mainly’
responsible for Jan. 6.”
Indictments
“In August 2023, Mr. Trump was indicted twice on charges of interfering with the
2020 election results: at the state level, for illegally seeking to overturn the results
of the election in Georgia, which he had narrowly lost; and at the federal level, for
conspiring to impede the Jan. 6 certification of Mr. Biden’s election.
“A subsequent court filing by Jack Smith, the special counsel leading the federal
investigation, cited Mr. Trump’s steadfast endorsement of the rioters and of the
prison choir, ‘many of whose criminal history and/or crimes on January 6 were so
violent that their pretrial release would pose a danger to the public.’ The former
president, it continued, ‘has financially supported and celebrated these offenders
— many of whom assaulted law enforcement on January 6 — by promoting and
playing their recording of the national anthem at political rallies and calling them
‘hostages’”
Promising Payback
“An emboldened Mr. Trump has already indicated that his presidential agenda will
include payback for those who declared him responsible for the Capitol attack. He
has said that Mr. Smith ‘should be thrown out of the country,’ and that Ms. Cheney
and other leaders of the House select committee — ‘one of the greatest political
scams in history,’ his spokeswoman, Ms. Leavitt, said — should ‘go to jail,’
without providing evidence to warrant such extreme measures.
--------------
Creating a paramilitary force
Joan Walsh reports in an article for The Nation on Jan. 23, 2025 on how Trump
liberates his own paramilitary force (https://thenation.com/article/politics/trump-
january-6-pardons-paramilitary-force).
She writes: “Convicted felon Donald Trump, also known as our 47th president,
unleashed such tyranny, cruelty, and idiocy on his first day in office that I can’t tell
you which of his moves is ‘worst.’
“Trump’s quick move to pardon or commute the sentences of roughly 1,600
January 6 prisoners has to be at the top. It’s like he just liberated his own
paramilitary force. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and former Proud Boys
leader Enrique Tarrio, convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 and
22 years in prison, respectively, got out Tuesday. They and others who helped plan
the violent insurrection [of Jan. 6, 2021] are now back on the streets.”
If I were being charitable, I might say this is one rare example of Trump showing
loyalty to others. Just as Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made sure
Trump didn’t have to pay for inciting the January 6 riots, so did Trump bestow his
own special form of ‘immunity’ on his followers who were charged for that bloody
day. He continued to call them “hostages.”
Trump declared at a Tuesday night news conference, “they have already served
years in prison and they’ve served them viciously,” Trump declared at a Tuesday
night news conference. “It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane.
It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”
Walsh continues her report. “At least three Jan. 6 defendants pleaded guilty to
assaulting Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer Michael Fanone,
who reportedly “suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury during the
attack” and was forced to retire from the police force. Daniel Rodriguez pleaded guilty on Feb. 14, 2023 to tasing Fanone, as well as other charges. Another
defendant, Kyle Young, pleaded guilty on May 5, 2022 to assaulting Fanone, as he
‘held the officer’s left wrist’ and ‘pulled’ Fanone’s arm away from his body.’
During the attack on officers in a Capitol tunnel, Young also ‘held a strobe light
toward the police line and pushed forward a stick-like object.’ A third man,
Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty to dragging Fanone into the crowd of rioters,
yelling ‘I got one!’ Rodriguez was subsequently sentenced to more than 12 years in
prison, while Young received more than seven years and Head was sentenced to
7.5 years in prison.”
“The Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of
Police… criticized the pardons and commutations, not only those of the January 6
prisoners but also of individuals whose sentences President Joe Biden commuted,
saying they were “deeply discouraged” by both presidents’ actions. “The IACP and
FOP firmly believe that those convicted of [killing or assaulting law enforcement
officers] should serve their full sentences,” the groups said in a joint statement.
Maybe the most poignant testimony on Tuesday came from former Capitol Police
sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who shared the messages alerting him when every
convicted felon he’d testified against got released.
“Each email and call log is a different violent rioter who assaulted me in the
tunnel. If you are defending these people who brutally assaulted the police, maybe
you ARE NOT a supporter of the police and the rule of law to begin with. If you
did you would want accountability.”
“On Patriots.Win, a Trump-boosting website, at least two dozen people hoped for
the executions of Democrats, judges, or law enforcement linked to the January 6
cases, Reuters reported. “They called for jurists or police to be hanged, pummeled
to death, ground up in wood chippers or thrown from helicopters.
“Gather the entire federal judiciary into a stadium. Then have them listen and
watch while the judges are beaten to death,” one wrote. “Cut their heads off and
put them on pikes outside” the Justice Department.
“Jacob Chansley, known as the Q-Anon shaman, had already served his three years
in prison. But he celebrated his pardon this way: ‘NOW I AM GONNA BUY
SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!!!’”
Concluding thoughts
We are now at a moment in history, when Trump and his allies are in control of
many of the pillars of government, both houses of the U.S. Congress, many courts
including the Supreme Court, and the White House. He has even been bestowed by
the Supreme Court with legal “immunity” while he is president. Trump and his
allies can, so it seems, act with impunity and not suffer any penalty. It remains to
be seen whether they will succeed.
In his book, The Reactionary Spirit, Zack Beauchamp suggests that Trump’s forces
can be stymied, diverted, or slowed down. He writes:
“The contest for democracy’s future is…different in some respects from the one
previous generations faced, but at its heart the struggle is the same. It is a conflict
over whether democracy’s champions are as committed to equality as its rivals are
to hierarchy. Previous generations of democrats showed that they were up to the
challenge. The great question facing all of us today is whether we are” (p.246).
Examples of genuine reforms
Timothy J. Heaphy also offers a hopeful statement in his book, Harbingers.
“To fix our broken democracy, we should pursue three basic goals. First, we
should do all we can to encourage people to participate and make it easy for them
to vote, stay informed, and voice their concerns.
“Second, we need to find ways to teach and model constructive engagement,
giving people the tools to sift information, pursue and consider alternative points of
view, and listen to and learn from their fellow citizens. This should start early in
public schools that help young people navigate the systems by which they receive
information and encourage them to pursue the first goal of participation.
“Finally, we need to create systems for Americans to come together in common
purpose – working together in service to their communities and finding ways to
help one another” (p. 226).