List of Donald Trump’s most radical executive orders – including renaming a sea and a mountain
It’s fair to say that Donald Trump got straight to work after being sworn in as the 47th US president.
Trump has returned to the White House for a second term and he’s hit the ground running, reversing a number of policies from Joe Biden’s administration as well as bringing in new executive orders.
He’s signed more than 200 executive orders within hours of reclaiming the presidency, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, repealing a ban on drilling for oil in the Arctic, and declaring a national emergency at the border with Mexico.
During his inaugural address, Trump declared that a new ‘golden age of America’ had begun, and vowed to make the US ‘greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before.’
Follow Metro’s live blog for the latest updates after Donald Trump’s inauguration
Referencing his attempted assassination this summer, Trump said: ‘I was saved by God to make America great again.’
It’s safe to say some of Trump’s executive orders were more radical than others – Metro has the details of his most weird and wonderful acts within the first 24 hours of his second presidential term.
Pardoning January 6 attackers
One of Trump’s first acts was to pardon or commute the sentences of around 1,600 people who took part in the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.
The attack was motivated by Trump’s supporters, who falsely believed he had rightfully won the 2020 election and were emboldened by his claims that the election had been ‘stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats’.
They were trying to keep Trump in power by preventing Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalise Joe Biden’s win.
Five people died within 36 hours of the attack, including one person shot by Capitol Police, and a police officer who died a day after being assaulted by rioters.
Some 174 police officers were injured and attackers caused more than $2.7million of damage.
Trump has now pardoned hundreds of people who took part in the rioting – an act described by former speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi as a ‘shameful and outrageous insult’.
She said: ‘The president’s actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the congress and the constitution.
‘It is shameful that the president has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power.
‘Despite the president’s decision, we must always remember the extraordinary courage and valor of the law enforcement heroes who stood in the breach and ensured that democracy survived on that dark day.’
Leaving the World Health Organisation
Yesterday, Trump signed an order announcing his plans to leave the WHO after accusing them of mishandling the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is his second attempt to leave the organisation, having started the process during the pandemic, but Biden later reversed that decision.
Why is Trump leaving the WHO?
The order said the US is withdrawing ‘due to the organization’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states’.
In response, its chief doctor Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO ‘regrets’ Trump’s announcement, adding: ‘For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats.
‘Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication. American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership of WHO.
‘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.’
Allowing drilling in the Arctic
Trump has repealed an order from Biden in 2023 which barred drilling for oil in 16million acres of the Arctic.
He also declared a national energy emergency, and has promised to fill up oil reserves and export US energy globally.
Trump said: ‘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 – let me use it.’
‘We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.’
He also reversed Biden’s efforts to ban new offshore oil and gas development along the US coastline, as part of plans to ‘unleash’ energy production, suspended offshore wind leasing, and overturned auto-emissions standards.
The emergency declaration, which could be open to legal challenge, will allow his administration to fast-track permits for new fossil fuel infrastructure.
It all comes as Trump acts upon his promise to pull the US out of the Paris climate agreement to avoid a rise in global temperatures of 1.5°C again – he did this during his first presidential term, but Biden reversed that decision.
Launching ‘the largest deportation programme in American history’
Trump kicked off his second term with mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
He declared an illegal immigration emergency at the border with Mexico, sending troops there to ‘seal off’ the border, and has restored a travel ban on people from certain countries with predominantly Muslim populations.
He also signed an order ending ‘birthright citizenship’ – which gives anyone born in the US citizenship regardless of whether they or their parents entered the country illegally.
However this is a right enshrined in the US constitution, so it’s likely to face political and legal challenges.
‘Two genders’ and anti-diversity policy
Throughout his election campaign, Trump has made sweeping promises about ‘woke’ culture, gender, and diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programmes.
Trump signed a number of orders rolling back changes made by the Biden administration – including a directive preventing discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
He also signed an order designating there are only two genders, male and female, and declaring they cannot be changed.
‘As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,’ he said during his inaugural address.
Another directive that he revoked had been designed to address ‘racial equity and support for underserved communities’.
A Trump administration official said the orders would ‘end DEI inside the federal government’.
Several large US companies have ended or scaled back their DEI programmes since Trump was elected, including McDonald’s, Walmart and Facebook parent company Meta.
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Denali
In his inauguration speech, Trump promised: ‘America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on earth inspiring the awe, admiration of the entire world.
‘A short time from now, we will be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and we will be restoring the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs.’
Within hours, he had signed executive orders calling for the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America and changing the name of Denali, a mountain in Alaska, back to Mount McKinley.
Alaskan senator Lisa Murkowski, a fellow Republican, said she is ‘so against’ restoring the name Mount McKinley, named after a former US president.
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama officially renamed Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the nation’s highest peak, as Denali, the traditional Native Alaskan name.
It had long informally been known in Alaska as Denali, despite the official federal designation being Mount McKinley.
‘The mountain was named 10,000 years ago by the Native people, the Athabascans in the area, and it is called Denali, which means the great one,’ she said.
‘So I would just suggest to President Trump, who wants to make everything great, we already have a great name for it, so we’re gonna talk about it. I’ve already talked to him about it.’
Can Trump rename the Gulf of Mexico?
Marjorie Taylor Greene said her staff will draft legislation for the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, making the change effective on federal maps and administrative policy.
However, it’s important to note that no other nation would have an obligation to follow suit and rename the Gulf of Mexico.
Full list of Donald Trump's first executive orders at start of his second term
- Reinstating the name Mount McKinley
- Renaming Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America
- Designating Cartels as foreign terrorist organizations
- Ending diversity, inclusion, and equity hiring in the federal government
- Temporary withdrawal of all areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing
- Revocation of any active or current security clearances held by the former intelligence officials involved with “inappropriate political coordination with the 2020 Biden presidential campaign” and John R. Bolton
- Granting pardons for January 6 rioters
- Reevaluating United States foreign aid
- Declaring a national energy emergency
- Restoring accountability for career senior executives
- Promoting beautiful federal civic architecture
- Restoring the death penalty in the US
- Routing more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of California
- Securing the United State’s borders
- United States citizenship does not automatically extend to those born in the United States
- Realignment of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
- Unleashing America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources
- Clarifying the military’s role in protecting the US borders
- ‘America First’ trade policy that benefits American workers, manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, and businesses
- Resolving the backlog of security clearances for Executive Office of the President
- Restoring accountability to policy-influence positions within the federal workforce
- Withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization
- Delaying TikTok ban for 75 days
- Putting America First in international environmental agreements
- Deliver emergency price relief to the American people
- Hiring freeze for federal civilian employees (does not apply to military personnel of the armed forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety)
- Regulatory freeze pending review
- Restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship
- Recissions of dozens of executive orders and actions from Biden administration
- Ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government
- Only two sexes, male and female, to be recognized by the federal government
- Department of Government Efficiency to implement the president’s DOGE Agenda
- Putting American and its interests first in foreign policy
- Protecting US citizens from terrorist attacks and threats
- Tapping into the vast natural resources, energy, and seafood in Alaska
- Ensuring the federal government carries out United State’s immigration laws
- Pulling the US from the Paris Agreement
- Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States
- Pulling the US out of the global corporate tax deal secured by Biden
- Organization of the National Security Council and subcommittees
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