King Trump 2.0’s first batch of Executive Orders: a mixed bag
Once you get over the introductory video of the second coming of Messiah (this one), the White House’s website (which is a WordPress site) gives you access to the Executive Orders issued on January 20. They’re not in a particularly useful presentation, and they lack any number or reference, which is rather strange. I couldn’t be bothered to look elsewhere for such details, but I ran through their contents out of curiosity.
I will not judge them here, but merely group them in an ad-hoc manner. Still, I’d like to mention that a couple of them seem necessary, even if coming from such a brute. The non-binary madness has to stop. DEI, or privileging the belonging to a minority over competence, is also harmful, there in America as much as here in Europe. Finally, the EV mandate has managed to destroy EU’s automotive industry, and America’s is performing any better.
Some of these Executive Orders are pure populism, and sometimes their phrasing is ridiculous. Some of them will have serious difficulties in their implementations, and I expect more than one to be challenged in Federal courts. Take for instance the one stating that the death penalty should be pursued when a capital crime is committed by an alien illegally present in the US. The constitutional right to a fair trial and the principle of non-discrimination before the law apply in the United States to both citizens and non-citizens. Read the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Courts have consistently ruled that non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, are entitled to due process and fair treatment under the law.
I’m surprised that in the first batch I couldn’t find anything regarding the Panama Canal (despite being mentioned in the Inaugural Address: “We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”), Greenland, Canada, and the trade relations with the EU. They’ll probably come later. Oh, and how about NATO and Ukraine? The fun has yet to commence. For Panama, I fear something like Operation Just Cause.
Otherwise, here’s what I skimmed through today, grouped in 12 categories.
ALIENS
● A national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States & this emergency requires use of the Armed Forces [URL]
● Aliens Invading the United States [URL]
● Protecting from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes [URL]
● Identification of Unregistered Illegal Aliens & Efficient Removals of Recent Entrants and Other Aliens [URL]
● Physical Barriers at the southern border & termination of the “CBP One” application [URL]
● Citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States (or lawful but temporary) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth. [URL]
● Entry into the United States of refugees under the USRAP be suspended [URL]
● The Cartels will be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations [URL]
● United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) to seal the borders and repel forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking. [URL]
WOKISM
● Initial Rescission Of 78 Harmful Executive Orders related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), opening the borders, and climate extremism [URL]
● “Sex” shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female. “Sex” is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of “gender identity.” “Gender identity” reflects a fully internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex and existing on an infinite continuum, that does not provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex. [URL]
● Each agency, department, or commission shall terminate all DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” offices and positions (including but not limited to “Chief Diversity Officer” positions); all “equity action plans,” “equity” actions, initiatives, or programs, “equity-related” grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees. [URL]
IMPERIALISM
● Gulf of America [URL]
THE MESSIAH HAS RETURNED
● Flying The Flag Of The United States At Full-Staff On Inauguration Day [URL]
POPULISM
● I hereby order the heads of all executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief, consistent with applicable law, to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker. This shall include pursuing appropriate actions to: lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply; eliminate unnecessary administrative expenses and rent-seeking practices that increase healthcare costs; eliminate counterproductive requirements that raise the costs of home appliances; create employment opportunities for American workers, including drawing discouraged workers into the labor force; and eliminate harmful, coercive “climate” policies that increase the costs of food and fuel. [URL]
TERROR BY STATE
● The Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use. In addition to pursuing the death penalty where possible, the Attorney General shall seek the death penalty regardless of other factors for every federal capital crime involving the murder of a law-enforcement officer, or a capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country. [URL]
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
● Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship [URL]
● TikTok: I am instructing the Attorney General not to take any action to enforce the Act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans. [URL]
AMERICA FIRST
● America First Trade Policy & Economic and Trade Relations with the People’s Republic of China [URL]
● From this day forward, the foreign policy of the United States shall champion core American interests and always put America and American citizens first. [URL]
● The OECD Global Tax Deal has no force or effect in the United States. [URL]
● United States’ withdrawal from the WHO [URL]
● 90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance pending reevaluation [URL]
ENERGY
● The United States’ insufficient energy production, transportation, refining, and generation: Declaring a national emergency. [URL]
● United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [URL]
● Prioritize the development of Alaska’s LNG potential [URL]
● It is the policy of the United States to encourage energy exploration and production & to eliminate the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” and promote true consumer choice. [URL]
● Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects [URL]
● Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California [URL]
FRIENDS & FOES
● January 6, 2021: Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Government [URL]
● January 6, 2021: Commute the sentences of 14 and grant a full pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses [URL]
● Hunter Biden & John R. Bolton: Any current or active clearances revoked for 50 former government officials [URL]
GOVERNANCE
● The Department of Government Efficiency [URL]
● Executive Office of the President Personnel are immediately granted interim Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearances [URL]
● Return to In-Person Work in the executive branch of Government [URL]
● The National Security Council [URL]
● Regulatory Freeze Pending Review [URL]
● Freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees [URL]
● Restoring Merit to Government Service: Federal Hiring Plan [URL]
● Restoring Accountability for Federal workforce [URL]
● Restoring Accountability for Career Senior [URL]
● Announcing Cabinet and Cabinet Level Appointments [URL]
● Announcing Acting Cabinet and Cabinet-Level Positions [URL]
● Announcing Sub-Cabinet Appointments [URL]
● Designating Chairmen and Acting Chairmen [URL]
HARMLESS
● Federal public buildings should be visually identifiable as civic buildings and respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage [URL]
● “The EU is treating us very badly. It’s not just China. We have a huge trade deficit with Europe. They are treating us very badly.” Trump believes that foreign countries and entities must purchase US goods more than they sell to the US. This is pure madness!
From what I gathered, the EU has consistently exported more goods to the United States than it has imported, and the US goods trade deficit with the EU stood at $213.7 billion in 2024.
● In other news, Trump announced the “Stargate” AI infrastructure project, with “colossal data centers” (duh). This is about a joint venture through a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion. Joining Trump at the announcement were Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Larry Ellison of Oracle.
● It was bound to happen: Attorneys general from 22 states sued Trump in two federal district courts (18 states and two cities, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., challenged the order in Federal District Court in Massachusetts; 4 other states filed a second lawsuit in the Western District of Washington) to block the executive order that refuses to recognize the US-born children of unauthorized immigrants as citizens. The 14th Amendment, Section 1: “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.”
It looks like there is a long history of legal precedent in which courts and the executive branch interpreted the 14th Amendment as guaranteeing citizenship to every baby born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ legal status. Still, the courts recognized a few exceptions, such as the children of accredited diplomats and children born in US territory that is under the control of an occupying army. So exceptions can be made, as long as the 14th Amendment itself is succinct and doesn’t specify anything regarding the legal status of the parents or niche cases. I am personally strongly against illegal immigration, as well as against “visits in order to give birth to an American citizen”; I therefore hope that, in the end, Trump’s intentions in this case will prevail.
It might be for the Supreme Court to decide. And we already know that SCOTUS was able to break its own precedent, and not just in Roe v. Wade. SCOTUS also took decisions contradicting previous ones, when the more recent decisions granted rights previously refused to persons of color or to women. But this time, maybe it’s going to be the other way around.
● Trump pardoned Silk Road’s founder, Ross Ulbricht, who was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison in 2015. I suppose Trump did that to show his support for cryptocurrencies, but this black market’s fault was that it was used by more than 100,000 people to buy and sell $214 million worth of illegal drugs and other illicit services. The payment in BTC was merely a detail.
El Presidente, posting on his Truth Social account: “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”
The US legal system is indeed ridiculous, filling the prisons with non-violent offenders, but in this case, I’m not sure what to think. Trump should rather reverse the “three-strike laws” (which he cannot, as they’re at the State level). Such laws mandate a minimum sentence of “25 years to life” for individuals convicted of a third felony if they had two prior felony convictions. Sometimes, stealing a pizza counts as a third strike after being caught twice in possession of drugs. This is utterly ridiculous. White-collar crime is not the reason the jails are full!
● I forgot to add that the “Initial Rescission Of 78 Harmful Executive Orders” includes the rescission of this rescission that Biden has signed too late: “The Presidential Memorandum of January 14, 2025 (Certification of Rescission of Cuba’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism).” So Cuba is again considered a state sponsor of terrorism, as designated on January 12, 2021, in the last days of Trump’s first presidency.
Among the best summaries I have seen out there!
The $500 Billion dollars investment for 4 yrs is perplexing! That is some money for something most predict is sort of a bubble already. That is twice (in today’s dollar) that the US invested to overcome the Soviets in getting to the moom first!! At least, the moon was a objective goal… what is the goal for those $500B?? Ironically, China launched the same week Deepseek (and Open Sourced) at only 3% of the cost of OpenAI… I see China in those 4 yrs too coming with a better AI solutions with “only” $15B… an open sourced to screw Washington DC! Of course, US, like it does with wars, the goal has been to win them, but to profit from them and for that, many in the US are going to rank billions these coming years!
I am currently using DeepSeek as an alternative to the others (ChatGPT, Mistral, rarely Perplexity, Copilot, Claude, and never Gemini). At times, it’s more detailed than ChatGPT when I need it to be detailed, so I call it a success.
● Trump signed a new batch of executive orders on Jan. 23, including an executive order to declassify records relating to the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
● A federal district court judge in Seattle, John C. Coughenour, temporarily blocked for 14 days Trump’s executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship. There will be a further briefing on a preliminary injunction to permanently block the executive order while the case proceeds.
● A Republican House member, Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, introduced a resolution (PDF) to amend the U.S. Constitution to allow President Donald Trump — and any other future president — to be elected to serve a third term. This is supposed to amend the 22nd Amendment, proposed in 1947 and ratified in 1951, and meant to prevent a repeat of President Franklin Roosevelt’s unprecedented election to four terms in office.
Here’s nice scenario:
● Trump has finally shown that he’s of no help to solving the Palestinian problem. As reported by AP (Euronews, NPR), wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more refugees and “just clean out” Gaza!
BTW, There is a ceasefire in Gaza – but war in the West Bank could just be beginning.
What’s not to love in Netanyahu?
● In other news, Trump insisted he was serious in his determination to take over Greenland in a fiery telephone call with Denmark’s prime minister.
“just clean out” Gaza may have two meanings… of its original inhabitants or of rubble. After the infamous comments, Trump said that it may be either a temporary or long term solution… signaling he may meant cleaning of people. Whatever he meant, Israel would make sure Palestinians will never return. Of course, Trump is an ignorant and he does not know the value of what that land represent for Palestinians… We, Europeans, would had long ago had moved out completely if we were bombed as Gazans were.
People that try to read Trump I see them divided… he does give contradictory messages. Appoints people very pro Zionism but them post a Prof. John Mearsheimer video on how Israel uses the US for its wars. I don’t know if the tactic is to confuse or he is confused himself; after all, he comes from the entertainment world.
After predicting Trump’s win in 2016, as he descended from a mall escalator, I think he is not the messiah many here were looking for. The Establishment does not trust him and wanted him out, but not because he is a threat to them, but because his tantrums antagonize too many people (and potentially leaders) to the Establishment abroad. Trump, however, has one genuine one aspect on him, he does dislike wars, not small conflicts, but large wars that brings tens of American coffins from abroad, and for me, that is is a big departure from the almost all previous presidents here.
Now, what Trump needs good advisors, unlike what he got in his first term that operated completely hidden from him, and even ignoring him. Choosing Zionist, but otherwise reasonable Tulsi Gabbard as the U.S. intelligence chief may be a good change for once, if she gets confirmed, that is. Trump may get some good daily global intel briefings with her… of course, she may had been playing all of us all along too… The Global Establishment is good at vetting these positions of power years ahead of hatching them.
If the neighboring countries are supposed to host the entire population of Gaza, then yes, “of its original inhabitants”! The fact that he unblocked the shipments of weapons to Israel is telling. “Because they bought them.” OK, right, but…
I’m not sure that I trust Tulsi Gabbard. I don’t see her as having a coherent view of the world. But again, who do I trust?
True… again… missed messages. Resumed shipments of the only weapons Biden halted (after making sure Israel had enough stock piles) of 2000lbs bombs but he also brought ceasefire that Biden never even considered… and Netanyahu did not come to the ceremony… who orchestrated that is a mystery, but still telling that relationship is not as strong as it appeared.
Then, what is happening in West Bank is appalling… so it is the troops in south Lebanon, but Trump may well not even been aware of it. Jury still out for me. No holding much hope though.
● With all of Trump’s faults, here’s what bad faith and maliciousness can some wokists exhibit: After his executive order on sex, is Trump legally the first female president? Arwa Mahdawi, from the Guardian, rightfully deserves the title of Stupid Cunt of the Month:
She’s not alone in this madness; she mentions “a flurry of commentary this week.” What are these mentally defective individuals basing their nonsense on? On the executive order I mentioned, which includes the following definitions:
These definitions might make sense later in life, when ovules or spermatozoids are produced, but not at birth. In practice, in most jurisdictions, the legal assignment of sex at birth is typically based on observable physical characteristics, particularly the appearance of external genitalia. If a newborn has a penis, they are usually assigned as male; if they do not, they are typically assigned as female. In cases of ambiguous genitalia, a sex is assigned based primarily on visible physical traits: the presence of a penis tends to lead to a male assignment, while its absence (or the presence of a clitoris) often leads to a female assignment. Some jurisdictions allow for a third option (intersex, X, or non-binary) or allow for a delay in legal sex assignment; either way, such individuals might later in life seek to change their legal sex, with or without a medical intervention.
Trimp’s definitions are not meant to be applied at birth, but as a general definition on what “Female” and “Male” are supposed to mean. Biologically, they correspond to the reality.
Not so for Arwa Mahdawi and her gang:
I literally don’t understand what twisted interpretation have such individuals given to “the large reproductive cell.”
But let’s move on:
To learn that now “most scientists” are mentally insane and woke is disheartening. What scientists to trust these days? The dead ones?
Of course, there is always Jordan B. Peterson to stand by common sense and genetics. And he’s flawed, too; but I’ll leave this for another time.
● How about this? Brazil slams US after dozens of deportees arrive handcuffed:
Let’s also highlight this part:
With all this in mind, yes, it’s disrespectful towards the rights of any human being. But such things happened in the past, and not only in connection to the United States.
That’s because, indeed, illegal immigrants are legally criminals. This crime is a very peculiar one, because illegally crossing a border is a one-time crime that can benefit from a statute of limitations (called “prescription” in other languages). But an “undocumented” immigrant is someone who continuously commits a crime each and every day they reside without a legal status in the respective country. From this standpoint, no statute of limitation can apply. Morally, the issue is complex, though.
One could argue that illegal immigrants who have resided in the US for decades should be granted legal status. After all, not only have they managed to “stay under the radar” for so many years, but most of them have worked and created value while not fully benefiting of an employee’s rights (still, they paid the sales tax on their purchases).
But legalizing millions of “undocumented” would be seen as an incentive to break the immigration law, and it would jeopardize the border security. So it shouldn’t happen. This would also make normal people—those who observe the laws and regulations—look like suckers. Not the right message, eh?
Looking into the press report, what the fuck were doing “Edgar Da Silva Moura, a 31-year-old computer technician” and “Luis Antonio Rodrigues Santos, a 21-year-old freelancer” in the United States? I mean, without having the legal right to be there?
Such occurrences should be a warning to everyone that the US is not the Land of Cockaigne, and that breaking the law makes one a criminal.
● ¡Ay, ay, ay, caramba, the Trump circus is in full performance! The BBC:
Reuters:
I suppose Argentina’s Javier Milei is Trump’s only fan in Latin America.
World Emperor DJ Trump, on Truth Social:
I won’t comment on the dismantling of USAID and moving it under the State Department, except that it’s utterly stupid, and even unconstitutional. The United States Agency for International Development was initially created through an Executive Order by JFK in 1961. However, its operations and governance are now largely determined by laws passed by the US Congress. Given this legislative oversight, any significant changes to the agency, including its dissolution, would require congressional action, typically through the passage of new legislation. Also, the Administrator of USAID is a position that requires Senate confirmation. Of course, 53% of the Senate is Republican, but still. An Executive Order does not suffice to shut down the USAID. Finally, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has no authority in the matter either. With Musk in the US Government, need one fear Putin or Xi? The Evil is inside!
But the stupid trade war with Mexico, Canada, Columbia, China, and soon the EU, is the most stupid trade war I’ve ever seen. Let’s say that the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are paused for now, but those on China went into effect, and China retaliated, albeit modestly: 15% on coal and LNG and 10% on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement automobiles, and pickup trucks.
I have to admit that I’m a radical who would have liked to see a 300% tariff on everything made in China, but this is a practical impossibility for two reasons:
1. China is a member of the WTO. So are the US, the EU, and so on. There are rules.
2. We’re living in a globalized economy that doesn’t mean just international trade. It means global outsourcing. It means that the fact that a Western country imports something from China is not an option that could be reversed overnight. We import from China because we don’t manufacture those products anymore; when we do, it’s only a small fraction of what we need. 99.99% of the computers for civilian use are made in China, even if some components (CPUs, memory, storage) might be imported to China for that purpose. A majority of crappy supermarket items are made in China. Penalizing China is penalizing us!
Even the tariffs on Mexico are beyond stupid. The integration of the two economies makes it that some products or their components cross the US-Mexico border 3–4 times before the final product is released from a factory in Mexico or the US. So tariffs affect both imported products and products with the final assembly in the US.
Back to China, the US is a major importer of products made in China, the same way its trade balance with the EU favors the EU. Simply put, the world isn’t importing that much from the US, bar LNG and soy. Dickhead Drumpf is pleased with the UK for the simple reason that the US-UK trade balance is pretty much even.
Note that China didn’t impose tariffs on soy from the US. And it has the choice of getting part of its energy requirements from elsewhere, including Russia.
But any tariffs that China established in retaliation are going to affect literally everyone on planet Earth.
They will affect China, because if China decides to keep importing US goods, including energy, they’ll be more expensive to the Chinese manufacturers, which means the products made in China will be more expensive. (Unless the Chinese government turns part of the collected customs duties to subsidies for the internal manufacturers, which is what I would do if I were Xi.)
But a large part of China’s production is exported. Strangely enough, it’s only 20% of the GDP, although it used to be up to 40% in the past. Still, we, the rest of the world, will have those products at higher prices. Do we really have the choice of not importing them? Find me a single HP, Dell, ASUS, Acer, MSI, or Lenovo computer that’s not “Made in China.” Samsung’s laptops are only available in some countries.
I’m not sure what Trump is trying to do, but the result will be quite the opposite of what he believes it to be.
If you want to return the manufacturing to the US, you first have to provide incentives to establishing factories in the US, not deterrents from importing. And it would take quite some time.
It’s easier to break than it is to build, and this Administration is the best proof of it, if there was still a need to prove anything.
Trump signed an Executive Order to withdraw (again) from the United Nations Human Rights Council and to continue a halt to funding for the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA. I couldn’t find it on WhiteHouse.gov, but the photo is clear enough: “Executive Order withdrawing the United States from, and ending funding to certain United Nations organizations and reviewing United States support to all international organizations.”
WTF.
Then, at the White House, Bibi with a red tie, Donald with a light blue tie. Fuck.
On the laughable side, what is this “Uncategorized” document supposed to mean? At USAID, Waste and Abuse Runs Deep. An alternative to Truth Social? Note that 5 of the 12 links go to Daily Mail and one to Breitbart! There’s only one that goes to an archived version of USAID, and it refers to “$6 million in bilateral assistance for Egypt.” No credible sources are given for:
Can’t the US Administration find any official USAID document about such assistance?!
Trump, Netanyahu, Putin: three faces of the imposture.
Drumpf’s piss plan in Gaza.
Ending the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) shit (and the non-binary madness) was the only truly positive action taken by Trump 2.0.
In the wake of the plane-helo collision, I looked into the Air Traffic Control shortage, and this is what I found:
Jan. 30, 2024: The FAA’s Hiring Scandal: A Quick Overview
TL;DR: As early as in 2000, the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE) said that the FAA was “the least diverse agency within the executive branch of the federal government.” Since 2014, they were “only concerned” with the employment of “African-Americans, women … and other minorities. … This is to minimize competition.”
Feb. 4, 2025: The Full Story of the FAA’s Hiring Scandal