Trump's first executive orders point to his goals

Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on his inauguration day Monday. It wasn't just the high number that was unusual ― Trump signed several presidential edicts at a red desk at Capitol One Arena in front of tens of thousands of cheering fans. The crowd of Trump supporters had gathered at the venue to watch a livestream of the inauguration and celebrate their president in person afterwards.

Normally, the incoming US president signs executive orders at the Oval Office in the White House, which Trump did later in the day with more edicts.

Executive orders are directives the president issues without having to consult Congress, which is in charge of passing regular laws. The president can circumvent the House and the Senate by issuing his own instructions directly to federal officials.

"Executive orders set the framework for action by [federal] agencies," Michelle Egan, professor of politics, governance and economics at the American University in Washington D.C., told DW via email.

Executive orders can, however, be challenged in court ― and can be reversed by the next president. Signing these presidential edicts has "become an increasingly important form of governance, but also easily overturned," Egan said.

Trump signed orders at the traditional location: The Oval Office at the White HouseImage: Evan Vucci/AP Photo/picture alliance

What executive orders did Donald Trump sign on day one?

The first executive order Trump signed, with a Sharpie, as the 47th president of the United States, was to rescind 78 regulations established by his predecessor Joe Biden. Other directives signed at Capitol One Arena included an order to all federal departments and agencies to address the cost-of-living crisis, as well as an order to stop government censorship.

He also signed an executive order stating that the US is withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement and, later at the White House, a directive indicating the US would withdraw from the World Health Organization.

"Many Trump voters are skeptical of political organizations and institutions, so we saw some early bones thrown to that group" with the two major withdrawals, J. Miles Coleman, election analyst with the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told DW.

One of Trump's biggest campaign topics, immigration, was also part of the slew of day one executive orders. The president declared a national emergency at the US border with Mexico, so that the government could take control of what Trump says is a disastrous situation and stop the "invasion" of undocumented immigrants he said occurred under Biden's presidency.

Another big talking point during Trump's campaign, LGBTQ+ rights issues, was on the list of directives he signed on Monday as well. The order stated that according to US policy, there would only be two genders, male and female, with a nonbinary or diverse option no longer in existence. The order directed federal agencies to revoke policies issued under President Biden that had made it easier for transgender people to update their gender markers on federal identification.

What do Trump's directives mean for the US?

The executive orders Trump signed on his very first day in office show the president's priorities.

"I do think these [culture war] issues will be prominent in the early days of the new administration and in the early days of the new Congress," Craig Saperstein, a partner at the public policy practice of international law firm Pillsbury, told DW.

At the same time, not all of Trump's day one executive orders spell immediate change for the country. The withdrawal from the World Health Organization, for example, will take one year to go into effect. And it will take a while before Americans will feel consequences of some of the other orders as well, says Saperstein's fellow government law expert Aimee Ghosh.

Trump may sign an order declaring a national emergency, but the policies that he would like to see implemented through that will have to go through a several-step process at the federal agencies in charge, Ghosh explains.

"The details of how all of this is going to be unrolled are really important, because a lot can change in term of who's impacted, the timing, and whether there are exceptions," Ghosh, who's also a partner at Pillsbury, told DW. "Some things may happen immediately on day one, but a lot of the executive orders [Trump signed] are going to go through a period of study, review and other administrative procedures."

Trump signs pardons for January 6 rioters

In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump also signed orders to pardon almost all 1,600 defendants who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the transfer of power on January 6, 2021. Earlier in the night at Capitol One Arena, he had already spoken of his plans to pardon those whom he calls the "January 6 hostages."

Donald Trump had invited Israelis whose family members had been taken hostage by Hamas to stand behind himImage: Evan Vucci/AP Photo/picture alliance

Trump made those remarks standing in front of Israelis whose family members had been taken hostage by terror organization Hamas while being home with their loved ones or celebrating at a music festival during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The Americans Trump has repeatedly referred to as "J6 hostages" on the other hand include hundreds of defendants who have admitted to their January 6 criminal offenses under oath, and others who have been convicted by either a judge or a jury.

Seeing a US president sign large numbers of pardons on his first day in office is a rare sight.

"Pardons are typically thought of as something that happens towards the end of an administration," Ghosh said. "But for President Trump, if you've been paying attention to the campaign and to everything that's been said since the election, it's not surprising that pardons [were] going to be part of the day one agenda. Because it was a really big part of his rationale of why he was running for office again."

Edited by: John Silk