Inaugural drama: On the 47th President of the U.S.
Donald Trump is living up to his threats and promises
Republican Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th President of the U.S. after his decisive victory in the November 2024 election. He marked the start of his second innings with a slew of executive orders, actions and directives that set the tenor for his administration’s policy agenda over the four years. Significant among these are the nearly 1,600 pardons issued to those prosecuted for their role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, the U.S.’s exit from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization, the ending of birthright citizenship, protected under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, for children of undocumented migrants and those on temporary visas, a proposed 100% tariff on BRICS nations — both of which could impact Indians considerably — and 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico from February 1, a declaration of national emergency on the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico, and reversing 78 executive orders and memoranda of his predecessor, Joe Biden. Striking optics of Mr. Trump’s swearing-in was the positioning of tech bosses Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg, prompting speculation on whether the incoming administration would have shades of a de facto “oligarchy”; and Mr. Musk, who is heading the new government’s efforts to reduce waste and inefficiencies, giving a crowd what appeared to resemble a Nazi salute. As it stands, however, some, if not most, of these executive orders will face legal challenges — the attempted reading down of the 14th Amendment has already been challenged in court.
The note that the second Trump administration has struck in terms of its policy agenda appears to be innately hostile to the progressive agenda of the Democrats. To a considerable extent, that is to be expected, as the two parties diverge significantly on matters such as the economy, immigration and reproductive rights. Yet, previous Republican governments have often sought to build bridges with Democratic colleagues in Congress and at the State level, to find bipartisan consensus in key policy areas rather than risk deadlock and internecine conflicts over policy design and resource allocation. In this instance, however, the federal government trifecta and a sympathetic Supreme Court stacked with conservatives might mean that the Trump team needs to rely even less on support from across the aisle than it did during the Trump first term. Further, Mr. Trump appears to be emboldened by the breadth of his election victory to allow unconventional, even bizarre, policy priorities to enter the proposed agenda, including ideas such as the takeover of the Panama Canal, the de-recognition of transgender rights, threatening Denmark with a plan to takeover Greenland, and the prospect of travel bans for certain countries. Perhaps America is getting what it voted for.