What The Media Missed

Within hours of his Inauguration, President Donald Trump set out to fulfill a number of his campaign promises, issuing a spate of presidential actions on everything from the border to federal building architecture. The White House’s website lists 46 presidential actions on Jan. 20. The first four were administration staffing announcements—Trump’s Cabinet and sub-cabinet nominations as well as his designations of acting Cabinet and Cabinet-level leaders and chairs of various commissions.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all U. S. foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals. It was not immediately clear how much assistance would initially be affected by the Monday order as funding for many programs has already been appropriated by Congress and is obligated to be spent, if not already spent. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The order, among many Trump signed on his first day back in office, said the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and “serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.” Read More: Breaking Down All of Trump’s Day 1 Presidential Actions Consequently, Trump declared that “no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing last week that “every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: “Does it make America safer?

Every four years presidential candidates barnstorm the country promising sweeping change “on day one.” These grandiose pledges feed a public craving for immediate action, and reinforce an “I alone can fix it” mentality that now defines modern presidencies. While governing by pen may provide quick wins for a public frustrated by the slowness of the swamp, this president-centric approach to governing distorts the constitutional limits of the office, fosters policy instability, and undermines the collaborative spirit of our representative democracy. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Donald Trump, returning to the White House after a first term that saw him issue 220 executive orders, has guaranteed to continue the trend of bold, unilateral action.

“Deportation raids that were set to begin in at least one sanctuary city the day after President Trump’s inauguration are on hold for now after an effort to keep the element of surprise,” the New York Post reports. Said Trump aide Stephen Miller on X: “All illegal aliens seeking entry into the United States should turn back now.

John Harris: “In one light, it was all quite familiar. But the second occasion of Trump taking the oath of office also put him in an entirely new light. For the first time, he is holding power under circumstances in which reasonable people cannot deny a basic fact: He is the greatest American figure of his era.” “Let’s quickly exhale: Great in this context is not about a subjective debate over whether he is a singularly righteous leader or a singularly menacing one.

When Senator John Fetterman got word that President-elect Donald Trump wanted to meet, the Pennsylvania Democrat didn’t have to think it over too long. Even though Trump had savaged Fetterman during the 2022 campaign—going so far as to allege he had an affinity for cocaine, heroin, crystal meth, and fentanyl—Fetterman reasoned that he represents all Pennsylvanians, including the 3.5 million who had just voted for Trump. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “If the President invites you to have a conversation and to engage, I’m not sure why anybody would decide not to,” Fetterman tells TIME.