President Trump took the first step toward rolling back protections for transgender people on Monday, signing an executive orderthat the federal government would only recognize two sexes, male and female.
Why it matters: Trump made attacks on transgender individuals central to his 2024 campaign, and by issuing the executive order on his first day in office, signaled the importance of the issue in his second term.
The executive order could have wide-reaching implications for gender-affirming care and recognition of trans people in a variety of spaces.
It could also signal a first step toward banning transgender athletes from taking part in women's sports. The move would amount to "removing protections from some of our most vulnerable students," Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, told Axios ahead of the decision.
Driving the news: Trump's executive order states that only two sexes will be recognized by the federal government, "male and female."
As such, only those two sexes will be recognized for official documents such as passports and visas.
"'Sex' is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of 'gender identity,'" the order states.
The executive order aims to prohibit taxpayer funds from being used for gender-affirming care and to prevent transgender women from being held in women's prisons or detention centers.
State of play: An incoming White House official previewed the executive order on a call with reporters Monday ahead of Trump's inauguration, saying it was part of Trump's aim of "restoring sanity" in the U.S.
The executive order is about "defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government," the official said.
Zoom out: Even before he took office, trans rights advocates vowed to fight Trump's rollback of trans rights.
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the biggest LGBTQ political lobbying in the U.S., said in a statement the HRC refused to back down or be intimidated.
"We are not going anywhere, and we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything we've got," Robinson added.
Ash Orr, a spokesperson for Advocates for Trans Equality, told AP the group would persevere and "continue in our work and we're going to continue to protect trans rights throughout the country."
State of play: Trump has repeatedly railed about trans athletes competing in women's and girls' sports while on the campaign trail.
At a Fox News town hall in October, Trump said, "We're not going to let it happen ... we absolutely stop it. You can't have it," when asked about how he would handle "the transgender issue" in women's sports.
Zoom out: LGBTQ+ advocates long warned that the new Trump administration would attempt to undo the Biden administration's efforts to expand protections for LGBTQ+ students under Title IX.
Those efforts faced legal hurdles even before Trump re-entered office.
In December, the Education Department withdrew a proposal to expand Title IX protections for trans student-athletes in the face of multiple lawsuit threats.
In early January, a federal judge rejected rules to broaden the definition of sex discrimination under Title IX in order to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Why it matters: Rubio will be instrumental in making good on many of Trump's grandest campaign promises — from ending the war in Ukraine to countering China's growing influence to implementing a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted unanimously earlier Monday to recommend Rubio's confirmation, and Democrats cleared the way for an expedited process.
It's a resounding show of Senate bipartisanship for one of their own.
Zoom in: The 53-year-old Floridian has served in the Senate since 2011. He ran for president in 2016 before dropping out and endorsing Trump. He was on Trump's 2024 vice presidential shortlist.
Rubio, who would be the first Latino secretary of state, opposes normalizing relations with Cuba and is a noted China hawk.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped the state's attorney general, Ashley Moody, to replace Rubio in the Senate, as Axios first reported.
Zoom out: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which will enter into its fourth year next month, will be one of the Trump administration's greatest foreign policy challenges.
Trump and his allies have criticized how the Biden administration has handled the conflict. The GOP has been fractured in the past year over whether the U.S. should continue sending aid to Ukraine.
Rubio testified last week that both Russia and Ukraine need to make concessions to end the conflict.
Rubio voted against $95 billion in Ukraine aid in April, and has called for Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war with Russia — even if that means Russia keeps some of the territory from the invasion.
Why it matters: The moves amount to policy whiplash for the energy industry, segments of which had chafed under former President Biden's policies aimed at igniting the renewable sector.
Zoom in: The executive orders include a declaration of a "national energy emergency" aimed at increasing domestic energy production and lowering costs to the consumer.
This is partly in response to the rapid AI-related growth of data centers and their energy needs, which the administration views through a national security lens.
U.S. power demand is rising quickly after staying largely flat for the last 15 years.
One of Trump's initial orders formally rescinds a series of Biden moves that stitched climate and environmental justice throughout federal agency decision-making, going well beyond energy and resource agencies.
This includes a repeal of the Biden administration's Justice 40 Initiative and a 2021 order that set aggressive federal procurement targets for EVs, clean power, low-carbon buildings and more.
Trump also moved ahead with rolling back EPA tailpipe emissions rules that Republicans have characterized as an effective requirement for consumers to buy electric vehicles.
He also signed an order that attempts to rescind Biden's formal withdrawal of East Coast, West Coast and major offshore Alaskan Arctic areas from drilling.
But there's no guarantee producers have much appetite for exploring these regions, and formally selling drilling rights and enabling development would be a complicated bureaucratic and litigious process.
Other actions include seeking to pause funds from being spent under the Biden climate law, and shifting appliance energy efficiency standards back to Trump's first term, before Biden made them more stringent.
Threat level: Trump's attempted reversal of Biden-era policies could boost U.S. greenhouse gas emissions — or at least slow down projected reductions.
Reality check: Trump's "dominance" agenda will also confront market and process barriers — and plenty of litigation.
U.S. oil output is already at record levels. Tepid global demand growth makes producers in Texas and elsewhere unlikely to flood the market.
Gasoline and diesel costs are tethered to oil prices set on global markets, while electricity costs tend to be highly regional and dependent on weather and other forces.
Executive orders can make some instant policy. Often they're a symbolic opening of the long, legally fraught bureaucratic slog of formally unwinding agency rules and policies.
Between the lines: Presidents can use emergency authorities to redirect resources and push the private sector to boost or maintain critical supplies.
However, it's likely that the declaration itself will be challenged in court. And its provisions are likely to run into thorny legal issues given that state and regional authorities typically oversee power plant planning and permitting.
The good news for those companies extends beyond the energy orders.
Trump's holding off for now on sweeping new tariffs that execs fear could raise project costs — and spur retaliation from buyers of U.S. exports.
But it may be a temporary reprieve, with Trump instead ordering reviews of trade and currency imbalances.
What they're saying: "By fully harnessing our nation's abundant oil and natural gas resources, we can restore American energy dominance, drive economic prosperity and secure U.S. leadership on the global stage," Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement.
But Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters said in a separate statement: "It is crystal clear that his administration is all in to pad Big Oil Billionaire profits at the expense of our air, water, lands, climate, health, pocketbooks, and jobs."
The bottom line: The energy-related executive orders will yield some short-term actions on the ground.
But it's their longer, topsy-turvy road to implementation that will be crucial to accomplishing the administration's goals.
President Trump has signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. — a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and affirmed by the Supreme Court more than 125 years ago.
Why it matters: Trump is acting on a once-fringe belief that U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants have no right to U.S. citizenship and are part of a conspiracy (rooted in racism) to replace white Americans.
The big picture: The executive order is expected to face immediate legal challenges from state attorneys general since it conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedentand the 14th Amendment — with the AGs of California and New York among those indicating they would do so.
Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment was passed to give nearly emancipated and formerly enslaved Black Americans U.S. citizenship.
"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 reads.
Zoom in: Trump signed the order on Monday, just hours after taking office.
Reality check: Thanks to the landmark Wong Kim Ark case, the U.S. has since 1898 recognized that anyone born on United States soil is a citizen.
The case established the Birthright Citizenship clause and led to the dramatic demographic transformation of the U.S.
What they're saying: California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Axios the state will immediately challenge the executive order in federal court.
"[Trump] can't do it," Bonta said. "He can't undermine it with executive authority. That is not how the law works. It's a constitutional right."
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in an emailed statement the executive order "is nothing but an attempt to sow division and fear, but we are prepared to fight back with the full force of the law to uphold the integrity of our Constitution."
Flashback: San Francisco-born Wong Kim Ark returned to the city of his birth in 1895 after visiting family in China but was refused re-entry.
John Wise, an openly anti-Chinese bigot and the collector of customs in San Francisco who controlled immigration into the port, wanted a test case that would deny U.S. citizenship to ethnic Chinese residents.
But Wong fought his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled on March 28, 1898, that the 14th Amendment guaranteed U.S. citizenship to Wong and any other person born on U.S. soil.
Zoom out: Birthright Citizenship has resulted in major racial and ethnic shifts in the nation's demographic as more immigrants from Latin America and Asia came to the U.S. following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
The U.S. was around 85% white in 1965, according to various estimates.
The nation is expected to be a "majority-minority" by the 2040s.
Yes, but: That demographic changed has fueled a decades-old conspiracy theory, once only held by racists, called "white replacement theory."
"White replacement theory" posits the existence of a plot to change America's racial composition by methodically enacting policies that reduce white Americans' political power.
The conspiracy theories encompass strains of anti-Semitism as well as racism and anti-immigrant sentiment.
Trump has repeated the theory and said that immigrants today are "poisoning the blood of our country," language echoing the rhetoric of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler.
Of note:Military bases are not considered "U.S. soil" for citizenship purposes, but a child is a U.S. citizen if born abroad and both parents are U.S. citizens.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The big picture: Senate Democrats helped the Laken Riley Act prevail, with 10 voting to break a filibuster last week.
The party is still trying to find its footing on immigration and the border after it lost the White House and both chambers of Congress in last year's election.
Between the lines: The Senate passed two amendments to the bill over the past week, including one Monday night before the vote.
One brought by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) requires ICE to detain undocumented immigrants who attack law enforcement.
Another brought by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) adds those who commit crimes resulting in death or bodily injury.
Vivek Ramaswamy will leave the Trump administration's new Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, to run for Ohio governor multipleoutletsreported on Monday.
The big picture: The U.S. is the WHO's top donor, contributing about $130 million per year to help cover its global health preparedness and response, along with efforts to address HIV, tuberculosis, and childhood vaccination, per Devex.
Trump started the process to withdraw from WHO during his first term, claiming the agency failed badly responding to COVID-19 and had not demonstrated its independence from China.
However, then-President Biden reversed it on his first day in office.
Driving the news: Monday's executive order states that the U.S. issued a notice about its withdrawal in 2020 "due to the organization's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic ... 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."
Additionally, "the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries' assessed payments," it continues, noting China pays less despite having a larger population.
Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very, very much. Vice President Vance. Speaker Johnson. Senator Thune. Chief Justice Roberts. Justices of the United States Supreme Court. President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and my fellow citizens, the golden age of America begins right now.
From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. During every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first.
Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end. And our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free. America will soon be greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before.
I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country, sunlight is pouring over the entire world, and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before. But first, we must be honest about the challenges we face. While they are plentiful, they will be annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing in the United States of America.
As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair. We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad. It fails to protect our magnificent law-abiding American citizens, but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world.
We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders but refuses to defend American borders, or, more importantly, its own people. Our country can no longer give basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina. Been treated so badly. And other states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago.
Or more recently, Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn. From weeks ago, without even a token of defense, they're raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now. They don't have a home any longer. That's interesting.
But we can't let this happen. Everyone is unable to do anything about it. That's going to change. We have a public health system that does not deliver in times of disaster, yet more money is spent on it than any country anywhere in the world. And we have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves in many cases, to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them. All of this will change starting today, and it will change very quickly.
My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed, their freedom. From this moment on, America's decline is over.
Our liberties and our nation's glorious destiny will no longer be denied. And we will immediately restore the integrity, competency and loyalty of America's government.
Over the past eight years I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history. And I have learned a lot along the way. The journey to reclaim our Republic has not been an easy one, that I can tell you. Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom, and indeed, to take my life.
Just a few months ago, in that beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin's bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
That is why each day, under our administration of American patriots, we will be working to meet every crisis with dignity and power and strength. We will move with purpose and speed to bring back hope, prosperity, safety and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed. For American citizens, Jan. 20, 2025, is Liberation Day.
It is my hope that our recent presidential election will be remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country. As our victory showed, the entire nation is rapidly unifying behind our agenda, with dramatic increases in support from virtually every element of our society: young and old, men and women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, urban, suburban, rural, and very importantly, we had a powerful win in all seven swing states, and the popular vote we won by millions of people.
To the Black and Hispanic communities, I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote. We set records and I will not forget it. I've heard your voices in the campaign and I look forward to working with you in the years to come. Today is Martin Luther King Day and his honor, this will be a great honor. But in his honor we will strive together to make his dream a reality. We will make his dream come true.
National unity is now returning to America, and confidence and pride is soaring like never before. In everything we do, my administration will be inspired by a strong pursuit of excellence and unrelenting success. We will not forget our country, we will not forget our constitution, and we will not forget our God. Can't do that.
Today I will sign a series of historic executive orders. With these actions we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It's all about common sense.
First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. We will reinstate my Remain in Mexico policy. I will end the practice of catch and release. And I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.
Under the orders I signed today, we will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gang criminal networks, bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities.
As commander in chief I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Next I will direct all members of my cabinet to marshal the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices. The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices. That is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.
America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and 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. We're going to use it.
We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again, right to the top, and export American energy all over the world.
We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it. With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers.
In other words, you'll be able to buy the car of your choice. We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago. And thank you to the autoworkers of our nation for your inspiring vote of confidence. We did tremendously with their vote.
I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens. For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service, to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury, coming from foreign sources.
The American dream will soon be back and thriving like never before. To restore competence and effectiveness to our federal government, my administration will establish the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency.
After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.
Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents, something I know something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again. Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law. And we are going to bring law and order back to our cities.
This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based. As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.
This week, I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the Covid vaccine mandate, with full back pay. And I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty. It's going to end immediately. Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission: defeating America's enemies.
Like in 2017, we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.
My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That's what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier. I'm pleased to say that as of yesterday, one day before I assumed office, the hostages in the Middle East are coming back home to their families. Thank you.
America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on Earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world. A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. And we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs.
President McKinley made our country very rich, through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did, including the Panama Canal, which has foolishly been given to the country of Panama after the United States. The United States — I mean, think of this — spent more money than ever spent on a project before and lost 38,000 lives in the building of the Panama Canal. We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made. And Panama's promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated.
American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape, or form. And that includes the United States Navy. And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we're taking it back.
Above all, my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history's greatest civilization. So as we liberate our nation, we will lead it to new heights of victory and success. We will not be deterred. Together we will end the chronic disease epidemic and keep our children safe, healthy and disease-free.
The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons. And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.
Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation. And right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other. There's no nation like our nation. Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts. The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls. Our American ancestors turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic of the most extraordinary citizens on Earth. No one comes close.
Americans pushed thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness. They crossed deserts, scaled mountains, braved untold dangers, won the Wild West, ended slavery, rescued millions from tyranny, lifted billions from poverty, harnessed electricity, split the atom, launched mankind into the heavens and put the universe of human knowledge into the palm of the human hand. If we work together, there is nothing we cannot do and no dream we cannot achieve.
Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback. But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken.
I stand before you now as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do. In America, the impossible is what we do best.
From New York to Los Angeles, from Philadelphia to Phoenix, from Chicago to Miami, from Houston to right here in Washington, D.C., our country was forged and built by the generations of patriots who gave everything they had for our rights and for our freedom. They were farmers and soldiers, cowboys and factory workers, steel workers and coal miners, police officers and pioneers who pushed onward, marched forward and let no obstacle defeat their spirit or their pride.
Together they laid down the railroads, raised up the skyscrapers, built great highways, won two world wars, defeated fascism and communism, and triumphed over every single challenge that they faced. After all we have been through together, we stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history. With your help, we will restore American promise and we will rebuild the nation that we love, and we love it so much.
We are one people, one family and one glorious nation under God. So to every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for their future, I am with you, I will fight for you and I will win for you. We are going to win like never before. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
In recent years our nation has suffered greatly. But we are going to bring it back and make it great again, greater than ever before. We will be a nation like no other, full of compassion, courage and exceptionalism. Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable.
America will be respected again and admired again, including by people of religion, faith and good will. We will be prosperous, we will be proud, we will be strong and we will win like never before. We will not be conquered, we will not be intimidated, we will not be broken and we will not fail. From this day on, the United States of America will be a free, sovereign and independent nation.
We will stand bravely, we will live proudly, we will dream boldly, and nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans. The future's ours. And our golden age has just begun. Thank you, God bless America, thank you all.
Think of the U.S. government as a once-dominant, lean, high-flying company that grew too big, too bloated, too bureaucratic, too unimaginative.
It's Kodak or Circuit City — a dominant player caught napping amid an obvious technological transformation.
Why it matters: This snooze-and-lose reality is partly driving the governing and economic pace, tone and policies of President Trump's White House, officials tell us.
A theory that binds Trump with leading innovators, especially Elon Musk, is that you can bring tech and business talent and techniques together to take a wrecking ball to broken ideas and/or processes or entire agencies.
This isn't Trump's instinctual motivation, aides say. He wants a strong stock market, slower inflation, low joblessness, the holy trinity of economic indicators.
But Musk, Marc Andreessen and a growing chorus of entrepreneurs and tech CEOs are fusing their "founder mode" mentality with Trump's desire for fast growth.
You have Silicon Valley's best and brightest battling for bigger roles in reshaping government. Almost every CEO wants a slice of the action.
The optimistic scenario for the Trump presidency: It'll jar lawmakers and the public into realizing how a slow, bloated, bureaucratic government handcuffs and hurts America in the vital race for AI, new energy sources, space and overall growth.
Reality check: Some of this is motivated by politics, some by genuine enthusiasm to serve, and some by naked self-interest. Government will help pick the winners and losers in chips, AI, energy, crypto, satellites and space. So, it would be CEO malpractice not to try to shape the outcome. A seat at the table could be worth billions.
Whatever the motivation, the genuine thesis is directionally correct: America's government is so vast, so complex, so indebted that it makes fast, smart growth exponentially more complicated.
Elon Musk arrives at the Capitol Rotunda for today's inauguration. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Whether you're a skeptic or fan, consider not what a policy wonk would do, but rather how a tech CEO would shake things up if their company was deep in debt and slow in execution.
Simplify, simplify, simplify. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who recently dined with Trump, loves to tell how his company rediscovered its mojo with a Year of Efficiency (2023) where he declared: "Leaner is better." Meta cut workforce, managerial layers, and decision-making obstacles — then went all-in on AI. The results were magical, he says.
Cut costs. The U.S. debt is too staggering to comprehend. It's $36 trillion — and grows $1 trillion every 100 days. Another way to look at it: America spends more on defense than the next 10 biggest nations — and yet we spend more on debt than defense! So cutting government, now or later, is unavoidable.
Bet big. You can't cut your way out of this crisis. The only palatable solution: explosive growth. Not 2% or 3%. Twice that. Marc Andreessen has argued publicly this rate of growth is possible if you stack government attention and staff correctly. The big bets would be on AI, space, new domestic energy sources, crypto, and U.S. businesses doing this work at home. GDP growth of 1% would amount to about $290 billion.
Break stuff. Musk bluntly warned before the election that big cuts and change in government inevitably cause "temporary pain." Politicians typically hate inflicting any pain on voters — hence, your deficits! But any business leader who shuts down products or lays off people knows it's the price of growth.
Ignore the whiners. What holds back CEOs and political leaders is the same thing: fear, fear of bad headlines or big revolts. But Trump's pain threshold is higher than anyone we've seen in public office. So you could see him enduring it if convinced it will juice his numbers. Musk is a living reminder that a lot of bad press does not equate to failure. Often, it's the opposite.
The other side: Robert Rubin, who was a co-senior partner at Goldman Sachs before becoming Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, wrote Friday in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that outsiders arriving in Washington need to "recognize how much they don't know about government and how different it can be from business." Rubin writes from experience that "government can't and shouldn't be run like a business."
"The best way to make a successful transition to the public sector is to do so with humility," Rubin concludes. "The alternative, in many cases, is to have humility thrust upon you."
President Trump signed an executive order on Monday granting a "full, complete and unconditional pardon" to the vast majority of Jan. 6 defendants charged with participating in the Capitol riot four years ago.
Why it matters: Trump made pardoning Jan. 6 rioters a key campaign pledge, repeatedly extolling them as "patriots" and "hostages" of the justice system and claiming they'd been treated unfairly.
It's a far cry from former President Biden's denouncement of the "violent insurrectionists" who threatened U.S. democracy in storming the Capitol.
Driving the news: Trump commuted the sentences of 14 defendants and issued pardons for all other "individuals convicted of offenses" connected to Jan. 6, according to the executive order.
"These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon, full pardon," Trump said from the Oval Office, as he signed a slew of other executive orders on his first night as president.
By the numbers: At least 1,583 people had been charged to date in connection with the insurrection, per Department of Justice data ahead of the Capitol riot's fourth anniversary.
More than 1,000 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.
The charges faced by the defendants have ranged from misdemeanors, like trespassing, to felony charges, like assaulting law enforcement officers or engaging in seditious conspiracy.
Zoom out: Pardoning insurrectionists convicted of crimes, including violent felonies, defies the GOP's image as the party of law and order. Future perpetrators of political violence could also expect to be met with clemency.
Since 2021, multiple criminal and congressional investigations have sought to sift through the events of the attack and Trump's role in it.
Trump was indicted in 2023 as part of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. After Trump won the 2024 election, the case was dismissed.
State of play: During the campaign and transition period, Trump repeatedly promised to quickly pursue pardons for Jan. 6 rioters upon assuming the presidency.
As recently as January, Trump vowed "major pardons" were coming for Jan. 6 defendants.
In 2022, before he announced another run for office, Trump publicly promised pardons and said the defendants were being treated unfairly.
Over the years, he gave limited details about how broad the potential pardons would be.
In an interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press" in December, Trump said there could be "some exceptions" for the pardons in cases where the defendant was "radical, crazy," but did not elaborate.
He also told Time magazine he would determine the pardons on a "case-by-case" basis, but that the "vast majority" of defendants "should not be in jail."
Zoom out: In pardoning Jan. 6 defendants convicted of crimes, Trump is testing the limits of public opinion.
A Washington Post-University of Maryland national poll released in December found that 66% of Americans opposed Trump's plan to issue pardons for the rioters.
Several federal judges have also opposed Trump's plan to issue pardons for the rioters.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee who has handled Jan. 6 cases, said in November that "blanket pardons for all January 6 defendants or anything close would be beyond frustrating and disappointing."
While sentencing a member of the Oath Keepers militia last month, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said that the prospect of the group's founder Stewart Rhodes receiving a pardon "is frightening and ought to be frightening to anyone who cares about democracy in this country."
Why it matters: On Day 1, Trump is following through on his promise to overhaul the federal government, which employs hundreds of thousands of people in the Washington region.
He also issued an order that essentially reinstates Schedule F, a move that could strip thousands of civil servants of their employment protections.
The big picture: Some of Trump's campaign rhetoric centered on reducing the federal government's footprint by firing "rogue bureaucrats and career politicians" and cutting government spending via the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk.
"Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome," Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who is stepping aside as DOGE co-lead, wrote last year in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.
State of play: The hiring freeze applies to all positions in the executive branch except for the military and other categories like national security, public safety and immigration enforcement, per the order.
No positions that were empty as of noon on Jan. 20 can be filled, and no new positions can be created.
Trump also directed department and agency heads to take steps to end remote work arrangements "as soon as practicable."
The fine print: The hiring freeze will not "adversely impact the provision of Social Security, Medicare, or Veterans' benefits," the order states.
That memorandum is set to expire in 90 days after DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) submit a plan to reduce the government's workforce.
An exception: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It'll remain in effect for the IRS until the Treasury Secretary, along with others, determines that "it is in the national interest to lift the freeze."
Through Biden's orders, the administration had prioritized recruiting folks from underserved communities, evaluating hiring practices through a diversity lens and addressing pay inequities.
A Trump official reportedly said more actions on DEI are coming soon that would impact private business.
President Trump signed an executive order Monday dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government.
Why it matters: The U.S. government is the largest employer in the country, with 3 million workers — nearly twice as many as private sector job leader Walmart, which also recently rolled back its DEI policies.
Federal policies set the tone at the top for workplaces around the country.
The big picture: The president and his allies, particularly White House adviser Stephen Miller, have been outspoken critics of DEI — helping drive the wider backlash in the private sector.
Though the executive order is limited to the federal government, a Trump official reportedly said more actions on DEI are coming soon that would impact private business.
Zoom in: The Trump order rolls back Biden orders that put many diversity initiatives in place.
Those 2021 Biden orders in turn reversed Trump's order on diversity from his first term, and implemented new initiatives.
Through Biden's orders, the administration had prioritized collecting workforce demographic data, recruiting folks from underserved communities, evaluating hiring practices through a diversity lens and addressing pay inequities.
One order, put in place on Jan. 20, 2021, broadened sex discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity — but had faced pushback from conservatives hostile to protections for transgender people.
What they're saying: "The injection of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) into our institutions has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy," Trump's executive order reads.
The order, signed in front of an arena full of supporters, follows a promise he made during his inaugural address earlier Monday.
"I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life," Trump said. "We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based."
Reality check: The DEI policy attack appears to be much ado about something Americans aren't very passionate about.
Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of 3,200 global CEOs and business leaders said initiatives tied to social issues — such as diversity and inclusion — have had a positive impact on their company's economic performance, per the AlixPartners Disruption Index.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated with further background on the revoked orders.
Data: Speech transcripts and Axios analysis; Note: Common words were removed and words were edited to remove plurals and verb tenses; Chart: Erin Davis and Thomas Oide/Axios
President Trump in his inaugural address on Monday portrayed the classic communications adage that it's not what you say but how you say it.
Why it matters: The speech gives insight into what to expect from Trump 2.0, and while his tone was warmer than in 2017, many of the underlying policy priorities remain the same.
The intrigue: We ran the transcripts of both speeches through ChatGPT and asked how the tone differed for each.
According to the AI-powered analysis, Trump's optimistic tone shifted from "bold and assertive" to "hopeful but tempered." Meanwhile, his criticisms of opponents went from "direct" to "more restrained and framed as systemic issues."
Trump's rhetorical style also shifted from "grandiose and dramatic" in 2017 to "inspirational and patriotic."
By the numbers: The words "I," "our" and "you" remained the most used words in the speech and were used at rate 2x higher than in 2017.
Frequently used words that didn't receive significant mention in his previous address include: "thank," "govern," "unite," "panama," "justice," "change" and "together."
Of note: Trump's 2025 address was roughly double the length of his 2017 address, which was the shortest in modern history.
Yes, but: According to an analysis by AI-powered speech coaching platform, Yoodli, Trump struggled with conciseness in this year's address, saying 36% more than was needed to get his point across.
Zoom in: Yoodli also pointed out the speech's disjointed structure and lack of follow-through.
"For instance, [Trump] mentioned "America first" several times, yet did not always tie it back to specific actions consistently," the AI speech coach said.
What's next: Trump is expected to show just how committed he is to these ideals by taking executive action on a flurry of issues ranging from immigration to the future of TikTok.
President Trump signed an executive order during his first hours in office to begin the process of pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement — the second time he has done so.
Another U.S. departure from the pact would leave a major hole in international efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions and potentially call the country's foreign policy credibility into question.
Zoom in: It takes a year for a country to withdraw from the agreement.
The Paris Agreement doesn't require countries to cut their emissions, but works through international peer pressure and countries' domestic laws to encourage nations to set ambitious emissions reduction targets.
Prior to signing the order, the incoming Trump administration described this and other actions on energy as a way to end former Biden's "climate extremism."
Flashback: The U.S. has been here before. Trump pulled the country out of Paris during his first term, only to have former President Biden rejoin the pact on his first day.
Then, no other country followed the U.S. move to leave the agreement. The U.N. says 194 nations plus the European Union have joined the pact.
Also, the first Trump administration continued to send representatives to the annual climate summits.
Between the lines: Leaving Paris again could cement foreign diplomats' and observers' view of the U.S. as an unreliable partner, given the U-turn from Biden's climate policies.
Trump and his nominees have promised to increase fossil fuel production, roll back climate programs that the Biden administration had put in place, and unleash a broad policy of "energy dominance."
In addition to the Paris Agreement executive order, Trump signed multiple energy orders that would — if implemented — reorient the U.S. away from a focus on lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and toward increasing oil and gas production and boosting available electricity on the grid.
The intrigue: Trump has long characterized the agreement as putting too much burden on the U.S. compared to other countries.
"The United States will not sabotage our own industries, while China pollutes with impunity," Trump said Monday night before signing the executive order.
Reality check: Right now, greenhouse gas emissions are still too high to meet the agreement's temperature targets, even though some country's, including the U.S., have been reducing their emissions.
If a U.S. departure were to slow the decline in domestic emissions and cause other countries to balk at taking more aggressive efforts, then it may make it even harder for the targets to be met.
The action on Paris comes amid an increase in the severity and frequency of certain extreme weather events, and a little more than a week after climate change-worsened wildfires tore through metro LA, killing at least 27 and destroying more than 10,000 homes.
What they're saying: "By leaving the Paris Agreement, this administration has abdicated its responsibility to protect the American people and our national security," said Gina McCarthy, former White House national climate adviser and now managing co-chair of the "America is All In" coalition.
"The U.S. withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is unfortunate, but multilateral climate action has proven resilient and is stronger than any single country's politics and policies," said Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the Paris Agreement, in a statement.
Simon Stiell, the top UN climate diplomat, issued a statement saying any country is welcome to offer "constructive engagement" at future climate talks.
The newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will operate within the U.S. government, according to a fact sheet connected with an executive order expected Monday to establish the new entity, Semafor reported.
Why it matters: It was not known at this point how the new department, co-led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, would be structured to pursue its mission of cutting government spending.
Zoom in: "DOGE will work with the Office of Management and Budget and all agencies to shrink the federal workforce, federal spending, and federal regulatory burdens," the fact sheet said, as reported by Semafor.
The executive order also reportedly directs every federal agency to establish its own "DOGE team."
The group will "oversee a substantial reduction in the size and scope of government."
An initial focus will be to modernize software systems within the federal government to "private-sector standards," per Semafor.
The latest: Ramaswamy is reported by multiple news outlets to be preparing to step away from the group to pursue a campaign for Ohio governor.
Friction point: DOGE is already facing court challenges.
The American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing hundreds of thousands of federal employees, filed a lawsuit Monday along with two government watchdog groups, claiming that DOGE violates a 1972 law that requires any advice presented by advisory committees be objective and accessible to the public.
What they're saying: Despite the name, DOGE is not a department of the United States government, the group argues.
The lawsuit claims that Trump has characterized DOGE's structure as a group providing "advice and guidance from outside of Government," and as such fails to meet the standards of a permitted advisory committee as established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
"This advisory committee led by Musk and Ramaswamy, who hold financial interests that will be directly affected by federal budgetary and regulatory policies, is beset both by conflicts of interest and the biased and extremist views of the libertarian billionaire class," said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, one of the watchdog groups on the suit.
President-elect Trump has made a litany of ambitious pledges that would gut his predecessor's legacy as soon as Day 1 in office — and he could use his newly regained executive power to take immediate action.
Why it matters: Climate initiatives, LGBTQ+ protections and student loan forgiveness are among President Biden's biggest policy achievements that are at risk once Trump retakes the Oval Office.
Biden took a similar course when assuming office in2021, succeeding Trump: rejoining international agreements, adjusting COVID-19 mandates, and repealing some of Trump's most controversial policies, like theso-called Muslim travel ban.
Trump plans, promises
Among Trump's paper trail of promises:
In July, he vowed on the campaign trail to "restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admissions, stop the resettlement and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country," on Day 1.
He repeatedly said that he'd "drill, baby, drill" within his first 24 hours.
And within "maybe the first nine minutes," he said after his election win, he'd start "looking at" Jan. 6. He's repeatedly vowed to pardon rioters who faced charges.
Project 2025
Project 2025 could also swiftly remake U.S. society.
Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation-backed plan.
But he plucked a number of officials straight from the pages of the 900-plus-page Heritage Foundation-backed blueprint, and within a day of his victory, allies and right-wing commentators claimed that Project 2025 was the agenda all along.
Here are some of Biden's key issue areas Trump will most likely strike first:
Energy and the environment
Environmental policy became a central tenet of Biden's White House tenure. But his progress onclimate change and clean energy will be vulnerable.
Trump said earlier this month that he would "immediately" reverse Biden's ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along hundreds of millions of acres of the U.S. coastline.
Reality check: Biden's memorandums implementing the policy rely on an open-ended provision in the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act — making it harder to erase than with a simple executive order.
A provision in the act allows the president to permanently withdraw parts of the Outer Continental Shelf from the table for leasing, and it does not provide a means for another president to undo the action, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports.
Between the lines: The question of whether Trump can revoke the withdrawal status Biden ordered could trigger a legal battle, Cary Coglianese, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told Axios.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska considered the dilemma in 2019 when Trump tried to revoke an Obama-era offshore drilling ban in parts of the Arctic. The judge ruled an act of Congress would be needed to undo the ban.
"If this went all the way to the Supreme Court, it's anybody's guess how it would play out," Coglianese said.
Trump has also vowed to "terminate" spending on the "Green New Deal," seeminglyreferencing Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act, which is not the same as the Green New Deal. The 2022 IRA marked the largest investment in addressing the impact of climate change in U.S. history.
But some Trump allies, like House Speaker Mike Johnson,have backed preserving parts of the IRA, like some of its tax credits to make major investments in new U.S. energy.
Trump has singled out the IRA's electric vehicle tax credit. He's also signaled plans to roll back vehicle emissions standards.
Federal employees and the "deep state"
Trump pledged in 2023 to "immediately reissue" his controversial 2020 executive order "restoring the president's authority to remove rogue bureaucrats" in the so-called "deep state."
The first-term executive order he referenced established a new "Schedule F" employment category for federal employees, increasing the president's power to oust civil servants who historically were shielded during changing administrations.
Trump didn't sign the order until two weeks before the 2020 election. Its vast implications for non-partisanfederal employees — and the possibility to replace them with MAGA loyalists — flew under the radar.
Biden rescinded the order shortly after he assumed office in 2021. But Trump has vowed repeatedly, as he approaches his next turn in the Oval Office, to gut the federal workforce as his Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, an unofficial advisory body, aims to slash millions in spending.
Reality check: A rule published by the Office of Personnel Management in April reinforcing worker protections could make it more difficult for Trump to make his desired changes. They could have to go through multiple steps of review, an OPM official told NPR.
"Rescinding a rule is itself something that calls for going through a rule-making process," Coglianese explained. "And that requires developing a proposed rule, putting that proposed rule out for public comment, and then finalizing it, and then being able to withstand judicial review."
Immigration policy
Trump has promised sweeping immigration reform — some of which walks back Biden administration policies, while other parts of his plan push constitutional boundaries, like his vow to end birthright citizenship.
His immigration crackdown will likely ride on a flurry of executive orders, in particular taking action to end Biden's parole programs.
Axios' Stef Kight reported that the Trump White House will prioritize reinstating Title 42, a COVID-era public health policy that uses concerns about spreading illness to facilitate the swift expulsion of migrants at the border and prevents them from attaining asylum. Biden ended the policy in 2023.
Yes, but: Later in his presidency, Biden took a more hardline approach on immigration, issuing a sweeping executive order to crack down on illegal border crossings.
LGBTQ+ protections
LGBTQ+ people, in particular transgender Americans, were a target of Trump's often hyperbolic and false campaign anecdotes and promises.
Trump vowed to roll back "on Day 1" Biden-era expansion of Title IX for LGBTQ+ students, protecting against "discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics."
But a federal judge struck down the rule just before Trump's inauguration in a major blow to the Biden administration.
Zoom out: Project 2025 also calls for the revoking ofBiden's executive order in 2021creating the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council.
AI and tech
Trump has promisedtonix Biden's sweeping executive order on artificial intelligence, a signature part of the administration's tech policy.
The deadlines that agencies have already met may be difficult to walk back, Axios' Maria Curi reports.
But some directives that carry deadlines after Trump's White House return, such as OMB guidance for labeling and authenticating government AI, could be at risk.
Student loan forgiveness
Biden's pushtocancel student debt for millions of Americans will likely meet its demise under Trump.
The new administration will likely pull defense of some of Biden's policies in court, leaving them to crumble under litigation.
But rolling back the congressionally created Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which the Biden administration worked to expand access to, could be trickier.
The bottom line: Even if Trump can't feasibly push through some of his promises, Coglianese noted, "he gets credit among his base for trying."
Moments after being sworn in as president for a second time, Donald Trump said he'd declare a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border and set plans to sign 10 executive orders that would unleash an aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration.
Why it matters: Some of Trump's most audacious plans — which include deporting millions of immigrants and ending birthright citizenship — won't happen immediately and are certain to draw legal challenges.
But Trump's emergency declaration — along with designating Mexican cartels as a terrorism threat — would clear the way for using the military to help combat illegal immigration, breaking historical policies for how U.S. forces have been used in the homeland.
Zoom in: Trump aims to further lay the groundwork for what he calls a "common sense" reworking of U.S. immigration policy. In a briefing for reporters before he was sworn in, his team outlined several of the orders. They would:
Designate cartels and gangs such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations, and use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to use federal and state law enforcement to go after those connected to those groups within the U.S.
Reinstate the "Remain in Mexico" policy for asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, ending a policy in which they were released into the U.S. while their cases were being considered by immigration courts.
Seek to end "birthright citizenship" for those born to undocumented immigrants — a concept promised by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Suspend refugee resettlements for four months and expedite removal of those who have sought asylum but don't meet the requirements.
Send troops to the southern border, including the National Guard.
The big picture: The mass deportationTrump seeks will require highly organized raids, a building program for new detention centers, more immigration judges and a steady stream of flights to transport people out of the U.S.
The large-scale operation will also require a combination of executive authority, congressional action and — almost certainly — Supreme Court backing. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and the high court has a conservative super majority.
The plans will also require more funding for carrying out than currently allocated.
Local and state police will need to assist with raids. GOP-led states have said they will help, while Democratic-controlled states have said they will not.
Reality check: The Wong Kim Ark case of 1898 by the Supreme Court affirmed that any American-born person was a U.S. citizen as defined by the 14th Amendment.
The case established the Birthright Citizenship clause and led to the dramatic demographic transformation of the U.S.
U.S.-born children and grandchildren of immigrants from Asia and Latin America are among the nation's fastest-growing populations. They are expected to be the majority of the country by mid-century.
State of play: An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently live in cities across the country.
That's not counting their U.S.-born children (who are U.S. citizens) and millions of other migrants trying to enter the U.S. in the future.
It's also not counting the 1.2 million immigrants living in the U.S. who are either receiving or eligible for Temporary Protected Status — a designation Trump limited in his first term and has promised to revoke for Haitians in his second.
The U.S. immigration system's backlog of 3.7 million court cases will take four years to resolve at the current pace — but that could balloon to 16 years under Trump's mass deportation plan, according to an Axios analysis late last year.
Adding 11 million undocumented immigrants would push the backlog review to 2040 at the current pace. That's without an infusion of new immigration judges or the erasure of due process for many cases.
At that record pace, it would take around four decades to deport all the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. today.
Zoom in: The new Trump administration seeks to upend the whole deportation process and could sign legislation from a GOP-controlled Congress that may allow him to bypass current laws.
Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy chief of staff for policy, met with members of Congress in January to share ideas on how to overcome a filibuster in the U.S. Senate on enforcement laws and force Democrats to vote on bipartisan measures.
During a meeting with senators, Miller walked through the Day 1 immigration executive orders. That included the reinstatement of pandemic-era Title 42, which allows rapid expulsion of migrants at the border.
Between the lines: An Axios-Ipsos poll released Sundayfound that 66% of Americans support deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally.
That same poll found that support nearly dropped in half when asked about tactics for deportation like active duty military to find and detain undocumented immigrants or separating families.
What we're watching: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is vowing to challenge any Trump executive order on immigration the group feels violates the Constitution and human rights.
Those court challenges would slow down any deportation operation.
The ACLU brought more than 400 cases against the first Trump administration as it fought to stop Trump'sMuslim travel ban and fight allegations of abuse at immigration detention centers.
President-elect Trump is expected to launch his second term with a slew of executive orders as soon as Day 1 in office.
The big picture: Trump, with more support from Republicans and voters than in his first term, has expressed every intention of using executive power to address the border and immigration.
Axios reported Monday that Trump was expected to bring as many as 200 executive actions, including orders.
Trump's first-day actions were expected to include declaring an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, Jan. 6 pardons and a TikTok reprieve after the popular app briefly went dark over the weekend.
Zoom out: Trump issued more than 220 executive orders during his first term — the most in a single term since former President Carter.
President Biden had signed 155 executive orders as of last week.
What is an executive order?
This directive is a signed, consecutively numbered official document through which the president manages the operations of the federal government, per the National Archives.
Such an order directs a federal official or administrative agency to engage in a course of action or refrain from a course of action.
Some executive orders can take effect immediately, while others require time for a federal agency to take action.
Between the lines: An executive order is enforceable as long as the action is within the president's Constitutional authority.
What can't an executive order do?
A president can't issue a new law if it surpasses the power given to them by the Constitution or Congress.
Executive orders that require action by an agency are subject to the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which requires a public comment period for new rules and does not allow rules deemed "arbitrary and capricious."
Can an executive order be revoked?
Yes, a president who issued the executive order can revoke it.
An incumbent president also has the power to nix an executive order issued by their predecessor — as Biden did in early 2021 when he revokedseveral executive orders issued during the Trump administration.
Congress, too, has the power to overturn an executive order by passing legislation that invalidates it, according to the American Bar Association. The president can veto the legislation, but Congress can override that with a two-thirds majority.
Congress can also halt an executive order from taking effect by denying necessary funding for an action.
Courts, too, have the power to stay enforcement or ultimately overturn an executive order that is found to be beyond the president's constitutional authority.
For example, a judge in January 2020 blocked Trump's executive order that allowed state and local governments to refuse accepting refugee resettlements.
The ruling was upheld by a federal appeals court a year later.
Global leaders, current and former U.S. lawmakers, and heads of major U.S. companies descended on Washington, DC, for President Trump's inaugural events over the long weekend.
Why it matters: Trump takes office with Republican control of Congress, support from business and foreign leaders and what's seen as more cultural acceptance of the MAGA movement.
Trump's inauguration is taking place inside the Capitol rotunda due to weather.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who served with Trump during his first term, was also in attendance.
We'll be tracking some of the notable attendees. Among them:
Current and former members of Congress
Former Republican House Speakers Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Newt Gingrich (Ga.), andJohn Boehner (Ohio) trickled into the Capitol on Monday.
Notably absent was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who said she wouldn't attend the inauguration, multipleoutlets reported.
Former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was in attendance with his wife, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who served during Trump's first term and quit her role after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) takes a picture with Elon Musk. Photo: Shawn Thew/Getty Images
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman talks with boxer Jake Paul (left) and wrestler Logan Paul. Photo: Alexander Drago/AFP via Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: Kenny Holston via Pool/Getty Images
From left, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk attend the inauguration. Photo: Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images
Former Executive Chairman of Fox Corp. Rupert Murdoch (left) attends services at St. John's Episcopal Church. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
UFC CEO Dana White arrives ahead of the ceremony: Ricky Carioti/AFP via Getty Images
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attend the event; Trump has vowed to delay the ban of the app in the U.S. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Media personality Joe Rogan stands for a benediction. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the inauguration. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Pool via Getty Images
Foreign leaders
Right-wing leaders, including Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, were in attendance.
Also at the inauguration was Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, who held meetings with Vice President Vance and Musk ahead of the event, the AP reported.
Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrive at the inauguration. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Han Zheng, vice president of the People's Republic of China, attends Donald Trump's inauguration. Photo: Shawn Thew/Getty Images
Former U.S. presidents
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama attended the inauguration.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former first lady Laura Bush joined, but former first lady Michelle Obama did not.
Former Presidents Obama ft) and Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AFP via Getty Images
Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Laura Bush and Barack Obama attend the ceremony. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Driving the news: Biden pardoned his brothers, James and Francis Biden, his sister, Valerie Biden, and their spouses.
"The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense," Biden said in a statement.
What he's saying: "My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics," Biden said in the White House announcement.
"Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end."
Zoom out: Biden earlier on Monday issued preemptive pardons for former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci and members of the House Jan. 6 committee, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).
Biden also pardoned retired Army Gen. Mark Milley earlier on Monday.
