When Donald Trump’s victory was announced in the 2024 presidential race, Americans on both sides of the political aisle knew that our country would change. Now, in the nine days since his inauguration, the president has shattered the status quo with a series of shocking and in some cases blatantly unconstitutional executive orders. From immigration to trans rights to withdrawing from supernational organizations, Trump has shown just how little regard he has for our democracy and the progress of his predecessors. Read on to discover these executive orders and the damage they have caused.
Immigration: “Believe me, it’s gonna work. Walls work.”
Within a week and a half of being in office, Trump has already signed multiple executive orders and acts that will change and endanger the lives of immigrants living in the United States. On Jan. 20, his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship, a decision that he had mentioned during his first term in office. However, District Judge John Coughenour blocked the order and called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” It has been in the U.S. Constitution since 1868 that “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.” Getting rid of this constitutional right would require amending the Constitution, which has not happened since 1992.
A little over a week later Trump signed a memorandum on Jan. 29 to prepare Guantánamo Bay in Cuba to house thousands of immigrants. Trump stated that “We have 30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. This will double our capacity immediately.” The facility is currently used to house Muslim militants and terrorist suspects and is known for torture and injustice. In an article published by Amnesty International last March, a former prisoner, Mansoor Adayfi, who was kidnapped and taken to Guantánamo Bay as a teenager described it as “a crime against humanity. People died there. People were tortured. People were paralyzed. All kinds of torture, abuse, physical, mental, psychological.”
The president of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel also called Trump’s decision an “act of brutality” and mentioned how the immigrants would be placed next to the torture and illegal detention that the facility is known for.
Trans rights: “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
One of the most glaring changes in the wake of Trump’s inauguration is the rapid and devastating erosion of transgender rights. Trump launched his term by releasing an executive order establishing two sexes and refuting the idea that one’s gender identity can contradict their sex assigned at birth. This order is particularly damaging to the nonbinary community. Those who exist outside the gender binary, and intersex people, whose sex characteristics do not fit the traditional definitions of male and female. The blatant erasure of these groups sends a clear message: they will not be welcome under the Trump administration.
The same clear exclusion can also be seen in an executive order signed Monday, which prevents transgender Americans from serving in the armed forces. This order claims that “radical gender ideology” has weakened our country’s military and that simply existing as a trans person “is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
On Tuesday, Trump signed a third executive order preventing transgender teens across the country from receiving gender-affirming care. This blanket ban, which follows a series of state-level attacks on gender-affirming care for trans youth, claims that the treatment is based on “junk science” and likens it to “a stain on our Nation’s history.” U.S. v. Skrmetti, a Supreme Court case deciding the constitutionality of such restrictions, will be decided in June. Until then, Trump’s order will have disastrous impacts on trans youth, many of whom rely on gender-affirming care for their mental health and happiness.
The language of the orders appeals to two of the most polarizing arguments against trans rights: women’s safety and protecting children. However, Trump does not care about women. He does not care about children. These orders have one goal, and that goal is to restrict the rights of trans people. In his less than two weeks in office, the president has clarified his vendetta against the trans community, and we should expect many more harmful regressions to come.
Climate Change: “We will drill, baby, drill!”
January 20, 2025—aka American Doomsday. While the political Doomsday clock may have run out of time, the Climate Clock dwindles by the second. Immediately following his inauguration declaration, Trump declared a national energy emergency, just one of the landside executive orders carried out on Capitol Hill. Trump revoked a ban imposed by President Joe Biden on new offshore oil and gas development along a majority of the country’s coastlines. Oil companies appear to embrace his agenda but don’t align with correlating radical propositions.
This active threat to the American people from high energy prices is exacerbated by our Nation’s diminished capacity to insulate itself from hostile foreign actors. In his executive order, President Trump proclaimed:
“Energy security is an increasingly crucial theater of global competition. In an effort to harm the American people, hostile state and non-state foreign actors have targeted our domestic energy infrastructure, weaponized our reliance on foreign energy, and abused their ability to cause dramatic swings within international commodity markets.”
In recent years, the Trump administration’s energy policies have unveiled a striking paradox: an emphasis on national energy independence while simultaneously exacerbating global climate concerns. His declaration is clearly a strategy to justify ramping up fossil fuel production at a time when renewable energy sources are rapidly advancing. The United States should not return to a reliance on oil and gas when innovations in solar, nuclear and other renewable technologies are providing cleaner, more sustainable alternatives.
Pulling out of the Paris Agreement was a significant setback in climate initiatives sought to minimize. It sends a dangerous message at a time when collaborating global efforts produce the only significant progress in the last decade. Historically, the U.S. remains the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the only agreement that will be upheld through 2029.
A forward-thinking energy policy should embrace the potential of renewables, not sacrifice clean land for top profit. Instead of fostering an era of retrograde drilling and withdrawal from global agreements, the Trump Administration should be funding organizations and foundations focused on efficient, yet renewable energy. The future demands a commitment to sustainability, not a fleeting embrace of fossil fuels.
The World Health Organization: “Ooo, that’s a big one”
Trump’s longstanding dissatisfaction with the World Health Organization (WHO) culminated on the president’s first day back in office in his executive order to withdraw the United States from the organization. This decision is rooted in criticism of WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and carries momentous implications for both national and international health.
The WHO provides critical research for fighting diseases, from tuberculosis to maternal mortality. By withdrawing, the U.S. not only loses invaluable information, but WHO loses its biggest funder—something determined by a country’s population and gross domestic product (GDP).
Although this decision is unlikely to affect us directly, at least in the immediate future, the WHO has played a key role in major health milestones, including eradicating smallpox. Without this resource, another pandemic may be far more deadly. This is particularly concerning in light of the current and rapidly-evolving threat of bird flu, which so far caused 67 confirmed cases and one death in the U.S.
Ending DEI: “Discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense”
On Jan. 20 and Jan. 27, Trump signed into effect two executive orders abolishing DEI programs within the federal government and in the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense. Soon after, he ordered all diversity, equity and inclusion staff within the federal government to be put on paid leave and eventually laid off.
While Trump is unable to require the same from corporations, and therefore these executive orders won’t have a direct effect on Bendites, many are following his lead. The decisions of brands like McDonald’s, Meta and Walmart to dissolve DEI programs may lead to more local changes. McDonald’s, as a common location for youth workers, is leading these effects, as they’ve already planned to disband a program that increased minorities in leadership positions and promoted diversity training.
DEI programs have allowed for the federal government to reflect our diverse nation and set an example for the leaders of corporations to do the same. The abolition of these programs will return our nation’s workplace to something disastrous, and the start of it, as seen in the federal government laying off all DEI employees, is already here.
Changes in Government: “A Very Common Thing to Do”
Within a week, the federal government has been drastically changed, including the removal of the government watchdogs who keep authorities in check. At least 17 Inspector Generals were fired from 12 major federal agencies, although this action was unlawful in regards to the Inspector General Act that was imposed by Congress in 1978 . Inspector Generals conduct objective audits within their agency and investigate allegations of abuse of power, waste and fraud. These removals are unlawful, as Congress must be informed of the action by the president 30 days before it would be carried out, and Trump did not abide.
Jan. 6: “A Day of Love”
Trump has seemingly turned 180 degrees since the events of Jan. 6, 2021. He has transitioned from his once firm stance that the rioters should be held accountable, to now issuing a proclamation immediately pardoning all those involved in storming the capitol four years ago, keeping one of his driving campaign promises. Of the 1,500 or so pardoned people, the most significant are the leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, two far-right groups who played a major role in the violence that ensued following President Joe Biden’s election in 2020. They are to be released from prison following the executive order.
This is yet another example of Trump changing his viewpoints purely out of convenience–and perhaps even a blatant attempt to assert his power over the judiciary. To issue pardons on such a large scale diminishes its value, and is an abuse of the pardon power.
Since Trump has taken office this past month, he’s already shaken things up in the federal government. However, not all of his executive orders have been approved and acted upon. As of today, the White House has responded to Trump’s executive order to freeze federal grants by rescinding the proposal. When proposing this order, he claimed that the freeze would not affect Medicaid, Social Security, food stamp programs and student loans or scholarships.
When it comes to education, the effects would be detrimental. Cuts to federal funding would mean fewer resources for students, including textbooks, technology and free school lunches, and would also reduce school programs, such as arts, theatre, music and other extracurricular activities. With these factors in play, students’ opportunities and resources are in harm’s way, making it harder for students to further their education and plan for their future. This carries even greater significance for students who go to lower income schools, because they’re especially reliant on the federal government’s funding and this would make almost all their opportunities nonexistent.
Another important executive order implemented Jan. 29 is “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schools,” which revolves around the specific issues in the U.S. education system that “erode critical thinking.” The “indoctrinations” Trump plans on ending regards things such as allowing students to get surgical or chemical changes regarding their gender without parental consent or involvement, and the implementation of critical race theory into classroom lessons. Trump’s reasoning for such ideas are his protection of laws and amendments such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), which give parents control over their students health records and allow them to be involved when making decisions about their mental and physical health. By implementing more control over students in schools, he is preventing many students from being able to freely express themselves and is taking away freedoms which students believe they should have.
Renaming American Landmarks: “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness”
During his first day in office, Trump officially ordered the Secretary of the Interior to rename Denali and the Gulf of Mexico to Mt. McKinley and the Gulf of America respectively. Following the deluge of orders over the past week, surrounding everything from immigration to environmental policy, name changes first appear of minimal concern. However, it is important to emphasize the immense weight titles carry, recognizing who has power and where they assign value. Through this order, Trump makes one thing clear: a commitment to a dominant America.
However, this appeal to patriotism and tradition comes at the cost of honoring international unity and traditions which predate our founding, as Alaska State Senator Lisa Murkowski emphasized in her condemnation of the Denali name change.
“Our nation’s tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial,” said Murkowski.
Moving south, it is important to note that the name change of the Gulf of Mexico will not be recognized abroad. This order makes no substantive change, acting as a political tool to place the US above all else and appealing to easily abused nationalistic tendencies. Through this action, Trump only emphasizes the immense power of the presidency, sending a clear message of U.S. dominance at the cost of delegitimizing others’ history and tradition, ideals he is purported to hold dear.
Final Thoughts
In an earlier editorial, we predicted that Trump’s election would rock the foundations upon which our country is built. In the past week and a half, we have been proven correct, and as Trump’s term unfolds, there is no doubt that the president will continue to bring drastic changes to the United States. Trump’s actions are an indicator of egoism and an overinflated sense of his own power, but he is not our king. Our only hope is that citizens and authorities alike will band together and prevent him from destroying the rights and values we hold dear.
