Trump started significant U.S. policy changes by signing dozens of official executive actions about energy, public health, crime and other issues. He also re-established his general caustic tone via harsh comments against a Christian bishop and disregarding ethical questions about a cryptocurrency coin he launched.
Here’s a summary of 2025’s transfer of power from Joe Biden and the Democrats to Donald Trump and the Republicans. Readers of the right-wing Daily Caller called Trump’s first few days “exhilarating, refreshing, and winning,” while a thread of Democrat responses went with, “Awful, dumb, and a gut-punch.”
The transfer of power was peaceful in form, unlike 2021, but it was still a turbulent few days.
CRIMINAL PARDONS
Trump has previously said he would “always back the blue,” and the National Fraternal Order of Police endorsed him for a third time in the 2024 election.
But just days after vice president-elect JD Vance said people who committed violent acts during the Jan. 6 riot should not be pardoned, Trump surprised some by pardoning every person convicted of doing so.
Four years after thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, some of them beating police with flagpoles and trying to overturn the results of a public election, Trump said he thought their sentences were “ridiculous and excessive.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The FOP and International Association of Chiefs of Police responded by saying they were “deeply discouraged” by Trump’s pardons, adding that crimes against police “are attacks on society and undermine the rule of law.”
Trump responded by defending his decision and suggested there could be a place in American politics for the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States.
IMMIGRATION POLICY
Trump’s executive orders included hundreds of specific provisions regarding immigration policy. He declared that “the current situation at the southern border qualifies as an invasion,” saying it gave his Cabinet the power to “repel, repatriate or remove any alien engaged in the invasion.”
It is not clear yet how rumored immigration raids could affect certain cities or job industries, such as construction and agriculture.
Trump called for U.S. military service members to act as immigration and border enforcement officers as part of a promised mass deportation program.
He also suspended the U.S. Refugee Admission Program, which accepts people from war-torn and troubled countries, pending a 90-day review.
He moved to redefine birthright citizenship, asserting that a child born in the U.S. is not a citizen if 1) the mother does not have legal immigration status or is in the country only temporarily and 2) the father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. This order is already being challenged in federal court.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Trump wants to limit the humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status programs via which thousands of people who fled Haiti’s chaos ended up settling in Springfield.
The list goes on — prioritizing construction of the southern border wall, forbidding “catch-and-release” of migrants who are awaiting immigration court proceedings, and evaluating programs for lawful immigrant assimilation, to recommend measures “that promote a unified American identity.”
DIVERSITY, RELIGION
After Trump was inaugurated on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the White House issued a memo placing on paid leave all federal staff who work on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, with plans to lay them off soon. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and insisted on restoring strictly “merit-based” hiring.
Multiple federal agencies by Friday were removing resources from their websites that had established strategies for attracting women and minorities into their workforces.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Trump attended a prayer service at Washington’s National Cathedral where more than a dozen religious leaders spoke. The Right Rev. Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, drew attention for urging Trump to “have mercy” on people who are “scared,” including LGBTQ+ people and immigrants, saying “Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger.”
Trump responded by demanding an apology from Budde, saying she was “not compelling or smart … or good at her job,” and that the service “was a very boring and uninspiring one.”
Budde said she would not apologize.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Trump’s courage on inauguration day, Trump was unusually critical of Putin, saying he was “destroying Russia” by waging war in Ukraine.
“He can’t be thrilled, he’s not doing so well,” Trump said. “... That’s no way to run a country.”
Trump has since warned he will impose tariffs and sanctions on Russia if Putin fails to end the war in Ukraine. Kremlin officials said they remain “ready for an equal dialogue, a mutually respectful dialogue.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Pope Francis also weighed in on the U.S. change of power, saying Trump’s plan for mass deportations would be a “disgrace.” The pope sent a telegram of congratulations, but not surprisingly for a man who has called Trump “not Christian” over his immigration policies, he called on the president to help “build a more just society.”
The State Department on Friday froze new funding for almost all U.S. foreign assistance, making exceptions to allow humanitarian food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt to continue. The United States is the largest provider of foreign aid in the world aiding health, education and development projects around the world.
An order sent to U.S. embassies worldwide and obtained by The Associated Press prohibits new spending, which appears to limit programs to running only as long as they have cash on hand.
GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY / HIRING
Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency, but it is actually a renaming and refocusing of the U.S. Digital Service, created by President Obama to modernize the government’s approach to technology.
Trump’s stated goal for DOGE is to modernize federal technology and software, to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity. But an immediate question is its impact on government jobs. it will be headed by billionaire Elon Musk, who vowed to cut billions of dollars from the federal budget and usher in “mass headcount reductions.”
Speaking of hiring and headcounts, Trump set a 90-day freeze on the hiring of federal government civilian employees, with an exception for military positions and openings tied to “national security.”
Within 90 days, the Office of Management and Budget must submit a plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce “through efficiency improvements and attrition.”
THE ECONOMY
Trump issued an executive order about “delivering emergency price relief” to Americans, but this statement about cost of living issues is a wish-list with no specific actions to be taken. He ordered “the heads of all executive departments and agencies” to deliver emergency price relief — addressing issues of housing, healthcare and home appliance costs, job opportunities, and ”harmful, coercive ‘climate’ policies" — but didn’t say how they should do it.
During Trump’s first week in office, some of his supporters pointed to positive days for the stock market, while opponents joked that his promise to bring grocery prices down didn’t appear to make it to store owners' ears.
ODDS AND ENDS
- Trump launched a new cryptocurrency token just before his inauguration that soared in value, then dipped. The website selling the tokens says they are not an investment opportunity. Asked by a reporter about his selling products for profit while serving as president, Trump dodged the question and joked about potential billions in profit.
- In an order titled, Restoring Names that Honor America’s Greatness, Trump ordered the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, and rename America’s tallest mountain from Denali (stemming from Alaska natives’ terminology), to Mount McKinley (in honor of the U.S. president who was assassinated in 1901).
- Via executive order, Trump said the U.S. intends to withdraw from the World Health Organization and that a national security official would establish mechanisms “as he deems necessary and appropriate” to safeguard public health and fortify biosecurity. The order also says the U.S. will “identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by the WHO.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP