Donald Trump launched his second term as US president on Monday with a barrage of executive orders, the first round signed on stage at the Capitol One Arena in downtown Washington, where the inaugural parade was moved to avoid freezing temperatures outside.
Among the measures signed on stage to cheers from a raucous crowd was the order for the US to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, a step the president took during his first term in power, before Joe Biden recommitted the US to that attempt to tackle the worsening climate crisis.
Trump delivered rambling remarks before the signing, filled with political grievances familiar from a decade on the national stage and earlier remarks at the Capitol after his formal inaugural address.
Among measures he would sign later on Monday, Trump said, would be “pardons for a lot of people” convicted over the January 6 attack on Congress he incited, by telling supporters to “fight like hell” in support of his lie about electoral fraud in his 2020 defeat by Biden.
On stage in Washington, Trump then signed a recision of 78 Biden-era executive orders, memoranda and other measures.
In addressing the federal government he signed a regulatory freeze “until we have full control of the government”, a freeze on all federal hiring except in the military and some other categories and a requirement that federal workers return to full-time in-person work immediately. He also directed every department of government “to address the cost of living crisis”.
More orders included a directive to the federal government ordering the restoration of protections of free speech and “preventing government censorship” and another directive ending the “weaponization of the government against the adversaries of the previous administration”.
He also signed the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accords.
“Could you imagine Biden doing this?” Trump said during the signing, to cheers. “I don’t think so.”
He then left the arena to return to the White House to sign other orders.
Earlier, in an inaugural address at the Capitol that was also moved indoors, Trump trailed orders he said would “begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It’s all about common sense.”
The address was delivered in the Capitol rotunda, a hallowed space through which Trump’s supporters rampaged to deadly effect four years ago.
Back at the scene of so many crimes, having completed an astonishing political escape act, Trump first focused on executive orders concerning immigration.
“First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” he said. “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.”
Crossings at the southern border are currently low, as a result of policies under Biden. The number of undocumented migrants on US soil convicted of one or more crimes does not run anywhere close to “millions and millions”. Undocumented migrants also offend at a lower rate than US citizens.
“We will reinstate my remain in Mexico policy,” Trump said, referring to a Covid-era measure lapsed under Biden. He also promised to “end the practice of catch and release” of undocumented migrants crossing the border and said he would “send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country”. The US Department of Defense was reported to have been planning such deployments.
Trump was widely reported to be set to sign an order attempting to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented migrants – which is guaranteed by the 14th amendment to the US constitution and therefore not subject to removal by executive order.
-Trump said: “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 gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to US soil, including our cities and inner cities.”
Shifting to domestic policy, Trump announced his order to his cabinet to “defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices”, later signed onstage. He would “declare a national energy emergency”, he said, adding a campaign-trail expression of support for fossil fuels: “We will drill, baby, drill.”
Trump also said he would “end the Green New Deal” – an umbrella name for progressive environmental goals, rather than any laws passed under Biden – and outlined moves to end government support for electric vehicles. Trump also took shots at Biden and other opponents for supposedly failing to tackle climate disasters: in North Carolina, hit by Hurricane Helene, and in California, where Trump claimed without evidence that not “even a token of defense” had been mounted against devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
He promised to establish an External Revenue Service, to “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens”; and to sign into being the “Department of Government Efficiency”, a cost-cutting effort championed by the tech billionaire Elon Musk, a key ally and donor. Musk’s project is already the subject of legal challenges.
Among other orders expected were a move to politicize thousands of federal government appointments, and the institution of a new travel ban on Muslim-majority countries.
Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, left Washington after hosting Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, at the White House. In his arena address, Trump performed a mocking impression of Biden, centered on his age. Biden is 82. Trump is 78.
Trump has long been expected to issue pardons and acts of clemency to his supporters who attacked Congress on January 6. On Monday, it was reported that “blanket” pardons were on the way for non-violent offenses while sentences for more serious crimes would be commuted.
At the Capitol One Arena, after his truncated inaugural parade, Trump likened January 6 prisoners to “hostages” released under the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, who appeared onstage with him, and said: “Tonight, I’m going to be signing on the J6 hostages pardons, to get them out [of jail]. As soon as I leave, I’m going to the Oval Office, and we’ll be signing pardons for a lot of people, a lot of people.”
In his inaugural address, Trump also looked to culture-war issues, saying his orders would “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 color-blind 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.”
Trump also promised to “change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America” and to “restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley”, the Alaskan peak known by its indigenous name, Denali, since 2016.
Trump also promised to “take back” the Panama Canal and to “launch American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars”.
“Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation,” he said.
The executive orders he signed and those on the way offered more concrete evidence of his intentions in office.
Read more of the Guardian’s Trump coverage
