US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on January 20, 2025 in Washington (POOL / Jim WATSON)
Donald Trump begins the second day of his return to the White House on Tuesday with the desire to surf on the myriad of presidential decrees signed after his inauguration, but with questions about the realism of his ambitions.
The Republican will go in the morning to the Washington National Cathedral, for a religious service placed more under the sign of sobriety after the pomp, pomp and euphoria of the ceremonies the day before.
But even before daybreak, the president had already announced on his Truth Social platform the dismissal of four government officials in various sectors, repeating the famous phrase “You’re fired!” that he used on the hit television show The Apprentice.
“My Office of Presidential Personnel is actively identifying and removing more than a thousand appointees from the previous administration who are not aligned with our vision to make America great again,” he announced. in this first message posted on the platform since taking office.
At 78 years old, Donald Trump became the oldest president in the history of the United States to be inaugurated the day before.
Which did not prevent him from starting his second term with full throttle with the signing of executive decrees emphasizing his electoral program: fight against illegal immigration, increase in hydrocarbon production, recognition of “two sexes” only to put an end to the “transgender delirium”.
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States at the Capitol in Washington, January 20, 2025 (POOL / SAUL LOEB)
It remains to be seen to what extent Donald Trump, who had often shown a certain reluctance towards the demands of the presidency during his first term, will be willing and able to follow through on his thunderous announcements, particularly in the face of slim majorities in Congress.
– State of emergency –
“The golden age of America begins,” he said Monday after taking the oath under the dome of the Capitol, surrounded by his family, but also by personalities from the global extreme right and numerous billionaires. like Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Elon Musk (SpaceX, X, Tesla), or the Frenchman Bernard Arnault (LVMH).
An aide holds the executive orders that will be signed by Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, January 20, 2025 (POOL / Jim WATSON)
The big bosses even relegated many Republican dignitaries, including governors, outside the room. A new sign of the importance that the new president attaches to these business barons.
If some hoped to see a calmer Donald Trump once his return to the White House was formalized, it was a wasted effort.
-In a dark and vengeful speech, the Republican quickly promised to attack a “corrupt and radical elite”, under the gaze of his successor and now predecessor Joe Biden, whose face remained unmoved.
He also announced the first acts of his anti-immigration offensive.
A “state of emergency at the southern border” with Mexico was thus declared, making it possible to mobilize the armed forces “to repel the disastrous invasion of our country”.
“We will start deporting millions and millions of criminal aliens,” he said.
– Expansionist aims –
Donald Trump has also initiated a complete reversal in the United States’ policy to combat global warming.
The billionaire declared a state of energy emergency to boost hydrocarbon production in the United States, even though the country is already the world’s leading producer.
The second biggest polluter on the planet will also withdraw, once again, from the Paris climate agreement.
A first withdrawal during the Republican’s first term was canceled by Joe Biden.
Reiterating his expansionist aims, the American president affirmed that the United States would “take back” the Panama Canal, that Denmark would “get used to the idea” of ceding Greenland and that an American flag would be planted on Mars under his mandate.
US President Donald Trump (l) and First Lady Melania Trump arrive at the Commander-in-Chief Inaugural Ball at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, January 20, 2025 (AFP/Patrick T. Fallon)
Donald Trump, who has long promised to take “revenge” on his political adversaries, also took care to pardon in the evening “more than 1,500” of his supporters who had stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
The heavy customs duties promised against countries like Canada and Mexico, however, were not put in place on the first day of his presidency as promised, but were postponed until February 1.
