When President Trump takes the oath of office on Monday, he will be expected to get to work immediately. The first task will be to sign executive orders to begin the long process of untangling and dissolving the swamp of truly terrible decisions and policies put in place by Marxist and progressive activists (the Venn diagram closely resembles a single circle) in a half mentally disturbed (*200*) Biden as a sock puppet (SCARY: Mike Johnson Recounts Meeting With (*200*) Biden, Shocks With Tale of Senility and Subterfuge – RedState and Shocked Not Shocked: Biden Could Don’t even do private fundraisers without major assist – RedState).
One of the orders being issued will halt all rulemaking initiated by the previous administration and freeze all policy guidance currently in progress. While this may not be an executive order, it will have the same effect.
Trump is reportedly eager to avoid much of the confusion of his last term in office and send a message to allies and enemies “foreign and domestic” that he means business. We have already seen the first hint of this in his official portrait (read the post and the exchange between author and photographer about what was meant).
OK, I know I’m behind schedule to the party on this, but as a photographer, I’d like to comment on Donald Trump’s novel official photo (below).
Three things strike me:
1. He looks completely exhausted, like he’s about to rip your throat out. This expression is clearly intentional and… pic.twitter.com/DoRza7tKqh
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) January 18, 2025
Out of Trump wants to demonstrate his strength as he returns to power – The New York Times:
Whether it’s his idea for “one big, beautiful bill” to push through his billion-dollar legislative agenda, his hunger for an agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine war (and perhaps fulfilling his dream of a Nobel Peace Prize for his first term), his desire to acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Canada for the United States, or his insistence to an aide that he would continue to sign executive orders on Inauguration Day “until my hand breaks”— Mr. Trump has indicated that he wants to begin his presidency with a show of strength.
He knows from experience that he has to act quickly; He begins his presidency as a lame duck. And after the 2026 midterm elections, when attention turns to his successor, Mr. Trump is unlikely to have the same influence with Republicans in Congress and corporate America.
“We had a 40 Republican lead in the House in 2017, and yet there was difficulty checking off the list of accomplishments,” said Kellyanne Conway, his 2016 campaign manager who served as a senior White House adviser in his first term. “This time there is a narrower majority, but a larger mandate. President Trump knows he can move quickly and immediately.”
Interviews with more than a dozen people who have recently spoken to Mr. Trump describe a president-elect who views his power very differently than he did on the eve of his first inauguration in 2017. Back then, he was on the defensive; Opposition to his presidency was fierce after his surprise victory, and he became more respectful of Washington veterans, heeding their advice about whom to select and what priorities to set. Now he senses weakness everywhere — on Capitol Hill, in the C-suite and in the news media. And he sees himself as his best advisor.
Here are the gigantic ones to look for.
Declaration of National Border Emergency
WSJ:
Trump is expected to declare a national emergency at the border, Republicans briefed on the call said, which in turn would free up additional Pentagon funding and assets to assist resolve the matter. He is also expected to direct troops to assist build more infrastructure on the border. The president-elect will direct his administration to resume a policy called “Remain in Mexico,” which requires migrants seeking asylum at the southern border to live there northern Mexican border towns during her US court case.
The Washington Post claims that “birthright to citizenship” is on the menu. I have my doubts about that, but if it happens it will definitely spark a much-needed “national discussion” about the “anchor baby” syndrome we have allowed to develop.
energy
Trump will “fully unlock” Alaska’s energy, which the official called indispensable to U.S. national security.
The senior official told Fox News Digital that the energy order applies to “every single energy policy” and affects natural gas liquids, ports, fracking, pipelines, permitting and more, while also reversing President Biden’s policies, which he said that they “have restricted U.S. energy.” delivery.”
Miller also discussed what he called an “energy omnibus,” with the Trump adviser describing a sweeping directive that would declare a national energy emergency, according to one of the Republicans participating in the call. Trump would also work to lift Biden-era restrictions on drilling and measures to promote electric vehicles while calling for cuts in spending on efforts to combat climate change.
abortion
Trump is expected to reinstate a policy that bars foreign organizations that receive U.S. funding from providing and promoting abortions using other funding sources, possibly as early as his first day back in the White House.
Drug cartels
WSJ:
Trump also plans to designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and restrict entry into the United States, likely through a travel ban. It was not immediately clear how a travel ban might work.
Depending on how aggressively this is pursued, there could be direct action missions by Delta Force, SEALs and other organizations against fentanyl labs and drug infrastructure across much of Mexico, where the Mexican government has no authority. It also opens the possibility of deploying military units to disrupt drug trafficking by air and sea.
THE
Trump is expected to rescind Biden’s executive order requiring the integration of DEI across all agencies. I’m afraid this order will arrive a little behind schedule. The FBI has already disbanded its office (Bye-Bye DEI at the FBI: Bureau Makes Big Change Even Before Trump Re-Takes Command – RedState), but moved staff to the Human Relations and Equal Opportunity offices.
The FBI is acting fraudulently by “closing” its DEI office and moving the staff and mission to another office under a different name.
The entire cultural Marxist ethos in the @FBI must be eradicated, its managers and protagonists must be dismissed from public service.…
— J Michael Waller (@JMichaelWaller) January 17, 2025
I’m sure this has happened across government.
Federal workforce
Schedule F is back. This change will convert any public service position that develops an agency’s policy from a protected position to an at-will position. This means that many of the die-hard leftists who want to play “resistance fighters” will have to give up their civil service protection or leave political positions. If Trump can make this stick, that will be great. Working from home for long periods will be a thing of the past.
Part of Trump’s effort to reshape the federal government will aim to rewrite hiring rules for employees and create a novel process for firing others. The president-elect will re-sign an executive order called Schedule F that he issued in October 2020 to eliminate job protections for federal workers, Republicans said. The Biden administration had previously blocked the order.
The official also said Trump would fully reform the federal bureaucracy by restoring presidential control over career federal employees and making it clear to federal employees that they could be removed from positions if they do not follow executive branch orders.
Trump will sign an executive order to strengthen presidential control over senior government officials and introduce novel merit-based hiring reviews. Trump will also take measures to return federal employees to in-person work.
The part about dismissing officials for unlawful obstruction is indispensable. In the first Trump administration, public officials routinely lied to Trump appointees about the extent of their power and how they would operate. This has to stop.
During Trump’s first term, his staff was underqualified and unaware that the officials left over from the Obama years were lying to them.
In this egregious example, career DOL employees simply lied and then proved they were lying when Biden came to power. pic.twitter.com/X4MQF0rHG3
– Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) January 18, 2025
Hiring and NGO funding Freezie
Trump will also institute a novel hiring freeze for the Department of Government Efficiency and, the official said, take control of foreign aid and NGO funding.
The government also plans to stop funding NGOs until it can determine what they are up to. Much of our problem at our border is exacerbated by federally funded NGOs that run their own immigration policies.
repayment
Trump will also suspend security clearances on his first day for the 51 national security officials who “lied” about Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 presidential election.
Gender definitions
According to Fox News, Trump is expected to sign an executive order that will definitively answer the age-old question “What is a woman?” for all federal agencies; see “What is a Woman?” sends film critics fleeing – RedState.
Tomorrow promises to be an exhilarating day. Not only will Trump be back in the White House, he will be in charge in a way he probably never was last time.
