After quoting the Bible in a call for national unity, acknowledging God the Creator, blasting the establishment, and vowing to put “America First” in his inaugural address, President Donald Trump is reportedly ready to unleash a torrent of executive orders and actions. At the top of the agenda, administration officials say, is reversing some of the damage inflicted by former President Barack Obama with his infamous “pen and phone.” Among the first targets are Obama’s illegal “climate” schemes and his radical power grab purporting to regulate virtually all waters across the United States. Also in the cross-hairs are pseudo-“free trade” regimes such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). ObamaCare is also on the chopping block. And the border will be brought back under control, the White House said. How much of Obama’s largely unconstitutional “legacy” will be undone, and how quickly, remains to be seen.
Immediately following his inauguration, Trump got straight to work on his first official acts as president. Among other duties, he signed a law passed by Congress to grant retired General James Mattis a waiver to legally serve as Trump’s secretary of defense, required by law because the Marine was still in military service less than seven years ago. He signed documents making his cabinet picks official, joking that he assumed Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson had been confirmed today. He signed a document proclaiming a new “National Day of Patriotism.” The document was not yet available on the White House website by press time.
He also signed an executive order for “minimizing the economic burden” of ObamaCare. “It is the policy of my Administration to seek the prompt repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [ObamaCare],” the order states. “In the meantime, pending such repeal, it is imperative for the executive branch … take all actions consistent with law to minimize the unwarranted economic and regulatory burdens of the Act, and prepare to afford the States more flexibility and control to create a more free and open healthcare market.”
Trump, smiling as he signed away, was surrounded by family, congressional leaders from both parties, and others, as attendees joked about who should get which pen that Trump used in his first official acts.
On the White House website, Obama’s “climate” antics and water regulations were among the first “harmful and unnecessary policies” targeted for elimination by Trump. The new administration vowed to immediately eliminate Obama’s illegal “Climate Action Plan,” for example, which usurped unconstitutional powers in a bid to illegally regulate emissions of the “gas of life,” also known as carbon dioxide and human breath. That means the United Nations Paris Agreement on “climate” is as good as dead, too, just as Trump promised. Another unconsitutional regulation, Obama’s “Waters of the United States” rule, is also toast. “Lifting these restrictions will greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than $30 billion over the next 7 years,” explained the new administration’s White House website, infuriating radical leftists, globalists, and pseudo-environmentalist outfits funded by what Senate investigators described as the “Billionaires’ Club.”
As part of what it touts as an “America First Energy Plan,” the new White House site also calls for accessing America’s vast energy resources — especially those on federal lands, with the revenues going to rebuild U.S. infrastructure. “We must take advantage of the estimated $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, especially those on federal lands that the American people own,” explains President Trump’s new White House website, saying the plan will bring prosperity to millions of Americans. “We will use the revenues from energy production to rebuild our roads, schools, bridges and public infrastructure.” The pledge also notes that the energy industry has been held back for too long by “burdensome regulations.” Freeing up energy production will be a boost to U.S. agriculture, too, the administration said in a nod to embattled farmers terrorized for years by the swarms of extremist bureaucrats unleashed under Obama to crush rural America.
So-called “trade” deals feature prominently on the new site as well, with Trump vowing to target NAFTA, TPP, and other sovereignty- and economy-undermining international agreements right away. “For too long, Americans have been forced to accept trade deals that put the interests of insiders and the Washington elite over the hard-working men and women of this country,” the administration said, adding that the schemes have crushed American workers and communities. “This strategy starts by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and making certain that any new trade deals are in the interests of American workers.”
As far as specific policies, White House spokesman Sean Spicer laid out a number of the actions Trump planned to take at a Thursday press briefing, saying the new president would be acting as soon as possible. “Part of what he announced in the executive order list around the Thanksgiving time included the actions on both TPP and NAFTA,” Spicer told journalists. “They will be done by executive order so I think you will see those happen very shortly…. He is committed to not just Day 1, but Day 2, Day 3 of enacting an agenda of real change, and I think that you’re going to see that in the days and weeks to come.”
Spicer told assembled journalists to expect action on January 20, over the weekend, and into next week, on a wide range of issues that Trump campaigned on. And indeed, on Trump’s first day, the White House website announced the plan on NAFTA. “President Trump is committed to renegotiating NAFTA,” the site says. “If our partners refuse a renegotiation that gives American workers a fair deal, then the President will give notice of the United States’ intent to withdraw from NAFTA.” It was not immediately clear what might be included in the renegotiation, but so far, senior officials have already expressed concerns to Canadian authorities about NAFTA “tribunals” and the effect they have in undermining American national sovereignty.
Among the many executive actions Trump is expected to take is reversing an extraordinarily unpopular executive action by Obama purporting to authorize U.S. taxpayer funding of scandal-plagued abortion giant Planned Parenthood’s international operation. Both pro-life and pro-abortion sources have reported that Trump plans to re-instate the so-called “Mexico City Policy,” initially put in place by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, stopping the flow of American tax dollars to abortionists and abortion promoters around the world under the guise of “family planning.” Obama adopted the radical pro-abortion policy on his first week in office, and Trump is expected to undo it in his first week.
Eventually, the GOP-controlled Congress and Trump are universally expected to defund Planned Parenthood and its highly lucrative domestic schemes, too. Among other activities, the abortion group is involved in butchering more unborn babies than any other organization in America, funding pro-abortion Democrats and their political campaigns, pro-abortion political activism and lobbying, lawsuits to undo restrictions or regulations on killing the unborn, and more. After getting exposed trafficking in the body organs of babies, Planned Parenthood, founded by a racist eugenicist, became a lighting rod for criticism. And Trump campaigned on cutting off the tax-dollar spigot for the group.
In addition to the executive orders and policy, Trump is expected to visit the headquarters of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia, over the weekend. Under the leadership of Obama’s controversial appointees, the politicized intelligence agencies came under growing criticism for, among other things, perjury before Congress, manipulating intelligence, illegal spying, trying to undermine Trump, and more. Now, Trump reportedly wants peace with the rank-and-file agents, many of whom were disgusted by the actions of Obama’s radical appointees.
On the new White House website, the administration vowed to stand up for law enforcement, too, but fortunately for constitutionalists, did not advocate any unconstitutional policies suggesting federalization of police. “Supporting law enforcement means supporting our citizens’ ability to protect themselves,” the administration said, adding that it would uphold Americans’ gun rights protected in the Second Amendment at every level of the judicial system. “President Trump is committed to building a border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence, and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities. He is dedicated to enforcing our border laws, ending sanctuary cities, and stemming the tide of lawlessness associated with illegal immigration. Supporting law enforcement also means deporting illegal aliens with violent criminal records who have remained within our borders.” The site also says Trump will be a “law and order” president.
Trump’s team vowed to rebuild and support the military as well. In his inaugural speech, the president emphasized that he would not be seeking to impose America’s values on foreigners by force. However, “peace through strength will be at the center” of Trump’s foreign policy agenda, the administration said on its section about an “America First Foreign Policy.” The military plan calls for emphasis on cyber-warfare, a missile-defense system, defeating ISIS, “coalition military operations,” and more. Finally, the administration vowed to ensure the best possible care for veterans.
On jobs and the economy, the Trump administration vowed to achieve strong economic growth, with a special focus on manufacturing. “Since the recession of 2008, American workers and businesses have suffered through the slowest economic recovery since World War II,” the site says. “The U.S. lost nearly 300,000 manufacturing jobs during this period, while the share of Americans in the work force plummeted to lows not seen since the 1970s, the national debt doubled, and middle class got smaller. To get the economy back on track, President Trump has outlined a bold plan to create 25 million new American jobs in the next decade and return to 4 percent annual economic growth.” On his campaign website, the goal was 3.5 percent growth. Whether that will be accomplished remains to be seen.
In other excellent news for patriotic Americans concerned about the burden of a bloated federal workforce, a recent survey showed that more than one fourth of federal government workers were considering quitting or retiring under Trump. President Trump’s team has announced that the president intends to mandate a hiring freeze, which is a good start. But because dismissing government workers is so difficult, the fact that many are considering leaving on their own will be viewed as an amazingly positive development by the huge majority of Americans who think the federal government is totally out of control.
Photo of Donald Trump arriving on Capitol Hill for his inauguration ceremony: AP Images
Update: After this article was published, additional information was added about Trump’s actions on ObamaCare.
Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, education, politics, and more. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU.
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