Trump signs dozens of executive orders, fulfilling many but not all campaign promises
2025-01-21
Category: political

President Trump, immediately upon taking office, flexed his presidential powers as he followed through on some of the major pledges he made on the campaign trail. "Today I will sign a series of historic executive orders. With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of commonsense," the nation's 47th president vowed during his inauguration address Monday at the U.S. Capitol. Hours later, Trump followed through, with an avalanche of executive order signings at Washington's Capitol One Arena, in front of thousands of supporters - a first in the nation's history - and later in the more traditional Oval Office setting at the White House. "It's just pure Trump. He's the first president in a new connected world in which you have to govern from the outside in. You have to mount support and bring the people with you," veteran Republican strategist Alex Castellanos told Fox News Digital. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FIRST DAY IN OFFICE&nbsp;  Trump's immigration promises were a centerpiece of his successful presidential campaign to win back the White House. "On Day One, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America," the then-Republican presidential nominee vowed during a late October rally at New York City's Madison Square Garden. And Trump took immediate action during his first hours back in office. FIRST ON FOX: TRUMP VOWS OVER 200 EXECUTIVE ACTIONS ON DAY 1 The new president declared a national emergency along the southern border with Mexico and ordered the deployment of U.S. troops to help support immigration agents. Trump also ordered the restart of a policy from his first administration that forced asylum seekers to wait over the border in Mexico. But it's unclear if Mexico would accept migrants again. Trump also directed the federal government to resume border wall construction, begun during his first term but halted by President Biden.&nbsp;  And Trump signed an order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal migrants. But with birthright citizenship enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, Trump's executive order is sure to face immediate legal challenges in court from civil rights groups and immigration activists. "I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. 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. We will reinstate my remain in Mexico policy. I will end the practice of catch and release. And I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country," Trump emphasized in his inauguration address. TRUMP VOWS TO ACT WITH ‘HISTORIC SPEED’ AS INAUGURATION BRINGS REDEPMPTION&nbsp; And the president also announced that "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."  During his two-year run to return to the White House, Trump repeatedly vowed to "drill, baby, drill," and pledged to end the Biden administration's electric vehicle mandate. On Monday, Trump followed through, as he tied his energy executive orders to his efforts to keep inflation in check. "I will direct all members of my cabinet to marshal the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation, and rapidly bring down costs and prices. The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices," Trump argued.&nbsp; And he said "that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill. America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have. The largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth." During the 2024 cycle, Trump and Republicans repeatedly targeted Democrats up and down the ballot over the Biden administration's protections for transgender students "We’re going to end it on Day One," Trump vowed last May. "Don’t forget, that was done as an order from the president. That came down as an executive order. And we’re going to change it — on Day One, it’s going to be changed." Trump followed through, taking executive action from what the president's advisers said would "defend women from gender, ideology, extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government."  "As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," the president said. The president also signed orders terminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs - best known by their acronym DEI - within the federal government. The orders direct the White House to identify and end the programs within the government. Another promise from the campaign trail - pardoning the defendants and commuting the sentences of many of those convicted of charges from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who unsuccessfully tried to halt congressional certification of President Biden's 2020 election victory.&nbsp; Trump didn't mention the pardons in his inauguration address, but minutes later as he spoke to supporters gathered in an overflow room in the U.S. Capitol, he reiterated his longstanding unproven claim that the 2020 presidential election "was totally rigged." A&nbsp;couple of hours later, in front of cheering supporters packed into Washington DC's downtown arena, Trump touted that he would be "signing pardons for a lot of people…to get them out" immediately. He wasn't kidding. The president, back at the White House, ended up pardoning around 1,500 people - including some convicted of attacking police officers - obliterating the Justice Department's effort to punish those who stormed the Capitol on one of America's darkest days. "These people have been destroyed," Trump argued as he signed the pardons. "What they’ve done to these people has been outrageous."  Trump also took action on something that didn't come up on the campaign trail. "A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America," Trump declared in his inauguration address.&nbsp; And pointing to Alaska's Mount Denali, which is North America's tallest peak, the president said "we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs." "He's flooding the zone. He's making a case for action. He's demonstrating action. He is rallying a wave of American support for a massive transformation of government," Castellanos, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News. "I think it's overwhelming and Democrats just don't know what's hitting them." "Could you imagine Biden doing this. I don't think so," the president said, as he signed executive orders in front of thousands of his supporters. But Trump didn't follow through on all of his campaign promises.&nbsp; TRUMP ENVOY SETS LONGER TIMETABLE TO END RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR One of his most prominent vows he didn't act on during his first day in office involved immediately ending a deadly war in Eastern Europe. Trump repeatedly touted on the campaign trail that he would end the nearly three-year-long war between Russia and Ukraine "in one day." "They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours," Trump vowed during a May 2023 town hall. And in September, during his single debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump vowed "I will get it settled before I even become president." That, obviously, didn't happen. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP And earlier this month, retired Gen. Keith Kellog, Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, offered a longer timetable. "I would like to set a goal on a personal level, professional level, I would say let’s set it at 100 days," he said in a Fox News Channel interview.