On Jan. 20, Donald Trump once again took hold of the Oval Office, and as he promised on the campaign trail, he started making changes on Day 1. Here’s a look at everything that happened on Inauguration Day:
The day started with former President Biden’s final action as president. President Biden pardoned several members of his family and people like former NAID director Anthony Fauci that many believed President Trump would investigate when he got into office.
Then, at noon, the former President became the current president again. Due to the dangerous cold that DC and most of the Northeast was facing, the inauguration ceremony was moved to the rotunda of the Capitol Building instead of being held outdoors on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This marked the first time the inauguration had been held indoors since 1985, when Ronald and Nancy Reagan decided to hold the ceremony indoors due to the cold weather.
Then, the executive orders (EO) began.
Trump started by signing a slew of administrative orders, many centered around campaign promises. Trump started off with a controversial executive order to revoke birthright citizenship. This EO would make it so babies that are born in the US whose parents are not US citizens would not be US citizens. The move is currently paused due to challenges in the courts.
The President then moved on to sign orders to make the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and change the Alaskan Mount Denali’s name to Mount McKinley.
Trump also made the move to designate certain Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. The Trump administration believes that making this move will help stop fentanyl from coming over the southern border.
He also reinstated his “remain in Mexico” policy that was held during the first Trump administration. This policy effectively closes the southern border to people looking to come into the country seeking asylum. Trump is also planning on keeping a promise from his 2016 presidential campaign and is looking to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
President Trump then went to the Capital One Arena, where the inauguration parade was being held due to the cold, and signed executive orders in front of supporters. The EO’s covered a host of topics from rescinding Biden era orders to freezing federal hiring to removing the US from the Paris Climate Accords. Later in the night, he would also announce that the US would be leaving the World Health Organization.
When he returned to the White House, Trump went on to sign even more executive orders, including pardons for many of the January 6th rioters. He would also lift the US ban on TikTok.
In his final Executive Order on the first day, Trump designated that the only two genders in this country are Male and Female.
Critics are calling the bill anti-transgender as it would prevent people from putting a gender other than Male or Female on official government documents like driver’s license and passports.
