Trump’s first week: New president moved with lightning speed to overhaul government

Deportations. Firings. Pardons. A blizzard of executive orders.

And the Gulf of Mexico became the Gulf of America.

President Donald Trump moved with dizzying speed during his first week back in power as he began the process of enacting his agenda.

Trump’s aggressive use of presidential power out of the starting gate left some observers stunned and his supporters cheering as he wasted little time delivering on a slew of campaign promises, sometimes in provocative and boundary-testing ways.

Health agencies went quiet after a pause was ordered on external communications. Employees overseeing diversity efforts in the federal workforce were put on leave, with plans to fire them. At least one plane was loaded with undocumented immigrants to whisk them out of the country. Pardons were handed out to nearly every person convicted for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The moves sent shock waves from Washington to the nation's southern border as Trump’s disruptive agenda came into clearer focus.

Much of the transformation was foretold by the president's hard-charging campaign, where he railed against former President Joe Biden’s policies and promised a radically different approach, and by a transition period that saw him stock his administration with people viewed as eager to dramatically remake government.

Yet the breadth and the tempo of the changes were remarkable.

“The Trump team is moving much more swiftly and aggressively than it did eight years ago,” GOP consultant Mike DuHaime said of the president’s efforts to overhaul federal agencies.

Trump showed in his first week that he plans to test the limits of presidential power. Among his first actions after taking office Monday were the Jan. 6 pardons – which concerned even some GOP leaders because they included many people who assaulted police – and an executive order doing away with birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

A judge appointed by former Republican President Ronald Reagan quickly shot the order down, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional," after 22 Democratic-led states challenged it in court. The ruling indicated there are still some checks on Trump's power, but he vowed to appeal and seems determined to keep testing the Democratic system of checks and balances.

Trump speaks: New president slams foes, outlines vision in first sit-down interview: 5 takeaways

Trump's victory in November also brought unified GOP control of Congress. And with the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority, the stage is set for a big spree of conservative policymaking.

Major legislation is in the works tackling immigration, taxes and other issues. That could take months, though. Trump's opening salvo shows there are plenty of levers he can pull to start overhauling federal policies and agencies.

Harrison Fields, Trump's principal deputy press secretary, said the president wasted no time delivering on his campaign promises of “securing the border, restoring common sense, driving down inflation, and unleashing American energy.”

'Testing bounds'

Trump's busy and consequential first week shouldn't be surprising, said Marc Short, who was chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence during Trump's first administration.

When he first took office in 2017, Trump was still struggling to consolidate support within his own party and learning how the federal government works. He squeaked into office with narrow victories in a few swing states, and his team wasn't as prepared.

The past week is a product of everything Trump and his allies experienced over the past eight years. They learned to wield power during the first administration and, after he lost in 2020, plotted how to wield it again if he returned.

Trump is now surrounding himself with people he views as more loyal and trusted, according to allies, who are true believers in his agenda. And he has consolidated support within the GOP, which has empowered him.

“I think he’s more comfortable," Short said. "I think people forget that eight years ago he was in a position of still unifying the Republican Party, and that’s not the position he's in today."

Trump has a lot more leeway now from his party and corporate America and is "testing bounds," Short added.

That's reflected in his choice of unconventional Cabinet members and in executive orders like one keeping the social media company TikTok operating, despite a law passed by Congress ordering its Chinese parent company to sell it to American buyers or close down, he said.

Trump isn't just pushing legal boundaries, Short added, noting that the pardons of people who assaulted police officers on Jan. 6 test the "the bounds of traditional Republican coalitions,” which have long supported law and order. Biden's pardons for his family members and others on his last day in office make it easier for Trump and his supporters to shrug off any criticism, though.

"Biden gave him enormous cover," Short said.

'May God bless you': Joe Biden's 'inspirational' outgoing letter to Donald Trump revealed

Remaking the federal government

While the Jan. 6 pardons were controversial even among some Republicans, other Trump first-week actions have broader support.

Combating the "deep state" has long been a central focus for Trump, and Republicans for generations have campaigned on reigning in the federal bureaucracy.

The president accused bureaucrats of undermining his first administration, and he wants a more compliant workforce this time.

So Trump's first week included a barrage of actions targeted at federal workers and agencies.

Trump sought to end work-from-home for many federal workers and ordered diversity, equity and inclusion offices to close, their employees put on leave and plans drawn up to fire them. About 160 National Security Council employees were told to stay home while their positions were evaluated, The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, at least 15 senior Justice Department officials were reassigned as the agency realigns to focus on immigration.

Health agencies were told not to communicate with the public, temporarily pausing everything from advisories to scientific reports, website updates and social media posts until Feb. 1. While there are exceptions for emergencies, some health experts are concerned.

Public health requires "incredible coordination" between officials from the local up to the federal level, said Dr. Marissa Levine, a retired professor of public health practice and the former state health commissioner for Virginia. Levine was health commissioner during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and worked closely with federal officials.

Beyond the short-term implications for public health, the pause in communications raises long-term questions about the politics surrounding health agencies. If these agencies are viewed as too political, they could lose public trust, Levine said.

“The message that seems to be coming across is that this is going to be controlled under our political perspective," Levine said. "Can I trust that? I don’t know. I worry about it."

Overall, conservatives are eager to see the federal bureaucracy tamed, Short said, arguing it has "grown way too large."

'America is back and open for business': Trump speaks to leaders at World Economic Forum in Davos

Culture wars

The overhaul of federal agencies is a prime target for Trump’s culture war promises on issues such as DEI, but Trump’s first week was a culture shift in many other ways.

He thrilled anti-abortion activists with a memorandum reinstating a policy preventing federal funding for organizations in other countries that support abortions.

Trump also signed an executive order promoting cryptocurrencies, which he embraced during a campaign that heavily targeted young men who often are crypto enthusiasts. Trump has his own crypto venture that has soared in value lately.

The blitz of aggressive policymaking also plays into the swaggering, macho approach he has long cultivated and is infused throughout his MAGA movement.

Retribution

Trump also took aim at people with whom he has clashed.

He revoked security clearances for 51 former intelligence officials he has criticized for signing a 2020 letter saying the disclosure of information from Hunter Biden's laptop "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation."

He also revoked the security clearance and protective detail for John Bolton, a former Trump administration official turned critic, and the security detail for former federal health official Dr. Anthony Fauci, another person who served under him but has since been critical.

Trump also fired the head of the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and as many as 17 inspectors general at various federal agencies.

Immigration raids

While health agencies were quiet, Trump officials were making plenty of noise about immigration enforcement, Trump's signature campaign promise and a major preoccupation of the new administration.

Trump had campaigned on the promise of mass deportations, and border czar Tom Homan said before the inauguration to expect "shock and awe" on the immigration issue.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Friday that "deportation flights have begun" and shared pictures on X of people loading into a military plane.

"President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences," Leavitt added.

(In reality, deportation flights had never stopped. Tom Cartwright, who tracks flights for advocacy group Witness at the Border, reported the Biden administration averaged six deportation flights per weekday over the six months through December.)

Unlike the blitz of other Trump actions, though, ramping up deportations will take longer to unfold. The Department of Homeland Security this week deputized thousands of additional federal law enforcement officers to arrest immigrants, including U.S. Marshals and DEA agents.

Trump also ordered more U.S. troops to the border this week to help support immigration enforcement, even as illegal crossings remain at a five-year low.

Trump promised to remove millions of immigrants in the country illegally. He fell short of that promise during his first administration, removing roughly 935,000 people over four years.

How extensive Trump's deportation push and other actions will be remains unclear. What's certain is there is more to come from the new administration.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Trump pushed boundaries of presidential power in first week