Just hours after taking the oath of office as America’s 47th president, Donald Trump signed dozens of executive orders putting his stamp on the federal government he now leads. While they signal a dramatic change in governing priorities, most are highly symbolic, and many are ultimately meaningless. Still, they provide a disquieting preview of the shambolic, lawless and cruel four years ahead of us.
Take, for example, the most prominent of these inauguration day moves — an executive order ending birthright citizenship, a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Imagine if a Democrat came into office, said they’d no longer recognize the Second Amendment and began confiscating guns. That’s akin to what Trump is doing with birthright citizenship.
The orders provide a disquieting preview of the shambolic, lawless and cruel four years ahead of us.
As much as Trump might want to ignore the country’s founding document and govern like an autocrat, he can’t simply wave away a constitutional right with his signature. His order will almost certainly be challenged in court, and it is highly unlikely to be upheld.
Still, is there anything to stop Trump from ignoring a court order and proceeding as if birthright citizenship is no longer the law of the land? We may soon find out.
Indeed, Monday night, Trump signed an executive order delaying the enforcement of a federal ban on TikTok for 75 days, even though the law went into effect on Sunday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ban, and Trump has no authority to block it. In addition, he issued pardons for more than 1,500 people involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection — an astoundingly lawless act even for a man who has made a career out of breaking the law (both as president and before).
Another of Trump’s executive orders would allow the U.S. military to take over border security. The legality of such a move is in serious doubt — since there are strict statutory limits on the armed forces’ operating on American soil. Like Trump’s call to end birthright citizenship, this move will be challenged in court. But we’ll have to see whether an adverse ruling will stand in Trump’s way.
In reality, most of Trump’s orders may have little practical effect.
An executive order that would reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy from his first administration will likely be challenging to implement since the Mexican government is not necessarily on board with the move.
While legal, a bevy of orders to “unleash” American energy and allow new drilling are unlikely to have much effect. The United States is already pumping record amounts of oil and natural gas, and boosting output would most likely lower oil and gas prices, narrowing energy company profits. Trump is also pledging to overturn the so-called electric vehicle mandate, which requires carmakers to produce vehicles that produce significantly lower amounts of greenhouse gases. But it’s far from clear that he has the authority to do so, and the Environmental Protection Agency will need to go through the lengthy process of creating a rule. Then there are ludicrous orders — like renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America or creating DOGE, a Department of Government Efficiency to cut government spending, that will have zero statutory authority to cut government spending (and is already facing legal challenges). In addition, Trump declared a state of emergency along the southern border even though border crossings have been at their lowest level since August 2020. Is there anything to stop Trump from ignoring a court order and proceeding as if birthright citizenship is no longer the law of the land? We may soon find out. Of course, since we’re talking about Donald Trump, there is also a healthy dose of cruelty and inhumanity. One executive order signed by Trump reverses a Biden administration policy that allowed citizens to choose a gender-neutral X on their passport books. Denying the rights of trans or gender-fluid Americans to self-identify doesn’t help anyone, but it certainly hurts those who identify in this manner. And in the award for the greatest gap between reality and rhetoric, Trump’s executive order on “defending women from gender ideology extremism” warns that “Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being.” On a related note, Trump was found legally liable for sexual abuse by a jury in New York City. All of these orders are a fitting preview of the next four years — a combination of bluster, symbolism, lawlessness and cruelty that will do little to better the lives of the American people but will give Trump’s supporters a reason to cheer. One can certainly say that many Americans voted for what Trump did on Day One of his second term — and that is, without a doubt, the saddest part of his return to Washington.
Michael A. Cohen is a political writer and a fellow with the Eurasia Group Foundation. 
