Trump turns executive orders into rally spectacle

Donald Trump took an ordinary presidential act – rescinding orders from a previous administration of different party – and turned it into a spectacle.

After giving another winding speech – his third of the day – Trump moved to a small desk on the stage at the downtown sport arena where his indoor inaugural parade had just concluded. Then he went to work freezing new federal regulations and hiring, reversing Biden administration directives, mandating federal workers work in-office full-time and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords.

“Can you imagine Joe Biden doing this?” he asked after signing the regulation freeze – but that could have applied to visuals of the moment as much as to the content of the orders.

He also signed more symbolic orders to end the “weaponisation of government” and instruct his administration to address the higher cost of living.

It’s just the start of what promises to be a record number of first-day executive actions, including a promised pardon of many of some who participated in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

After the arena ceremony, Trump tossed the pens he used into the crowd – another Trumping flourish.

This is the list of executive orders signed by President Trump in front of his supporters inside the arena in Washington DC [as it was described to the arena]

• The rescission of 78 Biden-era executive actions
• A regulatory freeze preventing bureaucrats from issuing any more regulations until the administration has full control of the government
• A freeze on all federal hiring, excepting the military and a number of other excluded categories until full control of the government is achieved
• A requirement for federal workers return to full-time in-person work immediately

• A directive to every department and agency in the federal government to address the cost-of-living
• Withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement
• A directive to the federal government ordering the restoration of freedom of speech and preventing government censorship of free speech

• A directive to the federal government ending the “weaponisation” of government against the “political adversaries” of the previous administration

[BBC]