The speed at which the 47th President of the US, Donald Trump, is pushing forward on all the issues he campaigned on is unprecedented in at least the country’s recent political history.
Even the most fanatical of his personal or political opponents have been rather bewildered by the way in which the new president of the country is advancing all the issues on which he believes he must leave his personal and political mark.
But what has Trump and his administration done in the first eight days?
In addition to dozens of presidential executive orders, the US president has already launched the mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
Trump, without yet having the signature and congressional approval for all of his proposals regarding the governmental scheme, has given clear orders and the US military is once again on the country’s southern border with Mexico.
Canada, Mexico and Colombia have already been informed of the rates of the tariffs Trump will impose on them immediately, at the same time that literally with one signature the US president has set hundreds of people as unfit from the military because of their diversity.
Trump just yesterday put millions of public servants in front of a critical choice by offering as an “option” a voluntary exit to all US government personnel (except the military).
What clearly shows the intentions of the US President, however, is the decision to immediately “freeze” several billions that the US Treasury has to pay out in the coming period in all its activities inside and outside the country to employees, NGOs, and countries.
Trump’s move is the clearest indication of his primary goal—his “magnum opus”: And that is no longer merely to lead the country—after all, he has already achieved that twice—but to rebuild, upon the ruins of the American state, which he himself seeks to dismantle, his own vision for America.
The constitutional obstacles
Trump has several hurdles in front of him, not political this time, but constitutional. A Washington judge may have temporarily blocked Trump’s decision to pause payments, but it’s clear that the 47th US president wants to strike down a very specific law, and will only do so if he drags the institutions to the point of taking him to the Supreme Court…
The law that currently prevents Trump from starting to tear down what to him is the old and “rotten”, is the 1974 law under by which no president has the authority to pause – not freeze for a specified period of time – spending that affects society as a whole and that has been approved by the body of Congress…
In the current situation that is precisely the case, as the spending Trump wants to “revisit” already has the signatures of both the House and Senate.
If the president of the US insists on his choice, which is the most likely scenario, the situation will be taken to the Supreme Court of the country, where he has made sure since his first term that he has a majority, and six judges to three.
Again, the case will not be easy, as even these particular judges appointed by him cannot interpret the Constitution as they see fit, but it is possible to create the conditions that will give, to Trump, the “cards” he lacks, in order for him to exclusively determine who gets what, when and for what price.
Donald Trump has returned after four years in the Oval Office more determined than ever not just to make his mark in one four-year term, but to pave the way for the next several years with or without him in power.
Trump ends all federal funds for health services directed to transgender teens
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for ending all federal funding or support for health services that were directed to transgender teens.
In his eight days as US president, the Republican has already banned transgender people from serving in the armed forces and ended diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The new executive order comes in keeping with Trump’s campaign promise to end the sexual mutilation of children, referring to puberty suppression therapy for children experiencing gender dysphoria and hormone therapy to help with “gender transition“, but mainly to “transition” surgeries to minors.
“It is the policy of the United States not to fund, promote, advocate, assist or support a child’s so-called ‘transition’ from one gender to another, and will strictly enforce all laws that prohibit or restrict these life-changing, destructive procedures,” the executive order stressed.
Trump’s supporters, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom law firm, hailed the executive order calling it a “refreshing return to sanity“, while opponents such as Marsie Bowers, a gynecologist and surgeon, said Trump “will have blood on his hands.”
Republicans in more than 50 states have adopted laws or policies banning sex change for minors, some of which have been overturned or blocked in court.
Trump abolishes visas for students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations
Against any student support for Palestinians stands the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who, according to Reuters sources, will today sign an executive order cancelling the visas of students who “support Hamas” and attend US universities and colleges.
The agency, citing statements from a White House official, said the executive order is about “combating anti-Semitism and committing to deporting foreign students and other foreign residents who have participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.”
A news release about the executive order said Trump would order the Justice Department to “aggressively prosecute terrorist threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews,” Reuters reported.
“To all the resident aliens who participated in the pro-jihadist demonstrations, we are putting you on notice: come 2025, we will find you and deport you,” Trump said in the newsletter. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas supporters on college campuses, which are infected with radicalism like never before.”
Cuts on funding for schools and universities with curricula that “divide the nation”
Following a similar line in terms of the orientation of American education, Trump signed another executive order, this time concerning funding for certain schools.
Under the executive order, the administration will end funding for “public schools that espouse Critical Theory” – which focuses on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society – and those institutions that include “divisive measures” in their curriculum.
A White House document said the order would direct “the Department of Education to issue guidance on how states can use federal funding types to support K-12 scholarship programs.”
In terms of selecting schools that would be eligible for these funds, the executive order would direct the U.S. Department of Education and states on how to support “alternatives to public education, such as private and religious schools.”
The US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has been put in charge of creating a plan that would allow military families “to use Pentagon funds to send their children to the school of their choice,” the document says.
The Interior Department should also consider how Native American families with students in the Bureau of Indian Education can use federal funds to send their children to schools of their choice, according to the document provided by a White House official.
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