Trump Inauguration and Martin Luther King Memorial Day

When I heard Trump use the term 'manifest destiny,' I knew all I needed to know.

He signed some papers saying he would do these in front of a lot of people as a show. Trump is a would-be showman (he is very bad at it) but people love him for it. It doesn't matter if any of this legislation is passed because he has told his crowd he is doing it and they will believe him.

As with the idea of 'manifest destiny' there is nothing beneath the surface but greed and self-aggrandisement. He will bleed the US dry and they will fall at his feet for doing it.

No one is looking for depth, integrity, wisdom or understanding- America loves its Disney/Vegas sense of shallow show and now they have it in spades.

Let's all keep our heads here whilst others fall...

I despair. Why would just over half of all American voters decide that this man trump is the right Leader for them? I am full of cold and befuddled but I can see the danger he is creating. The UK has to be strong and not be sucked into the world that trump seems to want for us all.

I am bewildered as to how his avowed aim of removing reproductive rights from women can be seen as " good" or represent "common sense and decency".

American culture welcomes self aggrandisement in a way we don’t have in the UK. We seem to do disparagement instead.
It will be interesting to see which approach delivers the best results.

Nanna8 "I disagree- I think he will be great for America. Not for the rest of us, though."
You are sounding deluded. None of his decisions so far will be good for America not the rest of the world

At last....a sign of hope that common sense and decency are back! Let us hope that some of it rubs off on Starmer and sets his mind to working FOR the British people instead of trying to bring our country down even further.

I disagree- I think he will be great for America. Not for the rest of us, though.

Just found he is trying to rescind funding for electricity vehicles. That is called impoundment and is illegal.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Budget_and_Impoundment_Control_Act_of_1974

Here are today's executive orders. There are a couple I see in this list that I didn't see in the media.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/

I did see a mention that he plans to institute a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada on Feb 1st. Canada and Mexico already have plans to retaliate. Canada has already responded to this threat today. This is not going to go well for Americans I suspect.

Thought Melania was speaking volumes with her choice of outfit. The hat almost hid the top half of her face and ensured she couldn’t be kissed by Trump. Everything was ultra formal and said “I’m doing my duty but I would rather not”.

Convenient isn't it Syracute? Now Musk doesn't need a background check.

He has signed an order to define birthright citizenship, which is his attempt to overthrow the 14th Amendment. It is unconstitutional for him to do anything like this without Congress. We will see what Congress does with it.

He has given Tik Tok 75 days to find a buyer. (There is rumor that META Zuckerberg is at the top of the list. I am not sure that is accurate, but it would make sense)

He has installed a hiring freeze for all Federal agencies, but did mention the IRS directly.

There is something about Manifest Destiny in regards to Panama, renaming the gulf of Mexico and returning landmarks to their original Confederate names. And Mars.

An update to DOGE. He has renamed a different federal agency to get around the unconstitutional nature of his order.

He has ordered all government agencies to eliminate DEI programs and all people in charge of them should be fired.

There are J6 convicts that are now being released from the jail in DC. One of them was interviewed by the media. She is a member of the Texas Three Percent erst. Another neo-fascist organization.

He is trying to expand the remival process of immigrants by limiting their due process rights.

And something that likely won't be reported, it has been reported they have taken down reproductiverights.gov which is a website women could go to to find health care and determine their rights. I have never been to that site and did not check on it, other than to see that it is not there.

He is challenging the international agreement that tried to stop multi-national corporations to record profits in countries with lower tax rates.

He was going to declare Mexican Cartels as terrorist organizations, but he backed down to a "recommendation" that they be declared. If I remember correctly, this is how Bush was able to attack Afghanistan. With a war on terror. He also ordered his cabinet to prepare to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. This will allow him to deport criminals and gang members without Due Process.

Looks like he might be done for today. I am sure we will see more orders tomorrow.

imaround

We didn't have to wait long. These are not in order and are presented without comment. I am just reporting what he has signed.

No more Paris Climate Agreement.

No more World Health Organization.

He pardoned the 1500 people who tried to overthrow the government and hang Mike Pence. Including the ex-leader of the Proud Boys who had been sentenced to 22 years.

He commuted the sentence of the Oath Keepers Militia.

(For those not in the know, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are far right neo-facist organizations. )

He has cancelled the flights for 1600 Afghans who had already been approved to relocate to the US. Some are unaccompanied minors. The rest are families of the people who helped the US during the war.

He has rescinded the order that regulated AI safety.

He has shut down the border and shut down the app that asylum seekers use. He has fired the top 5 people at the immigration courts.

He has ordered the military to find a plan to "seal" the northern border with Canada.

He "has ended a program that allowed migrants from Cuba, Venezuela Haiti, and Nicaragua to enter the country for up to two years if they had a financial sponsor and passed security checks. More than 500,000 migrants entered the U.S. through the program since it was put in place in 2023."

He has ordered a study that will "identifying countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries"

He has just instructed the DOJ to investigate all agencies for bias. (This is why Biden pre-emptively pardoned the people he did today and yesterday)

I think he created DOGE. It is confusing. It is actually unconstitutional for him to do. Only Congress can create government agencies.

He said this about GAZA "Trump said that he was “not confident” that the cease-fire in Gaza would hold, and he signaled disinterest in the conflict. “That’s not our war. It’s their war. I’m not confident. But I think they’re very weakened on the other side,” Trump said, presumably referring to Hamas."

He just rescinded the Security Clearance of the 51 people who suggested in 2020 that the Biden laptop story was Russian Disinformation. I actually don't thibk any of these people still have security clearances, so not sure why he would have wasted the paper other than he wanted to send a message.

"He just ordered short-circuiting the security clearance vetting process for his White House staffers. Anyone on a list submitted by his White House counsel is to “immediately” be granted a Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information-level clearance good for six months."

Excellent ! Topped this all off with 2 Nazi salutes from Musk . A great start for a fascist regime .

We didn't have to wait long. These are not in order and are presented without comment. I am just reporting what he has signed.

No more Paris Climate Agreement.

No more World Health Organization.

He pardoned the 1500 people who tried to overthrow the government and hang Mike Pence. Including the ex-leader of the Proud Boys who had been sentenced to 22 years.

He commuted the sentence of the Oath Keepers Militia.

(For those not in the know, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are far right neo-facist organizations. )

He has cancelled the flights for 1600 Afghans who had already been approved to relocate to the US. Some are unaccompanied minors. The rest are families of the people who helped the US during the war.

He has rescinded the order that regulated AI safety.

He has shut down the border and shut down the app that asylum seekers use. He has fired the top 5 people at the immigration courts.

He has ordered the military to find a plan to "seal" the northern border with Canada.

He "has ended a program that allowed migrants from Cuba, Venezuela Haiti, and Nicaragua to enter the country for up to two years if they had a financial sponsor and passed security checks. More than 500,000 migrants entered the U.S. through the program since it was put in place in 2023."

He has ordered a study that will "identifying countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries"

He has just instructed the DOJ to investigate all agencies for bias. (This is why Biden pre-emptively pardoned the people he did today and yesterday)

I think he created DOGE. It is confusing. It is actually unconstitutional for him to do. Only Congress can create government agencies.

He said this about GAZA "Trump said that he was “not confident” that the cease-fire in Gaza would hold, and he signaled disinterest in the conflict. “That’s not our war. It’s their war. I’m not confident. But I think they’re very weakened on the other side,” Trump said, presumably referring to Hamas."

He just rescinded the Security Clearance of the 51 people who suggested in 2020 that the Biden laptop story was Russian Disinformation. I actually don't thibk any of these people still have security clearances, so not sure why he would have wasted the paper other than he wanted to send a message.

"He just ordered short-circuiting the security clearance vetting process for his White House staffers. Anyone on a list submitted by his White House counsel is to “immediately” be granted a Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information-level clearance good for six months."

Allsorts

. I really don't think the Trump family like each other, Baron seems very stressed to put it mildly. The whole thing was chaotic and full of gaffs. However Trumps supporters love him.
Trump saying God saved him so he could save America was met with applause.

Believing you are God's chosen one makes a very dangerous person.

There’s a fantastic thread on Mumsnet entitled “Why do people support Trump in the UK?”

Some absolutely brilliant posts on there - much more outspoken than on GN. I admire them!

Why don't we wait and see what happens.
Fine words butter no parsnips.

Starmer has been realistic. He warned us it would be tough. It is.

Bit of a contrast between his positivity and Starmer. Why would you want someone negative and miserable like him ?

We are all old on here Kate

I know but this man....well I don't know. I'm old. The world is changing. What do I know?

Many of the people you are talking about think the same of the Democrats though. They think they are insane. He has just had to put out an executive order to underline the existence of two sexes. It is fairly bonkers that that was needed.

It's quite disconcerting to me that seemingly intelligent, sane, sensible people think that this man is OK. No I don't think that if you don't agree with me you're wrong, I just can't get my head around it.

I have a theory why Melania wore that smart but large hat.
Did you see Donald trying to give her a kiss? He couldn't quite reach her cheek, so it was an air kiss.

A male commentator mused on whether this could be the foundation of a dynasty - first Donald Snr, then Donald Jnr then Barron

The Kennedy family tried that - much good it did them. .

I think if the rumours are true it was Barron who advised Trump to go on the Jo Rogan podcast, if that is the case he has an understanding of the way people are accessing media now.