Courtesy of The Associated Press
Jan. 20, 2025 was Joe Biden’s official last day in office, and Donald Trump’s second inauguration as president of the United States.
This Inauguration Day was particularly eventful, and to Trump’s critics, devastating. Elon Musk sparked controversy by publicly performing the Nazi salute. Trump issued a litany of controversial first-day executive orders. In response, many members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as racial minority groups have spoken out on social media regarding fears for their safety and autonomy under his administration.
The inauguration featured The National Prayer Service with a sermon given by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, a prelate of the Episcopal church. The National Prayer Service has been an Inauguration Day staple since 1937, and it includes one or more prayers given by high-ranking clergy members. During Budde’s speech, she begged for Trump to “have mercy” on the LGBTQ+ community as well as on racial minorities during his term. She stated “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and Independent families. Some who fear for their lives.” She also said “the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.” After the sermon, Trump was quoted saying it was “not too exciting … I did not think it was a good service, no, they could do much better.”
In his inauguration address, Trump highlighted his intentions for the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, and many regions of the country have already seen the effects of this. Reports of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have emerged in various cities, from New York City to Phoenix. ICE has haphazardly arrested thousands of people, continuously posting updates on their official X account statistics as well as names and offenses of criminals they have detained, posting their numbers on Tuesday, Feb. 1: 864 arrests, 621 detained. Only a small percentage of those arrested hold criminal records, though Trump has established catching criminals as his primary goal with mass deportation. Trump has given ICE the ability to enter “sensitive locations” such as schools, churches and hospitals to make arrests, rescinding a 2011 ICE policy enforced by the Obama and Trump administrations and expanded by the Biden administration. This has left many school staff members, faith leaders and medical providers fearing for the wellbeing of their communities.
Just nine days after his entry into office, Trump signed the Laken Riley Act, named after a 22-year-old nursing student killed last February by illegal Venezuelan immigrant Jose Ibarra. The law will knock the requirements for deportation down to petty crimes such as shoplifting. This murder has been a center for many Republican arguments in support of deportation by associating all illegal immigrants with crimes committed by the few. Trump posted on Truth Social on Nov. 24, the day of Ibarra’s trial, “It is time to secure our Border, and remove these criminals and thugs from our Country, so nothing like this can happen again!”
On Inauguration Day, President Trump issued a series of executive orders intended to radically reshape the American government. Through one executive order, Trump has attempted to rescind birthright citizenship — a law that allows children of illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil to be granted U.S. citizenship. This has been upheld since the 1898 Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark. In the order, Trump claims that “the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.” A federal judge has since blocked this order.
Another one of Trump’s Inauguration Day executive orders is entitled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The order mandates that “the government would no longer be acknowledging more than two genders,” which were defined by Trump as exclusively “male and female.” In the order, President Trump also claims that “men” have begun to “self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women.” This statement contradicts findings that transgender individuals are more likely to be on the receiving end of violent crimes and intimate partner violence than to perpetrate them.
Trump also issued an executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy.” The order targeted environmental directives such as the electric vehicle mandate, as well as urging “energy exploration and production on Federal lands and waters.” It also eliminates “restrictions on consumer choice,” from vehicles to gas-powered stoves.
Among Trump’s other mentioned plans was the intention to level steep tariffs against products from other countries such as Canada, China and Mexico. As of Jan. 20th, Trump declared entry of illicit drugs into the US a national emergency, to which he responded by enacting a 10% tariff on products from China, and threatened a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican products — a plan which has since been deferred for one month. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeu posted on X on Feb. 3rd, stating “Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.”
Another of Trump’s executive orders were eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, in which he claims that these are “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs” enacted by the Biden Administration. This order reverses Biden’s executive order, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government” and eliminates many positions in the DEI field, serving to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” offices and positions,” according to Trump’s order.
In Elon Musk’s speech, he stated that this election “really mattered” historically. He spoke spiritedly of his plans to “take DOGE to Mars,” in reference to both his cryptocurrency, Dogecoin and space exploration projects. He then addressed the audience, thanking them for their contributions to the campaign and “making this happen,” after which he performed an arm gesture many argue was a Nazi-style salute. This moment of the inauguration was one of the most-discussed on social media, with reactions ranging from concern for the future to claiming his motion was a “Roman salute.” Musk later posted on X, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
Musk was correct in his assumption that this inauguration marks the beginning of what will likely be a historically significant presidential term as Trump’s plans are already beginning to come to fruition and affect the greater American public. The long-term impacts of Trump’s second presidency remains to be seen.
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