Donald Trump said he’d be a “dictator for a day” when he returned to the Oval Office for a second term. And he certainly hit the ground running, signing scores of executive orders within hours of being inaugurated.
One of the measures he had telegraphed throughout the campaign was that on “day one”, he would “launch the largest deportation program in American history”. He also announced his intention to end “birthright citizenship”, pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement (again), and impose a tranche of tariffs.
All these declarations meant Trump’s first day was going to be busy. Now, after his inauguration speech and the announced executive orders, we can start to identify Trump’s priorities. Three themes stand out: partisan politics, isolationism, and foreign policy disruption.
