A military term circulates in Washington to describe the political tactic used by Donald Trump when he landed in the White House: ‘Shock and awe’, ‘horrify and awe’. It is the strategy of attacking with a show of force, with disproportionate means, and by surprise to paralyze and discourage the enemy. It is what Trump did as soon as he was sworn in as the new president of the United States this Monday: a barrage of orders executives, which affect all sides of the Government and public life. Some, like immigration, are part of the essence of the United States, of its construction as a country. Others have to do with turning around the political work of his predecessor, Joe Biden. Others seek to reformulate the US position in the international arena, its involvement in international organizations, its commitment to global agreements. It is an offensive to radically transform the United States overnight. As Trump himself described it in his speech, it is a “revolution of common sense” to fulfill his political motto, which is printed on the caps, t-shirts and sweatshirts of the tens of thousands of followers who have accompanied him these days in Washington. for his inauguration: MAGA, ‘Make America Great Again’. “We will move with intention and quickly to return hope, prosperity, security and peace to the citizens of all race, religion, color and creed. For Americans, January 20, 2025 is Liberation Day,’ he proclaimed.Related News standard No His 1,600 pardons Leaders of radical militias, accused of murder or the shaman of the assault on the Capitol Pablo AmigoThe speed was a fact. He arrived, swore and executed. A hundred executive orders in a single day, as his team had warned. Some signed in the unusual setting of a sports stadium, in front of 20,000 fervent followers, who cheered every time Trump took up one of his markers to sign a decree. The rest, from the White House. Its impact on immigration policy is immediate. Trump’s signature seeks to bring the border back into line, after years of immigration chaos under Biden, with records of entries of undocumented immigrants. Although the situation has calmed down in the last year – when Biden began to approve restrictive measures, in the midst of an adrift electoral campaign – Trump has approved a battery of decrees to seal the border as much as possible: among others, the declaration of national emergency, the elimination of refugee programs or the suspension of the possibility of requesting asylum. It has also promoted changing an essential aspect of the American idiosyncrasy: access to citizenship by birth in its territory, with the intention of preventing the children of American immigrants from acquiring nationality. It is a right established for more than a century and a half in the Constitution, in its 14th amendment. Donald and Melania Trump attend the National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral in Washington ReutersAt the same time, yesterday he was expected to start what he has described as the “largest deportation program” in US history, which has immigrant communities across the country distraught. Trump has set many other issues in motion in his early days: the dismantling of dozens of orders Biden executives on immigration, energy or the environment; the beginning of its threats of widespread tariffs on its trading partners; reforms in the public service; his crusade to reduce the size of the state, led by his great ally, Elon Musk; the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement on climate change; and the first steps of his ‘anti woke’ war, such as the elimination of DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) programs in the Government, elimination of protections for transgender people in federal prisons and the official policy that there are only two genders : man and woman. Trump soon had to endure a public scolding for some of these policies. It happened yesterday at the Washington National Cathedral, in the traditional religious service that takes place the day after the inauguration. In her speech, the leader of the Episcopal diocese of Washington, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, called for dignified treatment of all humans, “refusing to mock, belittle or demonize” others, with Trump listening in the front row. In his closing, Budde specifically challenged the new president and begged him to “have mercy on the people in our country who are now afraid,” referring specifically to the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and war refugees. “Have mercy, Mr. President,” he said, as Trump looked down at the ground. “We were all once strangers on this earth.” Nothing indicates that admonitions of this type will make a dent in Trump’s plans. “Nothing will stand in our way,” said the new president from the Capitol, who begins his second term with the lesson already learned. In the first, he entrusted a good part of his Government to consolidated figures of the Republican establishment, in an attempt to compensate with experience and management capacity a White House led by someone outside of politics. Trump has defended many times that he regrets this and has now filled his Cabinet with very loyal ‘outsiders’ who will not put obstacles in the way of his disruptive intentions. It also shows that he has taken the route of a barrage of executive orders when he has a lot of support in Congress. The Republicans have majorities in both chambers and yesterday, in a meeting between Trump and his two leaders – John Thune, in the Senate; Mike Johnson, in the House of Representatives – it was clear that they will have their full support. But Trump did not want the cumbersome legislative process, which will be torpedoed by the ‘filibuster’ – the requirement for a qualified majority – that the Democrats will use in the Upper House. Trump was looking for the ‘shock and awe’, the immediate effect. But just as immediate will be the opposition that Trump finds to many of his policies. Not so much on the street, where democrats and leftist groups have already shown signs of falling prey to melancholy. But yes in the courts. Some executive orders have been met with lawsuits with Trump’s marker ink still fresh. For example, the one that establishes the creation of Musk’s Department of Energy Efficiency. Or the one that seeks to eliminate access to citizenship by birth in the United States, against which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has acted. Many more will come in the future and we will have to see their journey. One thing is clear: Trump will not stop.
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