President Donald Trump’s first two weeks in office were marked by his signing of a dizzying array of executive orders, both to fulfill his campaign pledges and to upend what he and his supporters have derisively called the “deep state,” meaning the US government bureaucracy and its network of contractors and career civil servants. He focused his energy on ordering deportations of so-called illegal immigrants, pardoning hundreds of violent rioters who attacked the US Capitol building in January of 2021, eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, firing inspectors general in the government, attempting to halt possibly trillions in federal spending, and firing federal prosecutors (even mid-level and junior ones) who were part of the legal teams at the Department of Justice that investigated him and his supporters.
Trump’s policies also included retaliatory actions against former US government officials who criticized him or whom he does not like. On the foreign policy front, Trump has ordered a freeze of most US foreign aid programs for 90 days, pending a review, and put the US Agency for International Development (USAID)—an independent agency—under the control of the Department of State. He rescinded the Biden administration’s sanctions against violent extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Although some of Trump’s policies are being challenged in the courts and could be reversed, his first two weeks back in office portend a chaotic four years of his second administration.
Pardoning Violent Criminals and Attacking Government Institutions
In one of his first acts as president in his second term, Trump issued pardons for some 1,500 of his supporters who were convicted of attacking the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. During the campaign, he called these people “great patriots” and claimed that they were unjustly punished. These pardons extended to the ringleaders of the extremist groups involved in the insurrection and those who violently attacked Capitol police officers. Even some of his Republican supporters in Congress were uneasy with such broad pardons, but Trump was catering to his Make America Great Again (MAGA) political base, and undoubtedly saw those who were convicted of attacking the Capitol as kindred spirits because he believed he was also “persecuted” by the so-called deep state. During the 2024 campaign, Trump frequently displayed the politics of grievance concerning the legal cases against him, and he was clearly determined to take retribution once he became president again.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump was clearly determined to take retribution once he became president again.
Trump’s desire for retribution was evident in his actions against the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Although presidents have the right to replace US Attorneys in various jurisdictions, it is unheard of for a president to go after prosecutorial teams of career lawyers who were merely doing their jobs. Trump not only fired these career lawyers involved in cases against the Capitol rioters but also a number of FBI agents involved in the same cases, and may fire agents who were involved in the investigations against him led by former special prosecutor Jack Smith. Although he put on a moderate show during his Senate nomination hearing on January 30, Kash Patel, Trump’s controversial nominee for FBI Director, previously said he would “shut down the FBI headquarters building on Day 1” and reopen it as a “museum of the deep state.” Patel also has said that he would “come after the people in the media who…helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections” and has published a list of 50 current and former federal officials who are “members of the Deep State.”
Such moves and statements have led to a chilling effect among the nation’s federal workers, most of whom are dedicated to their jobs and keep the government operating. Many are now demoralized and fear that they will have to undergo pro-Trump litmus tests to keep their employment (civil servants swear an oath to defend the Constitution, not a political leader). Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk, has tried to move this process of purging federal worker ranks along by incentivizing them to resign with a buyout plan, which federal employee unions quickly criticized.
Trump also has ended all DEI programs in government, with many federal workers who managed these programs put on administrative leave. He has even targeted civil servants in the Department of Education who have simply attended DEI workshops. To be sure, the attack on DEI has racial and gender overtones that are not lost on government workers. For example, in one of his first acts as Secretary of Defense after narrowly being confirmed by the Senate, Peter Hegseth pursued an anti-DEI policy which included the Air Force pulling training material for recruits that had highlighted the sacrifices of the Tuskegee Airmen (made up of African-American fighter pilots) and WASPS (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots) who served the United States with distinction during World War II. (Hegseth reinstated the Tuskegee Airmen material following an uproar.)
Trump himself has taken his anti-DEI message to great lengths, suggesting that DEI may have been the reason for the deadly January 29 crash involving a Black Hawk military helicopter and a commercial airliner over the Potomac River in Washington, DC, without citing any evidence to back up his claim.
Trump also abruptly fired inspectors general (IGs) from at least 15 government agencies. A law professor from Creighton University has noted that IGs serve as important checks and balances in the agencies, and their firings lay the “groundwork for taking over the government from within,” adding that if these watchdog entities “aren’t watching, because they’ve been purged by the very abuse of power they were installed to prevent, then the way is open for more abuse and corruption to flow.”
Cracking Down on Immigrants
During his first days back in the White House, Trump issued executive orders and took other steps to launch a severe crackdown on migrants. Citing an “invasion,” he effectively shut down the southern border to asylum seekers and ordered US troops to deploy there. Trump also ended humanitarian parole status for half a million nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who have been legally residing in the United States temporarily as they flee strife in their homeland, and suspended the US refugee resettlement program.
In Trump’s first two weeks Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel have rounded up hundreds of undocumented migrants who have been convicted of crimes and put some of them on planes back to their home countries. When the president of Colombia initially refused to accept a planeload of such people, Trump threatened to impose severe economic sanctions on his country, forcing the president to back down. Although Trump’s policy is popular with a majority of Americans who do not want criminals in their midst, many US citizens differentiate between illegal migrants who have committed violent crimes and those who have not and are simply in the country trying to eke out a meager living, doing mostly manual labor. Some worry that residents and citizens may be swept up in the crackdown.
The American business community and the agricultural sector are not in favor of mass deportations.
These moves appear popular with Trump’s MAGA base. But they will have significant humanitarian and economic effects. For example, more than 1,600 Afghan refugees who had received legal permission to settle in the United States had their flights cancelled by Trump’s executive order. They are currently held up in Pakistan, fearing they could be sent back to Afghanistan where they could face retribution from the Taliban. Thousands of refugees from other countries have had refugee applications frozen and their travel to the United States canceled as well. On the economic front, the American business community and the agricultural sector are not in favor of mass deportations, as Trump and his team also want to do. These people often perform jobs that most US citizens either eschew or believe are beneath them but are necessary to keep the economy moving.
Punitive Moves Against Former US Officials
In what amounts to punitive measures, Trump ordered the removal of the portrait in the Pentagon of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, as well as his security detail. Trump also ordered the removal of the security details of his former national security advisor John Bolton and his former secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Milley has been under death threats from some MAGA supporters, while Bolton and Pompeo have been under threat from Iranian operatives for the positions they espoused against Tehran while in office. Trump has apparently pursued these measures simply out of spite. Milley had criticized Trump for involving him in a domestic political matter (walking out with him to Lafayette Square near the White House where, to his surprise, Trump used him as a prop to criticize the Black Lives Matter protests), and Bolton for writing a book critical of Trump’s behavior and actions as president. Once they left government service, Milley and Bolton said that Trump was unfit to serve as president again, which undoubtedly led the chief executive to resort to these potentially dangerous acts. It is unclear why Trump has targeted Pompeo, who endorsed him for president in 2024.
Chaos Over Memorandum Suspending Government Spending
Perhaps the most chaotic move by the Trump administration so far was the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)’s late-night decision to freeze trillions of dollars of federal grants and loans while the administration “evaluated programs.” The OMB directive came as a surprise and without any guidance, and it briefly disrupted such programs as Medicaid payments. Many members of Congress were taken aback, and they heard numerous complaints about it from their constituents. Although a federal judge on January 28 temporarily blocked the OMB decision, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confusingly insisted that the funding freeze remained in place.
But Most US Foreign Aid Still on Hold
Trump has also upended US foreign assistance. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid spending during a 90-day “review” period. Five days later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio elaborated on Trump’s order by issuing a stop-work directive for all current foreign aid projects, of which there are many thousands active worldwide (except for military assistance to Israel and Egypt and certain humanitarian assistance such as food aid). The directive said that a review of all assistance programs was necessary to ensure that it was “aligned with President Trump’s foreign policy agenda.” There was widespread confusion among leading aid organizations, many of whom work under USAID funding, with many suspending work immediately so as not to incur costs. The head of one such organization said he had been forced to furlough his entire staff because he could not afford the risk of not receiving reimbursement from USAID. In addition, some members of Congress said the freeze of most foreign aid was illegal because it flies in the face of the Constitution, which grants appropriations power to Congress, and would hurt US security and standing in the world.
More than 50 senior career USAID employees were put on administrative leave on January 27 with the explanation that they were trying to undermine the foreign aid freeze. Reportedly, when the director of USAID’s employee and labor relations office rescinded the decision to put these people on administrative leave, calling the action “illegal,” he himself was placed in the same category. In addition, USAID employees were warned by the Trump administration not to speak publicly about the aid freeze. The Trump administration is soon to face challenges in the courts by federal government employee unions over such directives against career employees. Whether Trump will prevail is unclear at this point.
Incredulous and Dangerous Comments about the Future of Gaza
Welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on February 4, Trump, in their joint press conference, not only praised the Israeli leader and took a swipe at the Biden administration for causing tensions in the bilateral relationship, but said that the inhabitants of Gaza should be moved out to Egypt, Jordan, and/or perhaps other countries because the area is unlivable. He seemed to imply that such a move would be permanent so these people can then live on a “beautiful piece of land” in nice homes that would be funded presumably by rich states. Adding insult to injury, Trump then stated that the United States should take “long-term ownership” of Gaza, which he said could be developed as a Middle East “Riviera,” and did not rule out sending US troops to the area. Furthermore, he said Gaza should then be opened to the “whole world.” These comments apparently even surprised Netanyahu who said that Trump can “see a different future for that piece of land,” though he was smiling throughout Trump’s incredulous musings.
Trump was speaking like a nineteenth century imperialist wanting a land grab.
Trump, who is largely ignorant of the history of the Middle East and its colonial past, was speaking like a nineteenth century imperialist wanting a land grab and displacing indigenous people in the process. That the Palestinians consider Gaza part of the Palestinian homeland did not seem to matter to Trump, nor the issue of displacement. Most Gazans trace their ancestral homes to other parts of Palestine and are descendants of the refugees of the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 when they were forcefully displaced from their homes. During the recent Israel-Hamas war, most of Gaza’s inhabitants were also displaced many times inside the Gaza Strip, and now Trump wants not only to displace them again but to permanently remove them from Palestine. Trump’s comments were in line with the far right in Israel which has been vocal about removing the Palestinians from Gaza. Indeed, Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Otzma Yehudit Party praised Trump’s comments soon after the press conference ended.
Without citing any evidence, Trump also claimed that he has received positive comments from leaders in the region for his plans for Gaza, whereas in reality, Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority have rejected them outright. He also claimed he could convince the leaders of Egypt and Jordan to accept them. Trump’s comments will not only further diminish the US standing in the Arab world but will hinder any hope of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords that normalized Israel’s relations with some Arab countries, which both he and Netanyahu said they keenly want to succeed.
The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab Center Washington DC, its staff, or its Board of Directors.
Featured image credit: Twitter/The White House
