On Day 1, Trump Declares War on Migrants, Mexico, and the Constitution
Trump marked being ‘dictator-for-a-day’ flanked by four of the richest people on Earth – one of whom appeared to do a Nazi salute.
Donald Trump’s second term is already looking even worse than his first – and Day 1 (his supposed day of dictatorship) is not even done yet.
On just his first day, Trump is reportedly expected to sign some 200 executive orders. To put that into context, between 2016 and 2020, Trump issued 220 executive orders – the most by a one-term president in four decades. Joe Biden issued 162 over the past four years.
While some were messaging orders, gesturing towards things like “parents’ rights” or the administration’s belief that there are only two genders (orders that nevertheless carry consequences), others activated policy more immediately – from seeking to overturn parts of the constitution to derailing the lives of thousands of asylum seekers, to moving to mobilize US troops at the border with Mexico and undermine due process for some.
War on the Constitution
Among his Day 1 actions was Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship – a constitutional guarantee – no less on the same day he took an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Not only is the effort alarming – but so too is how it is being digested. Some headlines have simply read “Trump to end birthright citizenship”; imagine how headlines might have been written if a Democrat had said they would summarily “end the Second Amendment.” Trump cannot simply overturn the 14th Amendment, which enshrines birthright citizenship, at his beck and call. This effort, like many of his Day 1 actions, will face legal challenges, but it will still serve to shift the bounds of debate – particularly if the opposition remains flimsy, as seen with the Laken Riley Act, which, if enacted, would enable immigration authorities to detain migrants arrested for theft crimes, without due process.
Meanwhile, actual criminals who led the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection are set to be released from prison after Trump’s expected clemency order.
War on Migrants
During his inauguration speech, Trump declared a “national emergency” at the southern border. The move will enable the Department of Defense to deploy troops to the border and shore up money to continue his border wall.
Trump described his deployment of troops to the border as a means to “repel the disastrous invasion” of the US – rhetoric seen in the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue shooting that killed 11; the El Paso Walmart shooting that killed 23; and Buffalo supermarket shooting that killed 10. Rhetoric that then-Rep. Elise Stefanik and now US ambassador to the United Nations nominee was widely condemned for amplifying. Rhetoric that now is part and parcel of Trump’s “polished” speech.
All the while, Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the “CBP One” app – that helped people arrange for asylum appointments – has derailed tens of thousands of people’s potentially legal pathways to asylum. Some 30,000 appointments were reportedly canceled. One woman clutched a pole as she sobbed after learning less than an hour before her 1:00 PM appointment that it had been canceled.
War on Mexico
Trump’s declaration of a “national emergency” and consequent mobilization of troops comes after more than a year of Republicans whipping up calls to invade Mexico to go after cartels – including from Republican primary loser Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Senator Lindsey Graham, now-national security adviser Michael Waltz, and Vivek Ramaswamy. DOGE’s first staffing cut went as far as to call for “military force to decimate the cartels, Osama bin Laden-style, Soleimani-style,” characterizing how deep the bloodthirst goes.
In his remarks Monday, Trump said he will reinstate his “Remain in Mexico” policy – which requires asylum seekers at the southern border stay in Mexico to wait for their hearings – and to designate “cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.” Concurrently, Trump seeks to use the Alien Enemies Act purportedly to target a Venezuelan gang. The move could lead to the administration arresting – and deporting – people without due process, threatening people in the same way tens of thousands of Japanese, German, Italian, and Jewish people were during World War II.
Trump’s moves are already causing friction with Mexico. Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration bristled at the “Remain in Mexico” policy revival, the “unilateral deportation” of Mexican nationals, and the closure of the “CBP One” app. With regard to the possibility of a “soft invasion” of Mexico, Sheinbaum said Mexicans “will always defend our sovereignty,” adding that “Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country – and that is above everything else.”
The marriage of the so-called War on Drugs with the so-called War on Terror punctures a hole in the imagined dovish Trump – no less as the supposed ceasefire deal he played a hand in reaching between Israel and Hamas proves to be not only fragile, but evidently not one that ceases the fire, given Israel’s ongoing killing of Palestinians after the agreement was met.
Manifest Destiny Is Back
Trump’s orders came after he delivered his inauguration speech surrounded by a toadying audience, including four of the five richest people on Earth: Elon Musk (who apparently did a Nazi salute, twice, during remarks today), Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg joined him on stage (sitting in front of his Cabinet nominees), while Bernard Arnault sat in the audience. Tim Cook (or Tim Apple, as Trump calls him) and Miriam Adelson also nabbed seats on stage.
The combined net worth of these figures alone? $1.13 trillion.
Though some Democrats refused to attend the ceremonies (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for instance, saying she would not because she doesn’t “celebrate rapists”), others like Bill and Hillary Clinton and John Fetterman (underdressed compared to when Benjamin Netanyahu came to visit) joined in the fun.
Save for a quick line about healthcare and nothing about climate change as wildfires and hurricanes destroy the lives of millions of Americans (instead, calling to “drill, baby, drill” in response to a “national energy emergency”). Trump had his focus elsewhere during his remarks. He echoed his relatively new calls to seize the Panama Canal and rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” (Earlier in January, Mexican President Sheinbaum joked in response that perhaps the US should be called “Mexican America,” as per a 1607 map). The calls, given their complete absence from his previous eight years, perhaps represent noise distracting from Trump’s more nefarious aims and lack of focus on other issues impacting millions.
Trump topped off his anti-immigrant, pro-expansionist speech appropriately, saying, “We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.”
The last time “manifest destiny” was used in a major address was in 1920 when President Woodrow Wilson warned of the ascendance of autocracy over democracy.
An encapsulating day of wannabe dictatorship for Trump: a man who has accelerated the destruction of the planet and the creation of more migrants to campaign off of, ignoring Americans’ material concerns. Surrounded by his fellow culprits, who will be affected the least. And looking to the stars for their next ambition that would similarly help none of us.
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yeah, he grunted when he did the salute. there's no hiding how much of a salute that was. it didn't "appear" to be a salute.
All this is state sponsored mass murder. Whether via Covid incompetence which cost 800,000 American lives, elimination of all meaningful environmental regulation which will kill more, empowering the "Proud Boys" and other Nazi groups, etc. It is not only migrants. It is everyone outside the crime family. If this isn't war, what is?