Donald Trump was sworn into office on Jan. 20 as the 47th president of the United States. “The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump said in his inauguration speech.
Many powerful CEOs and billionaires were in attendance including Elon Musk, Shou Zi Chew, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and more.
The inauguration was far from perfect or even what was expected.
After the ceremony, Elon Musk spoke to a crowd of Trump supporters, saying, “I can’t wait; this is going to be fantastic.” Musk performed a Nazi salute during the speech with many audience members cheering in response, sparking controversy across the internet.
Many say that Musk had no idea what he was doing, but for a man who has been in the public spotlight for many years and has been media trained, that is hard to believe.
Trump proceeded to sign 26 executive orders on his first day, breaking previous records.
“Today I will sign a series of historic executive orders,” Trump said during his speech. “With these actions we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense.”
Still, he managed to break many of the promises and values that he promoted throughout his campaign. Onlookers stated that Trump did not place his hand on the Bible while being sworn in, despite his promotion of traditional Christian values.
Trump also promised that he would lower the price of groceries and other products on his first day in office. Contrary to this, he has not done anything to lower prices. In fact, Trump raised the prices of existing drugs by withdrawing a Biden-era executive order (14087) titled “Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans.”. Despite his campaign marketing off of the promise that he would lower the prices of drugs, he has once again managed to lie to the American people.
He also said that he would end the Russo-Ukrainian War on his first day, another promise he failed to uphold.
In an act that would violate the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, Trump said that he would end birthright citizenship. Even though an executive order was signed, the president has no power to enact it, and multiple lawsuits from Arizona, Oregon and Illinois have been filed to block it. One notable case was from a Seattle federal judge, John Coughenour, who temporarily blocked the order.
Trump signed an order requiring the federal government to only recognize male and female as gender markers, which are determined “at conception”—a scientifically incorrect claim—and unable to be changed. With this order, he blatantly attempts to deny the existence of intersex, transgender and nonbinary people under the guise of “defending women.”
Trump stated that he would put a 25% tariff on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico, which he has not done. This tariff, if enacted, would raise the prices significantly for the American people for many products they buy every day.
There were many things that Trump had promised to accomplish, on his first day in office yet didn’t.
The most notable thing he did do was pardon the Jan. 6 rioters who brutalized the historic and sacred Capitol and the police defending it. He also declared a national state of emergency on the southern border. Instead of focusing on the border, he should address the millions of homeless people in America without proper access to shelters, food and water. Moreso, even more Americans who don’t have access to health care. There are many more issues affecting the people, but his use of fear and terror has created stigmatism against those trying to come into the country because of the values we held. We are a country made and built by immigrants.
Trump will continue breaking promises to American citizens and profiting from the lower and middle classes’ losses. The billionaires in attendance at his inauguration will be the only ones to benefit from his presidency. His executive orders were mainly for show and hardly do anything to truly help the American people.
Instead of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, he should focus on helping those who voted for him in many other crises that this country faces. The fact that so many people now have to live in fear of what this country will become is against everything this country once stood for. There is no “We the people,” if that only applies to a select, very rich few.
Andrea Roberts can be reached at arg-opinion@uidaho.edu.