From shattering the record for most executive orders signed on a first day in office, a bishop imploring him to have mercy on immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, Melania's hat and Mark Zuckerberg's wandering eye - the first few days of Trump 2.0 has been not just the talk of the town in Washington DC, but in Westminster too.
President Trump himself said as he took the mantle of 47th president of the United States that he wants to make his second term "the most consequential in US history". What is becoming even more clear as campaigning gives way to governing is that Trump 2.0 could prove vastly consequential for us too.
👉 Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈. Talk to those around Whitehall and in the government, and there is a quiet acknowledgement of the ill-wind that is blowing from America towards liberals like Sir Keir Starmer as President Trump pulls out of climate accords, ramps up the war on purging government workers in diversity, equity and inclusion roles, and begins to roll out an aggressive immigration crackdown from mass deportations to a broad ban on asylum.
But what you will see in the coming weeks, is a pointed effort on the part of the government to neither comment nor engage on US domestic issues. This is likely to infuriate liberals and progressives both in the Labour Party and voter base, but when it comes to Trump 2.0 pragmatism reigns.
