With a whirlwind first day, Trump upends government and brings back the spectacle
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Analysis: As Trump’s second term begins, the Trump Show demands America’s attention, writes John Bowden. Donald Trump is back in Washington. So is the Trump Show: a 24-hour, nonstop spectacle of governance and politicking that runs both his critics and the media (sometimes one and the same) ragged.
![[Donald Trump signed executive actions onstage in front of thousands of fans and the cameras on Monday, as he promised to bring back the spectacle of reality TV to government.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/21/19/GettyImages-2194979843.jpg)
After taking the oath of office at noon on Monday, the new president sprinted through his first day. Issuing more than 200 executive orders and other actions, Trump began his administration’s assault on birthright citizenship, environmental protections, and parts of Joe Biden’s legacy with directives targeting a staggering scope of issues.
This was all carefully calculated: a “Day One” agenda that captured Americans’ attention in a way that Biden and his former running mate/replacement Kamala Harris never could. News coverage of the day fixated on the Trump administration’s expansive policy push, rather than the mob of Proud Boys parading around the capital, posing for pictures in front of the courthouse. But this was a day of exultation for both the marching Proud Boys (who saw their imprisoned former leader Enrique Tarrio granted clemency by the president) and Trump’s wider base of voters, who witnessed a day of delivered promises and a vow of more to come.
Very little will happen immediately as a result of these orders, of course. But some changes to immigration systems — a freeze on new refugee admissions, the reinstitution of a policy requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while claims are processed — will take place at once. Some changes are largely aesthetic, or will have no impact on Americans: the renaming of Denali to Mount McKinley, referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” or ending federal government staffing initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion.
