Republican US President Donald Trump is visiting the site of one of his last campaign events, in Michigan. Photo / Getty Images
After 100 days of political chaos and economic shock that have sent his approval ratings tumbling, Donald Trump hopes to regain the unqualified adulation of his supporters at one of his bread-and-butter events: a public rally.
To mark the symbolic milestone in his second term on Tuesday (local time), the Republican US President is visiting the site of one of his last campaign events, in Michigan, a battleground state that swung his way in November’s election.
“The first time, I had two things to do – run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” he said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine, referring to advisers and Cabinet members whom he considered incompetent or disloyal lieutenants in his first term.
“And the second time, I run the country and the world,” he crowed, adding “I’m having a lot of fun”.
Many of the former real estate tycoon’s voters remain behind Trump.
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“He knows what he’s doing,” Karen Miner, a 57-year-old wine store owner in Reno, Nevada, told AFP.
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‘No equal’
“So far, I’m very satisfied with the job he’s doing,” said Frank Tuoti, a 72-year-old retired machinist from New Hampshire.
But he concedes the tariff instability has made him “a little concerned about the economy”.
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Trump’s chief spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the morning press briefing will focus on the economy, after the previous one addressed the administration’s migration policies.
“No one does it better than President Trump. There is no equal, it’s not even close,” Tom Homan, who oversees the mass deportation programme fiercely criticised by opponents and rights groups, told reporters at the White House.
Now surrounded exclusively by loyalists, Trump since January 20 has given free rein to his impulses in terms of tariffs, foreign policy – and political revenge.
In the grand entrance hallway of the White House, he has moved a portrait of Barack Obama, America’s first Black President, to make way for a painting of himself surviving an assassination attempt.
And in the Oval Office, the billionaire with notoriously brash style and taste has filled the historic room with golden ornaments.
Arm wrestling
Barging through the limits of presidential power, the Republican has already signed over 140 executive orders.
In the process, he has called birthright citizenship into question, attacked universities and law firms, rolled back environmental policies, entrusted his mega-billionaire ally Elon Musk with dismantling large parts of the federal bureaucracy, and launched a protectionist trade offensive against much of the world – before partially retracting it.
Many of his executive orders have been blocked by judges, with whom the executive branch has engaged in an unprecedented bout of arm wrestling.
Trump has built his political career on deepening divisions – Americans either love him or hate him – and he therefore cannot claim the relative state of grace that usually accompanies a US President’s first 100 days.
Opinion polls have been unanimous in noting a particularly sharp slide in his approval ratings, fuelled by concern about tariffs and his attacks on the institutional order.
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According to a poll published yesterday by the Washington Post and ABC News, only 39% of Americans approve of how Trump is conducting his presidency.
‘Too far’
Fully 64% of respondents said he is “going too far” in his efforts to expand presidential powers.
It is impossible to know how long Trump, who at 78 is the oldest US President ever elected, will maintain his frenetic pace.
He has shown signs of impatience. He promised on the campaign trail to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, but has grown frustrated with the complicated diplomacy involved.
Reminded in a recent interview with Time magazine that he often said he would end the war on “day one”, the former reality TV star responded: “Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest.”
– Agence France-Presse
READ: Donald Trump’s inauguration speech transcript
Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.
30:58
Donald Trump’s full inauguration speechThe 47th president of the United States delivered his address inside the Capitol Rotunda.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday.
During his speech, Trump laid out some of his plans for the next four years, including a series of executive orders and a promise to “put America first.”
Read Trump’s full inauguration speech below.
“Thank you. Thank you very much everybody. Well, thank you very, very much. Vice President Vance, Speaker Johnson, Senator Thune, Chief Justice Roberts, justices of the United States Supreme Court, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and my fellow citizens.
The Golden Age of America begins right now. From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. During every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first. Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end. And our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free. America will soon be greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before.
I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success, a tide of change is sweeping the country, sunlight is pouring over the entire world, and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before. But first, we must be honest about the challenges we face. While they are plentiful, they will be annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing in the United States of America.
As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and, seemingly, in complete disrepair. We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad. It fails to protect our magnificent, law-abiding American citizens, but provide sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world.
We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders, but refuses to defend American borders, or, more importantly, its own people. Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina, been treated so badly, and other states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago. Or more recently Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense. They’re raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now. They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting, but we can’t let this happen. Everyone is unable to do anything about it. That’s going to change. We have a public health system that does not deliver in times of disaster, yet more money is spent on it than any country anywhere in the world. And we have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves, in many cases to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them. All of this will change starting today, and it will change very quickly.
My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal, and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and, indeed, their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over. Our liberties and our nation’s glorious destiny will no longer be denied, and we will immediately restore the integrity, competency and loyalty of America’s government. Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history, and I’ve learned a lot along the way. The journey to reclaim our republic has not been an easy one, that I can tell you. Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom, and, indeed, to take my life. Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. That is why each day under our administration of American patriots, we will be working to meet every crisis with dignity and power and strength. We will move with purpose and speed to bring back hope, prosperity, safety and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed. For American citizens, January 20th, 2025, is Liberation Day.
It is my hope that our recent presidential election will be remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country. As our victory showed, the entire nation is rapidly unifying behind our agenda with dramatic increases in support from virtually every element of our society, young and old, men and women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, urban, suburban, rural and, very importantly, we had a powerful win in all seven swing states, and the popular vote we won by millions of people.
To the Black and Hispanic communities, I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote. We set records and I will not forget it. I’ve heard your voices in the campaign, and I look forward to working with you in the years to come. Today is Martin Luther King Day and his honor — this will be a great honor — but in his honor, we will strive together to make his dream a reality. We will make his dream come true. Thank you. Thank you. National unity is now returning to America and confidence and pride is soaring like never before. In everything we do, my administration will be inspired by a strong pursuit of excellence and unrelenting success. We will not forget our country. We will not forget our Constitution and we will not forget our God. Can’t do that.
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Today, I will sign a series of historic executive orders. With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It’s all about common sense. First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. We will reinstate my ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. I will end the practice of catch and release and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country. Under the orders I signed today, we will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities. As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before.
Next, I will direct all members of my Cabinet to marshal the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices. The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices and, that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill. America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have: the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth and we are going to use it, and they use it. We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again — right to the top — and export American energy all over the world. We will be a rich nation again and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.
With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal, and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers. In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice. We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago, and thank you to the autoworkers of our nation for your inspiring vote of confidence. We did tremendously with their vote.
I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens. For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources. The American Dream will soon be back and thriving like never before. To restore competence and effectiveness to our federal government, my administration will establish the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency.
After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America. Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents — something I know something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again. Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law, and we are going to bring law and order back to our cities. This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based. As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.
This week, I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate, with full back pay. And I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty. It’s going to end immediately. Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission: defeating America’s enemies. Like in 2017, we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end and, perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into. My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier. I’m pleased to say that, as of yesterday, one day before I assumed office, the hostages in the Middle East are coming back home to their families. Thank you. America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on Earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world.
A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs. President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did, including the Panama Canal, which has foolishly been given to the country of Panama after the United States. The United States, I mean, think of this, spent more money than ever spent on a project before and lost 38,000 lives in the building of the Panama Canal. We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made and Panama’s promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal, and the spirit of our treaty, has been totally violated. American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form., and that includes the United States Navy. And, above all, China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.
Above all, my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization. So, as we liberate our nation, we will lead it to new heights of victory and success. We will not be deterred. Together, we will end the chronic disease epidemic and keep our children safe, healthy and disease-free. The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons. And we will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.
Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation and, right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other. There’s no nation like our nation. Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts. The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls. Our American ancestors turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic of the most extraordinary citizens on Earth. No one comes close. Americans pushed thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness. They crossed deserts, scaled mountains, braved untold dangers, won the Wild West, ended slavery, rescued millions from tyranny, lifted billions from poverty, harnessed electricity, split the atom, launched mankind into the heavens and put the universe of human knowledge into the palm of the human hand. If we work together, there is nothing we cannot do and no dream we cannot achieve.
Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback. But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken. I stand before you now as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do. In America, the impossible is what we do best. From New York to Los Angeles, from Philadelphia to Phoenix, from Chicago to Miami, from Houston to right here in Washington, D.C., our country was forged and built by the generations of patriots who gave everything they had for our rights and for our freedom. They were farmers and soldiers, cowboys and factory workers, steel workers and coal miners, police officers and pioneers who pushed onward, marched forward and let no obstacle defeat their spirit or their pride. Together they laid down the railroads, raised up the skyscrapers, built great highways, won two World Wars, defeated fascism and communism and triumphed over every single challenge that they faced. After all we have been through together, we stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history. With your help, we will restore America’s promise, and we will rebuild the nation that we love, and we love it so much.
We are one people, one family and one glorious nation under God. So, to every parent who dreams for their child and every. child who dreams for their future, I am with you. I will fight for you, and I will win for you. We are going to win like never before. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. In recent years, our nation has suffered greatly, but we are going to bring it back and make it great again, greater than ever before. We will be a nation like no other, full of compassion, courage and exceptionalism. Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable. America will be respected again and admired again, including by people of religion, faith and goodwill. We will be prosperous. We will be proud. We will be strong, and we will win like never before. We will not be conquered. We will not be intimidated. We will not be broken, and we will not fail. From this day on, the United States of America will be a free, sovereign and independent nation. We will stand bravely. We will live proudly. We will dream boldly, and nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans. The future is ours and our golden age has just begun. Thank you. God bless America. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you very much.”
Trump announces ‘pardon czar’ at Black History Month event, while White House heralds end of DEI
By Jeff Mason and Bianca Flowers
- Summary
- Trump appoints a ‘pardon czar’ for clemency advice
- Trump rolls back DEI, reinstates federal death penalty
- Civil rights groups critical over DEI program terminations
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had made Alice Johnson, a Tennessee woman who was serving a life sentence for a drug crime before Trump commuted her sentence, a “pardon czar” to advise him on further acts of clemency.
Trump made the announcement at a Black History Month reception at the White House, roughly four weeks after he returned to office and began implementing sweeping rollbacks of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the federal government.
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Trump, who commuted Johnson’s life sentence in 2018 and granted her a full pardon in 2020, asked her to advise him on other cases where pardons were warranted.
“Alice was in prison for doing something that today probably wouldn’t even be prosecuted,” Trump told the crowd of mostly African American supporters, including golfer Tiger Woods, who joined the president on stage.
“You’ve been an inspiration to people, and we’re going to be listening to your recommendation on pardons,” he said to Johnson. “You’re going to find people just like you.”
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Trump’s celebration of Black History Month contrasted with several executive orders he’s signed targeting DEI efforts, including one that directed federal agencies to terminate DEI programs and encouraged private companies to do the same.
Trump also ordered all agencies to identify potential targets for civil investigations, who could then be subjected to legal action.
The actions have been met with sharp criticism from civil rights organizations and racial justice advocates who say DEI programs have helped address historical inequities impacting Black Americans and people of color in the workplace and other aspects of American life.
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At the federal level, he has also reinstated the death penalty, which has disproportionately impacted incarcerated Black Americans, according to research, opens new tab and experts.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, heralded those changes.
“He has ended all DEI across the federal government. He has terminated all federal workers involved in promulgating these unlawful policies. He has ended diversity, equity and inclusion in all federal contracting,” Miller told reporters.
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“The death penalty is back. Law and order is back. The streets are being made safe once again.”
Trump called Black Americans an “indispensable core of America” at the White House event and decried focusing on 1619, the year the first recorded enslaved Africans arrived on American soil, saying that focus should instead be placed on 1776, the year the U.S. declared its independence.
Kimberly Morella, 58, a Republican district leader in Westchester County, New York, who has voted for Trump in the past three election cycles, said she agreed with his remarks.
“I prefer that our kids prefer to learn about 1776. I believe in the ideals that this administration is putting forward in helping all people and it’s not a matter of playing into a victimhood in how we’re oppressed and how we want reparations.”
Trump made some inroads with Black voters in the 2024 presidential election, particularly among Black men, but he only received 20% of their vote, a one percentage point increase from 2020, according to Edison Research.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee last year, won 92% of Black women voters nationwide, up two points from 2020.
Black voters accounted for 11% of the share of voters nationwide. Overall, Harris won 86% of the Black vote, compared to 12% for Trump, according to Edison Research, the same share of support Joe Biden received in 2020.
