During his first week in office, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency and signed over 50 executive orders, while revoking previous ones set by past presidents, targeting subjects such as immigrants, the World Health Organization, transgender rights and more. 

While the president may see this as just flexing his political muscles with a quick flick of his pen, it is still an abuse of power that affects millions of people in the U.S. alone. We have checks and balances for a reason and impactful laws such as these should be discussed and approved by all branches of government instead of being circumvented without any pushback.

Karen Whedbee, associate professor in the Department of Communication, sees the vast number of executive orders as a way of sewing chaos.

“Part of the point with the executive orders is to flood the zone and create confusion,” Whedbee said. “It’s a constant problem and a typical strategy that is used to divert attention.” 

An executive order is a published directive the president of the United States can implement to manage the federal government’s operations that carries similar weight and authority to a law but does not have to go through Congress in order to be implemented.

Executive orders aren’t necessarily permanent as the sitting president can overturn them. While congress cannot overturn executive orders, they can pass legislation to make it difficult to carry out the order.

These are some of the most impactful and controversial executive orders Trump has issued since his inauguration: 

GRANTING PARDONS AND COMMUTATION OF SENTENCES FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES RELATING TO THE EVENTS AT OR NEAR THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL ON JAN. 6, 2021

One of the first executive orders signed sparked almost immediate controversy even with some of Trump’s own supporters. 

This pardoned over 1,000 individuals convicted due to their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on or near the U.S. Capitol regardless of what they were convicted for.

This executive order sends a clear and extremely dangerous message to people around the world that Trump does not care for or respect the law or about those who break it.

PROTECTING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AGAINST INVASION 

This executive order authorizes the forces of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) to prioritize targeting and removing illegal immigrants from their homes due to their “significant threat” to national security by engaging in suspected espionage and terror-related activities.

ENDING RADICAL AND WASTEFUL GOVERNMENT DEI PROGRAMS AND PREFERENCING 

This policy targets all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, policies and activities in the federal government, in sections ranging from airline safety to the military, and terminates them. 

President Trump stated that the Biden Administration “forced illegal and immoral” discrimination programs into the government and demonstrated an “immense public waste and shameful discrimination.” 

While it may seem as such to the current president, DEI played a crucial role in opening the doors of government to other qualified individuals who normally wouldn’t have a shot at their desired positions because of longstanding prejudices in the workforce. 

Now that this policy has been abolished, we may be going back to the days of more white representation in the government than any other culture. 

WITHDRAWING THE U.S. FROM THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Put into effect immediately on the day of Trump’s inauguration, this order authorizes the United States’ departure once again from the World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations organization that strives to improve health and safety across the globe. 

The reason given for the U.S.’s withdrawal, as stated by Trump, is due to WHO’s apparent mishandling of the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in 2020 and its “failure” to adopt the necessary reforms and differentiate from political influence. Trump also had issues with the fact that the U.S. contributed far more financial donations to WHO than China even though they have a bigger population than the U.S. 

The U.S. was a crucial benefactor of the WHO, giving over $1 billion to the organization, so the nation’s resignation will have a huge impact on their medical research and the global community. 

DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

This order legally classifies and recognizes that only two genders exist: Male and female, which are determined at conception. This policy denies the idea of “gender ideology,” the idea that a male can label themselves as female and vice versa, and sexual diversity as a whole. 

The crackdown on gender identity is unnecessary and questionable at the very least. Why enforce a law upon people who define themselves in a certain way that has next to no impact on others? How does this benefit the people of the U.S., if at all? If anything, all this policy does is create fear in the people who value and treasure what they define themselves as. 

LOOKING FORWARD

While it is understandable for the American people to be afraid of what is to come, we must remember the changes that affect the nation aren’t permanent.

In the Federalist Papers No. 47 James Madison said “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed or elective may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” 

We are living in what would be the founding fathers worst nightmare. A tyrant holds the highest office and has surrounded himself with sycophants and strongmen who do his will.

Students of political science must feel betrayed, like everything they learned about the democratic country they lived in was a lie. 

Trump isn’t dancing on the grave of the founding fathers, he’s bulldozing the land they are buried on and building a cityscape that bears his name, with a population he hopes does his will and bows down before him. 

Ches Thurber, associate professor in political science, was surprised to see such aggressive tactics used during the president’s first weeks in office.

“This is some of the most aggressive action we’ve ever seen from a president,” Thurber said. “One of the bigger questions going around right now is whether the president has the right to shut down all of these government agencies.” 

Some of the changes Trump has implemented, has yet to implement or failed to implement have been borderline unconstitutional and received terribly by not just the American people but by other areas around the world such as Canada, whose people went so far as to boo the national anthem during a hockey game and are refusing to purchase certain American-made products even after the first wave of tariffs were suspended. 

After the effect Trump’s executive orders had on not just the American people as a whole but his own supporters, not to mention the blatant disrespect for everyone and everything in general, his policies may not receive the same support and backing as they did when he first entered office this year. 

Parker Szura, a sophomore political science major, understands the people in the U.S. might be afraid of what the future holds and wants to reassure people that executive orders aren’t permanent. 

“I know a lot of people are worried,” Szura said. “A lot of people see these executive orders as what will be law for the rest of time. They might be enforced as laws, but they can equally get shut down by either judicial review or even Congress can pass a law to counteract that law. So, there are ways executive orders can be brought down and I definitely want a majority of people to realize that while it seems scary, it’s not as scary as they might think.” 

The full ongoing list of Trump’s executive orders can be found in the Federal Register.