Donald John Trump didn’t need a Bible to sanctify his inauguration as the nation’s 47th president. God, as Trump told the audience gathered beneath the Capitol rotunda for his swearing-in, had already done that by saving his life from a would-be assassin’s bullet “to make America great again.”
“I felt then, and believe even more so now,” said Trump of being nicked in the ear at a Pennsylvania rally last summer, “that my life was saved for a reason.”
Trump took the oath of office with his right hand raised and his left at his side, leaving his Zorro-hatted wife holding two Bibles like useless props. One of them came from the Trump family and the other was used by President Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, at his inauguration in 1861. Slighting Honest Abe was no cosmic accident.
Within hours of retaking the presidency, which he had lost in the 2020 election to Joe Biden but regained in his 2024 contest with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump began signing executive orders as if they were commandments issued from Mount MAGA. To Americans of all colors and creeds committed to racial and social equity, the most damaging was Trump’s edict to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion from the vocabulary of the federal offices he now oversees.
Trump’s action on the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday followed a brief reference in his inaugural speech to his swearing-in falling on the day America pauses to honor the late civil rights leader. “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.”
But the man returning to the Oval Office overlooked the measures King supported, like affirmative action and economic programs to enable Black Americans to overcome centuries of enslavement. Instead, Trump vowed to “end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life” in order to “forge a society that is color blind and merit based.”
Standing close by, as Trump painted a picture of a nation in decline before his return to power and destined under his divine guidance to achieve a “golden age,” were many of the billionaire oligarchs poised to help reach the president’s promised land. Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were just the most widely recognized of the corporate oligarchs who have fallen in line with the Trump agenda.
The first stage of Trump’s busy penmanship on inaugural day took place at Capitol One Arena in Washington at a desk set up in front of cheering supporters who watched him sign measure after intemperate measure. Later, at the White House, he signed about 1,500 pardons for his followers convicted of felonies in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, meant to halt the certification of election results and pave the way for Trump to illegally retain power.
In his DEI executive order, Trump decried the infiltration of the federal government with diversity initiatives under President Biden, who had issued his own executive order on his first day in office, backing programs to accelerate social justice goals in hiring and contracts. Under Trump, federal agencies will no longer weigh diversity in hiring decisions, no longer engage in DEI training and no longer consider “environmental justice” in government policies. His assault on EJ will be subject to court challenges as environmental justice considerations in awarding federal clean energy contracts and loans are embedded in legislation passed by Congress and protected by law.
Trump’s orders undercutting equity for underserved communities rescinded some dozen measures signed by President Biden, whose 2020 defeat of Trump relied on strong support in both the primary and final elections by African Americans. While Trump made some inroads among Blacks in 2024 — particularly among young Black men — Biden took 80% of the Black vote.
The newly inaugurated president’s sweeping executive commands also remade federal policies regarding immigration, transgender rights, and LGBTQ+ protections.
On immigration, Trump seeks to strip away birthright citizenship, a constitutional guarantee sure to be the subject of a legal showdown. He declared an emergency at the southern border and vowed to send the military to defend it. Under his clearly unconstitutional executive order, future children born to mothers who are in the U.S. unlawfully would no longer automatically be U.S. citizens unless the child’s father is here legally and permanently. During his inaugural remarks, he vowed to fulfill his campaign promise of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. “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,” he said.
Under Trump, the United States will recognize only two sexes — male and female — marking a setback for the notion of gender fluidity and tolerance for a broader definition of identity. Federal funds will no longer be used to promote “gender ideology,” a term used by opponents to characterize any non-traditional views on sex and gender.
Other executive orders blocked new federal regulations, froze federal hiring, and pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord.
Meanwhile, future targets of the Trumpian agenda train are plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” seize the Panama Canal, and grab Greenland. Peace in Ukraine and the Middle East are still to come.
The onslaught of policy changes and the aggressive “America First” tone of Trump’s pronouncements serve as a stark reminder that elections have consequences. In spite of the president’s often-stated belief in a mandate from both the people and God, the White House contest was close.
The challenge for all of us impacted by the flurry of Trump commandments is to regroup, rethink and recharge, for the battle before us has only just begun. With 40-year-old Vice President J.D. Vance now waiting in the wings to take over after Trump finishes his second and last term, the fight to restore civility and respect for differences is on.
Ronald Mitchell
Editor and Publisher, Bay State Banner
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