WASHINGTON Donald Trump made it clear in his inauguration speech what the difference between his second term and the first is.
– Nothing stands in our way, Trump said.
As the day turned into evening, it became clearer hour by hour that Trump really believes this and intends to act on it.
Trump won the election clearly but not overwhelmingly. Trump didn’t get more than half of votes castand he has only a few seat majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Still, both he himself and the rest of the world around him seem to accept that the mandate he received is much clearer than the election results.
Trump said the other week to House Republicans that Democrats are damaged, depressed and confused after the election. He said that the momentary weakness of the Democrats must be exploited.
Trump received further assurances of a slump in liberal America last weekend as anti-Trump protests in Washington dwindled. There were approximately only a few participants some thousandswhen eight years ago, at least, marched against Trump’s presidency in the capital half a million people.
Both the spirit of the times and Trump himself have been radicalized in the past four years.
In his first hours, he issued orders that would have been unheard of even in his first term.
Of course, the expected decisions to overturn the previous president were included Joe Biden the regulations of the time and the decisions to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The long-promised deportations of those living illegally in the country will begin, and the administration will recognize only two genders in the future. The details of the tariffs were still left up in the air to keep the market calm.
Trump left his toughest decisions for the evening.
As the strongest sign of self-confidence, Trump enacted regulationwhich directly attacks the current interpretation of the Constitution regarding the granting of US citizenship. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states that all people born in the United States and subject to the law of the land are American citizens.
Trump justifies in its regulationthat the section of the constitution does not guarantee citizenship if neither of the parents of the child to be born is a US citizen or the parents are staying in the country illegally or temporarily.
Trump signed an executive order barring officials from issuing birth certificates to children the administration interprets as outside the birthright of citizenship.
Trump admittedthat the ordinance would likely be challenged in court as unconstitutional, but he believed in his chances in a process that would likely go all the way to the Supreme Court.
He called the amendment to the constitution ridiculous, indicating his desire to bring the constitutional provisions he dislikes to the Supreme Court for review during his second term.
The biggest news of the evening was Trump’s the decision to pardon almost all the people accused and convicted of the 2021 attack on the Capitol, which numbered about 1,600.
Among those released was inter alia the leader of the far-right Proud Boys organization Enrique Tarriowho had been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for planning the attack.
Trump had called those sentenced to prison for the attack on the Congress building “hostages” throughout his election campaign, but the extent of the pardons still exceeded expectations.
With the amnesties, Trump hinted to the armed extreme right-wing groups that those who fight on his behalf, even violently if necessary, do not have to worry about legal murders, at least in the next four years. Attacking Congress is no longer a matter of shame but a proof of loyalty to Trump.
After the news of the pardon, Trump’s supporters began to gather in front of the prison in Washington, waiting for those pardoned to be released. Some of those pardoned hoped to be free so soon that they would still have time to join Trump’s dinner party.
Besides Trump himself his close circle also exudes self-confidence, and prudence is on his way.
The oligarch acting as Trump’s right hand Elon Musk fanned out at the victory party and thanked those who voted for Trump “from the bottom of his heart” and at the same time raised his hands in a position reminiscent of a Nazi salute.
The position of the hand was intentional or unintentional, but it doesn’t really matter. More interesting was the reaction from a non-governmental organization against anti-Semitism from ADLaccording to which the greeting should be interpreted in the best way, i.e. as damage.
The frenzy of Trump’s first days will certainly be enhanced by the effusive well wishes he receives from Western countries that depend on US military support.
European administrations that defend liberal democracy do not dare to criticize Trump for fear of being the target of Musk’s criticism in X. Europe no longer has a former German chancellor Angela Merkel like a strong leader who would take on the role of leader of the free world if necessary.
President of Finland Alexander Stubb wrote as recently as eight years ago, that nationalism and populism is a combination that can do a lot of damage in a short time. Stubbs wrote in 2016 that he had hoped Hillary Clinton victory from the bottom of his heart and wished in 2021, the United States back after the time of Trump.
Yesterday, Stubb sent Trump hearty congratulations and assured Trump’s unique writing style, imitating that Finland is an Ally with a capital letter to the United States.