What to Expect on Day One

Greetings, Meteor readers,

There’s a whole bunch going on ahead of Monday’s inauguration, so let’s get straight to it.

In today’s newsletter, Nona Willis Aronowitz examines the more than 100 executive orders Donald Trump reportedly plans to sign during his first days in office. Plus, a little news, and your weekend reading list.

Running on coffee and optimism,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

How Trump plans to “flood the zone” on Day One: We’re only a few days from the beginning of Trump 2.0, and if the president-elect is to be believed, Inauguration Day will be one of “shock and awe.” That’s not because of anything you’ll see at the actual event; it’s because, as Trump told GOP senators in a private meeting last week, he’s preparing more than 100 executive orders for Day One. In case you need perspective: That’s a lot. President Biden, for example, issued just 17 orders on his first day (and 156 during his entire presidency thus far). Trump has long been planning to push the limits of his executive powers, and this first-day onslaught is an early sign that he’s serious. (Compare it with 2017, when Trump, shocked he had won, signed a grand total of one order on his first day and then basically took the weekend off.)

The EO onslaught is an example of Steve Bannon’s infamous “flood the zone” theory: Disorient the media and political establishment with so much information that they’ll be forced to prioritize only the wildest of the wild, letting the rest sail through. So what will the zone be flooded with Monday and Tuesday? Here’s what to expect.

Immigration and border restrictions

Much of Trump’s Day One will likely be focused on immigration. (Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller, one of the most notorious ghouls of the first Trump term, was present for last week’s meeting with senators.) Some initial orders may include…deep breath…reinstating the Muslim ban; declaring illegal immigration a national emergency; ordering the building of detention facilities; withholding federal funds to sanctuary cities; ending Biden’s humanitarian “parole” programs; finishing the U.S.-Mexico border wall; and even, potentially, closing the U.S.-Mexico border altogether, probably by citing a public health emergency.

ACTIVISTS AND MIGRANTS STAGED A PROTEST AGAINST TRUMP’S PROPOSED MASS DEPORTATIONS AT A U.S.-MEXICO POINT OF ENTRY LAST MONTH ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS DAY. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

Perhaps most consequential of all, Trump has repeatedly signaled that he plans to end birthright citizenship, a constitutional right that grants citizenship to any baby born on U.S. soil. “We have to end it,” he has said, calling it “ridiculous” and claiming falsely that we’re the only country that grants it. (More than 30 nations have unrestricted birthright citizenship.) It’s a blatantly unconstitutional move that would get challenged in court, but all it takes is five Supreme Court justices to find wiggle room in the 14th Amendment.

Climate and energy rollbacks

Another big Day One priority? Undoing Biden’s attempts to protect the environment. Trump says he has plans to lift various restrictions on fossil fuel production, reverse bans on offshore drilling and fracking, pull out of the Paris climate agreement (again!), and revoke waivers allowing states to strictly regulate pollution—all setbacks that would make the U.S.’s climate goals even further out of reach. He has also made a Day One promise to end what he calls the “electric vehicle mandate,” which refers to incentives and tax breaks for buying and making electric cars. The Republicans have long wanted to quash EV sales, but experts say the market and Detroit automakers may decide otherwise. (And Elon Musk may prove to be a “wild card.”)

Anti-trans moves

Trans people will be in the crosshairs on Day One, too: Trump has said he plans to reinstate and expand the policy banning them from military service, block them from competing in women’s sports, and prohibit trans minors from receiving gender-affirming care. These orders may very well be redundant, given the cruel legal and congressional efforts already underway, but perhaps not if your priority is to inflict pain on the trans community as swiftly as possible.

…and a smattering of other issues

Trump has talked early and often about pardoning January 6 prisoners, though he’s sent mixed messages about exactly who he’ll spare. He’ll probably reinstate his expanded version of the global gag rule, which prohibits NGOs from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide abortion services or information overseas. A mainstay of his campaign stump speech was that he’d cut federal funding to public schools that have vaccine mandates (which is…literally all of them, and that’s why you don’t have polio). And he’s said he has plans to revive a 2020 executive order called Schedule F that would allow certain federal employees to be fired at will (which, although scary, might be quite hard to enforce).

OK, so: Does signing an executive order mean it’s automatically legal? Not quite. Many of these actions will be challenged in court, and in some cases subject to the (rather arcane) Federal Administrative Procedure Act. But besides determining policy, the sheer number of Trump’s Day One orders would set the tone for a more authoritarian era—and pose a test of the public’s ability to stay engaged in the face of chaos. With that in mind, some of these executive orders, especially the ones on immigration and trans rights, will have immediate impact on people’s lives. Stay tuned for more coverage next week.

—Nona Willis Aronowitz

AND:

• Yesterday, thousands took to the streets in Palestine to celebrate the announcement that an initial six-week ceasefire had been reached between Hamas and Israel. But that joy has been tempered by the fragile nature of the deal: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed a vote to approve the ceasefire, claiming Hamas had reneged on several last-minute concessions. (He did not specify which.) Israeli citizens are applying pressure on their government to settle the agreement, which would involve hostage and prisoner releases by both groups. Meanwhile, just a few hours after the ceasefire deal was announced, several Israeli military attacks in Gaza killed more than 80 people.

• The Biden administration has withdrawn a proposal that would have required health insurance companies to cover over-the-counter birth control methods. Why? The agencies responsible for creating the final regulations ran out of time to incorporate all of the feedback on the original proposal, according to a memo. Perhaps we should have centered women’s reproductive health a little earlier in the agenda? Maybe??

• Last week, more than 5,000 nurses, midwives, and doctors went on strike in Oregon across eight different hospitals and women’s health clinics. The providers are accusing Providence Health and Services, a large health care chain, of underpaying employees, understaffing hospitals, and offering unaffordable subpar health insurance. One nurse on strike told Labor Notes, “Providence used to be a nice community hospital, and now it’s venture capital with health care as a side gig.” This strike is the largest health care strike in Oregon’s history…and a similar one may be making its way to New York City.

• The 2025 WNBA season won’t start until May, but you don’t have to wait that long to watch your faves on the court. Tomorrow marks the start of the inaugural season of Unrivaled, a women’s basketball 3×3 league. Teams are fully loaded with WNBA greats like Skylar Diggins-Smith, Cameron Brink, Breanna “Welcome to Stewyork City” Stewart, Brittney Griner, Angel Reese, and DiJonai Carrington, just to name a few. You can support women’s sports by watching most Unrivaled games on TNT or streaming the entire season on Max.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On survival: For months, people in Gaza were unable to purchase one thing their lives depended on: HIV medication. (The Intercept)

On what children teach us: In this excerpt from an upcoming book she co-edited, Maya Schenwar tells the story of how motherhood changed her approach to prison abolition. (The Marshall Project)

On killing the fact-checkers: What difference did the now-defunct Facebook research team actually make? Plenty, writes former fact checker Carrie Monahan in “Bare Facebook Liar.” (Air Mail)

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