Politics

Of all the images that emerged from the new administration last week, few were as meaningful and portentous as Melania Trump in oversized aviators and snug black cap in North Carolina with her husband, Friday morning, to inspect the damage remaining from Hurricane Helene back in November.  Mrs. Trump, it seems, had actually wanted to travel to California, where she and the president later landed to perform a similarly styled wellness check on wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles. But Trump insisted North Carolina come first — both to show off his return to presidential posturing as well as to highlight the abandonment many North Carolinans believe they’ve endured at the hands of FEMA and the Biden administration.

President Donald Trump and Colombian president Gustavo Petro feuded yesterday over the return of immigrants living illegally in the US, but after Trump’s threats of tariffs, Petro agreed to send his own plane to pick up the criminals. Trump’s plans to return the immigrants back to their country of citizenship were temporarily thwarted by Petro, who denied the flights permission to land. He claimed he rejected the repatriation flights because of the lack of “dignity and respect” shown to these Colombians, as they would have arrived on military planes while handcuffed. Petro stated, “We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals.

With a 51-49 vote, the debate on Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be defense secretary ended Thursday afternoon. The vote mostly fell on party lines, with the exception of two Republican senators: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.  "After thorough evaluation, I must conclude that I cannot in good conscience support his nomination for secretary of defense," Murkowski said in a post on X. "I did not make this decision lightly; I take my constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent with the utmost seriousness." “Although he has recently revised his statements on women in combat since being nominated, I remain concerned about the message that confirming Mr. Hegseth sends to women currently serving and those aspiring to join,” Murkowski followed.

It is said that the adage “he who hesitates is lost” is an adaptation of a line from Joseph Addison’s 1712 play Cato. I do not believe that Donald Trump is a student of the co-founder of The Spectator, but he has clearly absorbed that nugget of practical wisdom. Within hours of taking office on Monday, Trump issued some 200 executive orders and proclamations affecting the government’s conduct on everything from immigration to DEI, from energy policy to the 1,500 people incarcerated in Washington jails because they joined in the protest at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.   It is one thing to issue orders and proclamations. It is another thing to see them carried out successfully.

The newly sworn-in President Trump had a busy inaugural day. Between swearing into office and waving a saber around while dancing to “YMCA” at an inaugural ball, he also signed several executive orders and proclamations. After signing his cabinet and other nominations, President Trump’s first order of business was to proclaim that all flags should be flown at full staff for this and all future inauguration days. Following the inaugural parade, President Trump signed a bevy of additional executive documents as thousands of his supporters cheered.