Donald Trump is moving quickly to establish his new presidential administration, and he has decided to fire four White House staff workers.
The unexpected action comes just days after the 78-year-old Republican was sworn in as President of the United States, following a contentious inaugural ceremony on Monday (20 January).
Trump has since made some big changes to the operation of the Oval Office, including informing four members of White House staff that they had been let go.
The dismissals were announced on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, and according to the New York Post, the action is part of Trump’s aim to terminate over 1,000 staffers employed by the former Biden government.
The online announcement read: “Our first day in the White House is not over yet!
“My Presidential Personnel Office is actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again.”
He added: “Let this serve as Official Notice of Dismissal for these 4 individuals, with many more, coming soon,” before listing the names of the people he’d sacked and signing off with the four words famed for being uttered on his self-fronted television series The Apprentice: “YOU’RE FIRED!”
The first of Trump’s four nominees was José Andrés, who had previously served on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.
Mark Milley of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, as well as Brian Hook of the Wilson Center for Scholars, were both let go.
The final name revealed was Keisha Lance Bottoms, who had previously served on the President’s Export Council.
Here’s what else Trump has done since resuming his presidency…
Immigration issues
One of Trump’s first executive orders labeled Mexican d.r.u.g cartels as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’.
Border crossings from Mexico have been labeled as an ‘invasion’, with US military personnel being sent down to serve as immigration and border enforcement agents.
The US Refugee Admission Program has been paused and will be reviewed every 90 days.
Trump has also ordered that undocumented immigrants’ children born in the United States no longer be granted automatic citizenship.
Immigration has long been a source of support for Trump and the Republican Party, and their victory in 2016 was primarily due to Trump’s promise to build a wall along the southern border.
Climate change and the environment
Under Trump, the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement, which committed nations to adopting policies to reduce carbon emissions.
A Biden-era strategy designed to encourage the development of electric automobiles has also been removed.
Limits on fossil fuel production on federal lands, implemented under the Biden administration, have also been reversed.
Leaving the World Health Organisation
Trump also signed an order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO).
He rationalized this decision by arguing that they mishandled the Covid epidemic.
According to the decision, the WHO ‘continues to demand disproportionately onerous payments from the United States, significantly out of proportion with other countries’ assessed costs.
Trump claimed the World Health Organization had ‘ripped off’ the United States.
TikTok
Trump has paused the US ban on TikTok for 75 days, which means it was only in force for one day.
American users had logged into the app only to be told it ‘wasn’t available’.
Gender and biological s.e.x
An executive order was issued stating that the United States only recognizes ‘two s.e.x.es, male and female’, implying that they are not ‘changeable’ but ‘based in fundamental and undeniable reality’.
The order said: “Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other messages.
“Agency forms that require an individual’s s.e.x shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology.”
