Second presidency of Donald Trump facts for kids
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Quick facts for kids
Second presidency of Donald Trump
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| January 20, 2025 – present | |
| JD Vance | |
| Cabinet | Full list |
| Party | Republican |
| Election | 2024 |
| Seat | White House |
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← Joe Biden •
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The second and current tenure of Donald Trump as the president of the United States began upon his inauguration on January 20, 2025. Trump, a Republican from New York City and resident of Florida, who previously served as president from 2017 to 2021, took office following his victory over Democratic incumbent vice president Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election after she replaced incumbent president Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee. Alongside Trump's presidency, the Republican Party holds majorities in the House of Representatives under Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate under president pro tempore Chuck Grassley.
On his first day, he pardoned about 1,500 people convicted of offenses in the January 6 Capitol Riot. Within his first month, he signed approximately 70 executive orders—far more than any other President,—many of which are being challenged in court. On immigration, he signed executive orders to block asylum seekers from entry to the United States, reinstated the national emergency at the Mexican border, and attempted to end birthright citizenship, and his first piece of legislation was the Laken Riley Act. He established the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization (Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE) under Elon Musk, which has been tasked with cutting spending, limiting federal bureaucracy, and has overseen mass firings across federal agencies.
In international affairs, Trump once again withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accords. He started a trade war with Canada and Mexico and continued the ongoing trade war with China. He repeatedly expressed his interest to annex Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. In response to the Gaza War, he proposed taking over the Gaza Strip, forcibly relocating the Palestinian population to other Arab states, and rebuilding Gaza into a tourist resort. Trump's administration also suspended all military aid to Ukraine, offered concessions to Russia, requested half of Ukraine's oil and minerals as payment for U.S. support, and said that Ukraine bore partial responsibility for the invasion. These moves have been criticized by most United States' allies and by many international organizations.
Trump is the second U.S. president to leave office after one term and later be elected for a second term, and is the oldest individual to assume the presidency. Following his victories in the 2016 and 2024 elections, he is not eligible to run for election to a third term due to the provisions of the Twenty-second Amendment.
Contents
Executive orders
Beginning on January 20, 2025 President Trump, upon inauguration, began office with the most executive orders ever signed on the first day of a United States presidential term, at 26 executive orders. Following behind Trump's executive order tally is Joe Biden at 9 executive orders on January 20, 2021, then Barack Obama at 2 executive orders, and Bill Clinton at 1 executive order.
Trump's singing of executive orders was described as a "shock and awe" campaign that tested the limits of executive authority. Four days into Trump's second term, analysis conducted by Time found that nearly two-thirds of his executive actions "mirror or partially mirror" proposals from Project 2025, which was seconded with analysis from Bloomberg Government.
The signing of many of Trump's executive orders are being challenged in court, as the executive orders are affecting federal funding, federal employee status, immigration, federal programs, government data availability, and more. The majority of the cases are being filed in response to executive orders related to the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency, Executive Order 14158, and the actions taken by Elon Musk and the DOGE team towards federal agencies as self-identified cost-cutting measures.
Domestic policy
Prospective policies for Trump's second presidency were proposed in Agenda 47, a collection of his formal policy plans.
Climate and environment
At a private dinner at Mar-a-Lago in April 2024, Trump encouraged fossil fuel companies to donate to his campaign, saying that he would roll back environmental regulations if elected.
Trump's transition team for climate and the environment is led by David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist who served as interior secretary, and Andrew R. Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who led the EPA under Trump. The team is preparing to withdraw from the Paris Agreement for a second time, expand drilling and mining on public land, and dismantle offices working to end pollution, while other officials have discussed moving the Environmental Protection Agency from Washington, D.C. Trump will redraw the boundaries of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monuments as he did in his first presidency, end a pause on new natural gas export terminals that began under President Joe Biden, and prevent states from setting their own pollution standards.
Upon taking office, Trump appointed oil, gas, and chemical lobbyists to the Environmental Protection Agency to roll back climate rules and pollution controls. Trump ordered the pause on disbursement of climate-related funds issued by the IRA and BIL, and falsely conflated the funds with the "Green New Deal".
Economy
Trump inherited a resilient economy from the Biden administration, with increasing economic growth, low unemployment, and declining inflation. When Trump assumed office in January 2025, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4%, and the inflation rate, measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditure price index, was projected to range between 2.2% and 2.4% for 2025. The New York Times and Economic Policy Institute described the economy as "in better shape than that bequeathed to any newly elected president since George W. Bush came into office in 2001". However, polls found that many Americans still felt the impacts of the 2021–2023 inflation surge, which partly contributed to Trump's reelection win.
In January 2025, Republicans began considering cuts for various social programs in order to pay for the proposed tax cuts. Trump, with the help of Elon Musk, launched a campaign to reduce the federal workforce by over 9,500 employees, primarily focusing on probationary staff, to streamline government operations. This has sparked criticism over the potential disruption of vital services and raised concerns about employee rights, with legal challenges and internal dissent emerging.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in January 2025 that extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts could increase deficits by more than $4 trillion over 10 years, if not offset by spending cuts. Trump's campaign proposals to exempt Social Security benefits, tip and overtime income from taxation would further increase deficits. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that all of Trump's tax cut proposals together would reduce federal tax receipts by $5 trillion to $11 trillion over a decade, if not offset. Some congressional Republicans argued the tax cuts would not increase deficits.
Tariffs policy
During his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to impose higher tariffs on imports from all countries, particularly China. On November 25, 2024, following his election victory, Trump said he would sign an executive order placing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and impose an additional 10% tariff to China. On November 30, 2024, Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff to BRICS nations if they tried to create a new BRICS currency or promote another currency to replace the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency.
On February 1, 2025, after taking office the month prior, Trump followed through on his intentions and signed three executive orders imposing a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada and a 10% tariff on China, originally due to take effect on February 4. A lower 10% tariff was announced for all energy exports from Canada, including electricity, natural gas, and oil. Trump's trade advisor, Peter Navarro, stated that the lower rate for energy was intended to "minimize any disruptive effects". In response, representatives from Mexico and Canada announced intentions to impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States, which if implemented could lead to an increase in tariff rates in accordance with a clause reportedly included in the orders signed by Trump. On February 3, Trump announced that the tariffs on both Mexico and Canada would be paused for one month.
According to Kim Clausing of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the proposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China would represent the "largest tax increase [in the United States] since the 1990s."
Education
During his first term, Trump cut funding to the Department of Education, while continuing to criticize it. During his 2024 campaign, Trump actively promoted the idea of abolishing the Department of Education and proposed handing over control of education to individual state governments.
On January 21, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would no longer refrain from arresting illegal immigrants in schools.
Federal government and executive power
The second Trump administration has pursued a maximalist interpretation of the unitary executive theory. It has been noted for making sweeping assertions of executive authority, and challenging several Congressional laws and parts of the Constitution restraining presidential power.
Trump in February 2025 wrote on Truth Social and X: "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law", which the White House later reposted on X that day. Shortly afterward on February 19 in a post about congestion pricing in New York, Trump compared himself to a king by saying "LONG LIVE THE KING!". Later that month, Trump told the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, to "comply" with his executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports, or he would withdraw "any federal funding", because "we are the federal law".
Also in February 2025, Elon Musk declared that "all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week … Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation"; within hours federal employees received an email from the United States Office of Personnel Management demanding their response, within two days, on work done last week.
DOGE
The Trump administration established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a temporary organization with Elon Musk as its administrator, and renamed the United States Digital Service to the United States DOGE Service to function as a parent agency. DOGE is a unit tasked with recommending cost-cutting measures, and according to the executive order that established it, its formal purpose is to "modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity".
In late January 2025, Wired reported that the top ranks of the human resources-focused United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had been filled by new hires who had formerly worked for either Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Republican politicians or right-wing media outlets, while Musk's allies were installed into the technology-focused General Services Administration and planned massive spending cuts. On January 28, the OPM offered a "deferred resignation" scheme to federal government employees to announce their resignation by February 6, while stating that employees who resigned would still receive salary and benefits until September 30, 2025. The offer made was similar to Elon Musk's notice to employees after he took control of Twitter. On January 31, Trump added that he would nullify federal employee union contracts, specifically including one with the Education Department, that had been agreed to late in Biden's term. Musk also gained access to the Treasury's payment system. Two OPM officials told Reuters that Musk's allies locked some OPM officials from accessing OPM data systems, with one official saying this enabled Musk's allies to use the systems without oversight. It was reported that this gave DOGE "full access" to the major U.S. Treasury database controlling the expenditure of 6 trillion dollars, as well as "the sensitive personal data of millions of Americans as well as details of public contractors who compete directly with Musk’s own businesses." It was reported that the previous top civil servant who was associated with the database was placed on leave and then resigned after objecting to DOGE's access. It was reported that this access could allow Musk to block payments by the U.S. government to many federal programs. Senator Ron Wyden stated that this access was a "national security risk."
USAID
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Trump and DOGE are attempting to dismantle the vast majority of USAID, a 10,000-person agency originally tasked to carry-out and monitor humanitarian projects. USAID's critics maintain that many of the projects are in fact not all that humanitarian and/or that much of the money is not all that well spent.
The administration issued a 90-day stop-work order worldwide, and attracted a lawsuit for not paying vendors. Stop work interrupted about 30 clinical trials, and interrupted such projects as a camp for war refugees on the Sudan-Chad border, emergency medical care for displaced Palestinians and Yemenis, heat and electricity for Ukrainian refugees, and HIV treatment and mpox surveillance in Africa.
Per a January 31 ProPublica article, a key controversy is whether or not waivers are being made and money actually starting to flow again for the most essential programs. For example, the Associated Press reported on February 19, that waivers for PEPFAR, the program that has saved 26 million lives from AIDS, were not in force, despite a federal judge having lifted the funding freeze.
In February 2025, it was reported that the USAID director of security and a deputy were put on administrative leave after they "blocked efforts by DOGE members to physically access restricted areas" in order to obtain sensitive information. The DOGE members did eventually gain access to the information, which reportedly included email as well as classified information for which they did not have security clearance. And they obtained the ability to lock USAID staff out. Elon Musk had earlier tweeted "USAID is a criminal organization" and that it is "Time for it to die."
On February 3, Musk said of USAID: "We’re shutting it down", with Musk saying Trump "agreed." USAID staff were instructed to keep away from USAID headquarters while hundreds of USAID staff lost access to USAID computer systems.
During a February 6 press conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated, "If it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze. I don't know how much more clear we can be than that."
However, a February 8 CNN article reported that many waivers were not being acted upon because of staff placed on leave, plus payment systems had been taken over.
On February 7, federal judge Carl Nichols, whom Trump nominated in his first term, delayed the placing of 2,200 employees on administrative leave and ordered access to their email accounts restored. He later extended this pause. On February 21, Judge Nichols decided not to delay the layoffs any longer, citing the alternate avenue of regular employment law.
In an interview which aired on Fox News before the February 9 Super Bowl, President Trump said, "Let him take care of the few good ones," referring to Secretary of State Rubio. Rubio's waivers, however, were not in effect.
On February 13, federal judge Amir Ali ordered the Trump administration to continue contracts and grants which were in effect January 19. He wrote, "Defendants have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid [...] was a rational precursor to reviewing programs."
There have been some early reports that China has offered to take over development projects if the United States permanently leaves.
Federal funding freeze
On January 27, 2025, the Trump administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released memo M-25-13, which ordered the federal government to take action the next day to "temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by [Trump's] executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal". The memo continued that this would allow the Trump administration to "determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and [Trump's] priorities", while "Medicare or Social Security benefits" were exempted from being affected. 2,600 federal programs were selected for review. The memo sparked considerable uncertainty among government employees, lawmakers and nonprofit organizations.
On January 28, 2025, the Medicaid payment portal shut down across the United States before returning online later that day; the Trump administration said that the shutdown was not related to the funding freeze. Nonprofit organizations reported being unable to enter federal government systems to receive federal funds. The OMB released an additional statement declaring several schemes (Medicaid, SNAP, "funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance", student loans, and "any program that provides direct benefits to Americans") to be exempt from the federal funding freeze. After several organizations sued, the OMB memo was blocked by United States District Judge Loren AliKhan before the freeze began, with the block to expire on February 3.
On January 29, the OMB withdrew memo M-25-13, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that this did not nullify the federal funding freeze. On February 1, after 22 states and the District of Columbia sued, District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. ordered the Trump administration to temporarily stop the federal funding freeze in those states, as "no federal law would authorize the executive's unilateral action here". McConnell took action after concluding that the withdrawal of the "wide-ranging, all-encompassing, and ambiguous" OMB memo was "in name-only and may have been issued simply to defeat the jurisdiction of the courts". On February 10, McConnell cited the suing states as providing "evidence" that the Trump administration "in some cases have continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds", causing "irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country"; hence McConnell ordered the Trump administration to "immediately restore frozen funding".
Loyalty tests and mass firings
Once the second Trump presidency began, White House screening teams fanned out to federal agencies to screen job applicants for their loyalty to the president's agenda. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order asserting to restore merit-based federal hiring practices and "dedication to our Constitution". As part of its U.S. federal deferred resignation program, the Trump administration demanded "loyalty" from federal workers. In a break from politically neutral speech, the Justice Department issued memos about "insubordination", "abhorrent conduct" and vowed to pursue opponents of Trump's cost-cutting efforts "to the ends of the Earth" in what was described by current and former law enforcement officials as a campaign of intimidation against agents insufficiently loyal to Trump. Candidates for top national intelligence and law enforcement positions were given Trump loyalty tests. Candidates were asked to give yes or no responses to whether or not January 6 was an "inside job" and whether or not the 2020 election was "stolen". Those that did not say yes to both answers were not hired.
Trump oversaw mass firings of federal workers at various agencies, many of them described as breaking with precedent or federal law and with the intent to replace them with workers more aligned with Trump's agenda.
On January 24, 2025, less than a week into Trump's second presidency, he fired 17 independent inspectors general at federal agencies, which appeared to violate federal law that requires advance notice of dismissals to both chambers of congress with reasons given 30 days in advance. Trump also fired all Democratic but not Republican members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which would prevent the board from meeting quorum and functioning. Trump also fired members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Labor Relations Board, over 160 members of the National Security Council for not aligning with Trump's agenda, and 56 senior officials at USAID for allegedly attempting to thwart Trump's priorities.
Healthcare
On November 14 at a speech at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump announced that he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the position of health secretary. This appointment caused controversy. In December, Trump revealed he was discussing ending childhood vaccination programs with RFK Jr. and promoted the scientifically disproven claim of a link between vaccines and autism.
Upon election, the Trump administration ordered a freeze on all communications and reports from HHS and sub-agencies, unless approved by a political appointee. On January 22, DHS announced that ICE would start arresting illegal immigrants in hospitals, if necessary.
Immigration
Trump has indicated intent to expand and revive immigration policies imposed during his first presidency, including a travel ban on Muslims, expulsion of asylum seekers by asserting that they carry infectious diseases, deputization of police officers and soldiers to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement in mass deportations, and establishment of sprawling detention camps, according to The New York Times. After his win, Trump said "there is no price tag" to carry out these deportations.
On November 10, 2024, Trump announced that Tom Homan would be joining the incoming administration as the "border czar", writing that "Homan will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin."
Average daily border crossings were at the lowest level since summer 2020 shortly before Trump took office partly attributed to an executive order restricting asylum Biden passed the prior year.
Shortly after he became president on January 20, the Trump administration ended services for the app of CBP One and declared a national emergency at the southern border, ordered the armed forces to draft plans for deployment, and declared actions to move towards labeling Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. Trump increased deportation authorities for the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Marshals Service. He gave ICE the power to deport immigrants who came to the United States legally under Biden administration programs, and established daily deportation quotas to ICE offices.
Trump revoked guidance from 2011 prohibiting immigration arrests in sensitive areas such as courthouses, schools, churches, and hospitals, or during funerals and weddings.
Trump also signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship for children of unauthorized immigrants as well as immigrants legally but temporarily present in the United States. At least nine lawsuits have been filed challenged the order on constitutional grounds, and as of February 2025[update], four federal judges have issued preliminary injunctions blocking its implementation and enforcement nationwide.
On January 29, 2025, Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law, the first legislation of Trump’s second term.
NPR reported that a "growing number" of Democratic and Republican officials in cities, states, police departments, school districts and other local governments stated they would not assist in migrant raids citing public safety, civil rights, and administrative capability concerns.
On February 6, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks claimed that illegal border crossings were already down almost 90% since Trump's inauguration, and that criminal prosecutions of those apprehended were up more than 50%.
Military
In November 2024, Trump's transition team was reportedly compiling a list of military officials involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and investigating whether they could be court-martialed. They were also considering creating a commission to investigate the withdrawal, including whether some officials could be eligible for treason. During his campaign, Trump promised to use the military on American soil to fight "the enemy from within" which he described as "radical left lunatics" and Democratic politicians such as Adam Schiff. Upon taking office, Trump was described as politicizing the military and introducing culture war topics.
Charles Q. Brown Jr., who was originally nominated by Trump, became the first African American to lead a branch of the United States Armed Forces. Brown was abruptly dismissed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on February 21, 2025 by Trump. Trump subsequently announced that Brown would be replaced with John D. Caine.
Religion
Donald Trump's campaign took on the symbols, rhetoric and agenda of Christian nationalism. He wove Christian religious imagery into his ideology, characterizing it as a "righteous crusade" against "atheists, globalists and the Marxists".
Trump has been critical of what he sees as a persecution of Christians. On February 6, following the National Prayer Breakfast, Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a task force to "immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the FBI — terrible — and other agencies." Donald Trump appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the task force and appointed Paula White to direct the White House Faith Office.
Foreign policy
Trump's second term foreign policy was described as a mixture of both imperialist and expansionist policies. Trump, historians, and commentators frequently compared it to the policy of former President William McKinley in relation to expansionism and tariffs.
Expansionism
In the lead-up to his second inauguration, Trump proposed plans and ideas that would expand the United States' political influence and territory. The last territory acquired by the United States was in 1947 when the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands were acquired.
Canada
Trump has said he will impose a 25% tariff on all goods from Canada in an effort for the Canadian government to stop what in his view is an illegal migration crisis on the Canada–United States border. Canadian officials have responded by threatening the United States with retaliatory tariffs, and have even proposed cutting off the supply of Canadian energy into the Northern United States. This has led to Trump taunting Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau with joke offers for Canada to join the Union, and Trump has referred to Trudeau as the "Governor of the Great State of Canada".
Greenland
In December 2024, Trump stated a further proposal for the United States to purchase Greenland from Denmark, describing ownership and control of the island as "an absolute necessity" for national security purposes. This builds upon a prior offer from Trump to buy Greenland during his first term, which the Danish Realm refused, causing him to cancel his August 2019 visit to Denmark. On January 7, 2025, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. visited Greenland's capital city Nuuk alongside Charlie Kirk to hand out MAGA hats. At a press conference the following day, Trump refused to rule out military or economic force to take over Greenland or the Panama Canal. However, he did rule out military force in taking over Canada. On January 14, the Trump-affiliated Nelk Boys also visited Nuuk, handing out dollar bills to locals. On January 16, the CEOs of major Danish companies Novo Nordisk, Vestas and Carlsberg among others were assembled for a crisis meeting in the Ministry of State to discuss the situation. On the subsequent day, former chief executive Friis Arne Petersen in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the situation as "historically unheard of".
Panama Canal
In 2024, Trump demanded that Panama return control of the Panama Canal to the United States due to 'excessive rates' being charged for American passage. The United States previously was in control of the Panama Canal Zone from 1903 until 1999, and has invaded Panama before in 1989.
Gaza Strip
In February 2025, Donald Trump made claims about the Gaza Strip and his desire to "own it" and "take over" the area after a forceful removal of the Palestinian citizens of Gaza, which has been the center of the Gaza War between Israel and Hamas-led militant groups. The comments received quick condemnation from the global community as the systematic and forced removal of a people from a place would be considered ethnic cleansing, which is a crime against humanity under the statutes of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
To the shock and anger of much of the global community, Trump further insinuated that Gaza was prime real estate and stated, "I don't want to be a wise guy, but [the United States would make Gaza] the Riviera of the Middle East." On February 25, Trump posted a short AI-generated video to Truth Social, portraying a future "riviera" there.
Trump also asserted that the Palestinians would have no right to return under his plan for Gaza. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty’s said there was "Arab consensus" of a rejection of a plan of displacement of Palestinians.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement that it was "the only viable plan to enable a different future."
On February 21, 2025, after opposition from Arab states, Trump said he would "recommend" but not enforce his plan for the US takeover of Gaza and the resettlement of the Palestinian population.
Elections during the second Trump presidency
| Senate leaders | House leaders | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congress | Year | Majority | Minority | Speaker | Minority |
| 119th | begins 2025 | Thune | Schumer | Johnson | Jeffries |
| Congress | Senate | House |
|---|---|---|
| 119th | 53 | 220 |
See also
In Spanish: Segunda presidencia de Donald Trump para niños
