Trump’s executive orders threaten security, well-being of all Americans

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. Photo by Evan Vucci / AP

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of executive orders. While some of these orders are already being challenged and will almost surely never come to pass — such as Trump’s attempt to overturn the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship — others run the risk of immediately jeopardizing the health, safety and prosperity of the United States.

These actions are emblematic of a leader who prioritizes political cronyism over the long-term interests of the American people. Taken together, they represent an assault on national security, public health, environmental stewardship and even the norms of governance itself.

Among Trump’s most dangerous Day 1 executive orders was granting top-secret security clearances to friends and advisers without requiring standard background checks or vetting processes. Such reckless granting of security clearances risks exposing American secrets, as well as the identities and locations of American soldiers and intelligence operatives living abroad to criminals and foreign adversaries.

Security clearance vetting not only exists to identify criminal conduct and dubious relationships, but also to identify vices that can make an otherwise honorable public official susceptible to becoming a liability. These background checks are extremely important. By eliminating them, Trump risks creating leaks in America’s intelligence apparatus. Worse, there’s no discernible reason for taking this action other than this: He knows some of his appointees are too compromised to pass a security clearance. This is especially true in the case of director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, who has already been flagged as a security threat because of her abject supplication to Vladimir Putin and ousted Syrian butcher Bashar al-Assad.

Trump doubled down on his irresponsible handling of security clearances by simultaneously revoking the clearances of more than 50 officials whose sole “crime” was conducting their duties with integrity. These officials, many of whom had decades of experience analyzing foreign intelligence and who understood the complexity of foreign threats, had raised legitimate concerns about Russian interference in the 2020 election — concerns that subsequent evidence confirmed were well-founded.

By silencing these experts, Trump not only exacted personal revenge but also sent a chilling message: Loyalty to his narrative outweighs loyalty to the nation’s safety, truth and good intelligence. At a time when global adversaries such as Russia and China are emboldened, Trump’s actions undermine the very foundations of national security. Putin is no doubt thinking “good boy” right now.

In addition to putting national security at risk, Trump’s Day 1 actions are also risking public health. At a moment when global public health threats are ever-present and diseases once thought eradicated are reemerging, Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) isolates the country from vital networks of information and collaboration. The WHO serves as an early warning system and a critical source of expertise — tools the U.S. can ill afford to lose.

Another reckless action taken by Trump on is his declaration of emergency powers that will allow him to engage in massive spending at the border, while sidestepping federal and state laws and approval processes. Trump is demonstrating an eagerness to govern by fiat, disregarding the voices of the American people and their elected representatives.

Of course, Trump maintains that such power should be granted to him in the name of “efficiency.” Yet efficiency didn’t seem to matter to him when he announced his plan to create a new “External Revenue Service,” a redundant agency duplicating the work of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service. This bureaucratic boondoggle serves no practical purpose other than to inflate federal spending and provide patronage opportunities, as well as a engage in a silly marketing ploy. Trump’s other new advisory panel, the “Department of Government Efficiency,” shouldn’t have to look very far for government waste and inefficiency, as the External Revenue Service puts such waste and inefficiency on full display.

Speaking of inefficiency, Trump has long promised that he will increase the pace of U.S. energy production, and at first glance, his executive order expanding oil and natural gas leases on federal land appear to do just that. However, Trump simultaneously curtailed offshore wind farm leases — decreasing the number of options available for efficient, homegrown energy production. This contradictory approach is pure theater, allowing Trump to provide political favors to the oil and gas donor class at the expense of American’s health and energy independence.

In fact, all of Trump’s orders related to the environment are a gift to the fossil fuel industry and a disaster for the planet. Opening the pristine Alaska wilderness to oil and gas drilling, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and rolling back regulations on tailpipe pollution are actions that prioritize short-term corporate profits over long-term sustainability.

Trump’s executive orders paint a grim picture. The consequences of these actions will be felt for years to come. As Americans, we should recognize these orders for what they are: the first concrete evidence of the corruption coming in the four years that will line the pockets of the rich and powerful at great cost to all of all average Americans, MAGA supporters included.