Initial Reactions to the Trump Executive Orders

It’s inauguration day and Trump has promised a host of executive orders on everything from tariffs to immigration to Tik Tok. Here’s our initial reactions as they come in (we’re not sure when they’ll all start or end so this will be an ongoing piece likely over the next few days; also, if you’re new to our substack or podcast and you’re looking for someone who will reliably reinforce your views either for or against Trump — or anyone — this is not the right place for you).

Close the border to asylum seeking migrants: I agree with this. The Biden administration lost control of the border completely. You cannot have a country if you cannot control your borders. What we need is a massive, massive increase in legal immigration. We need a lot more skilled workers for industries like construction and nursing. And because our population is aging quickly, we need to make it younger and we need to add millions of younger taxpayers to the system to cover the ballooning costs of Social Security and Medicare. We will never get a deal that significantly increases legal immigration for as long as illegal immigration dominates the headlines. So securing the border as a first step towards a broad immigration deal (which Trump is uniquely positioned to reach because of his credibility with the right on this issue) makes sense.

Reinstate Title 42: This allows the government to turn people away at the border without a chance at asylum. I wish we weren’t in a position where we have to do this, but because of the mess Biden created and because our legal immigration policies are so deficient, we can’t handle the flood of migrants at the border claiming asylum. So I’m not sure what other choice we realistically have (the status quo cannot continue).

End birthright citizenship: This idea is not only stupid, it’s unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment guarantees automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States. You need 2/3rds of Congress and 3/4ths of the states to amend the Constitution. That’s both not happening, nor should it happen. And it wouldn’t even be an issue if we had a logical immigration system that secures the borders but allows a lot more legal workers into this country based on the needs of the economy and tax revenue (which, of course, may only be feasible if we can get the logical 70% in the middle to start voting in primaries rather than just the far right — who hates all immigration all the time — and the far left, who wants open borders all the time).

End the electric vehicle mandate: What about the wildfires in Los Angeles, or the hurricanes in North Carolina or the spate of floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, droughts, polar vortexes and everything else would make you think that making climate change worse is a good idea? I’m not even sure how Elon hasn’t put a stop to this one unless it somehow in a backdoor way benefits Tesla relative to other EV makers (maybe it does).

End protections for transgender students: They’re kids. We should protect kids. Always.

Suspend refugee resettlement: I agree with this. We should not be letting more people into the country just by allowing them to claim asylum. The entire asylum process has become completely de-legitimized thanks to Biden’s incompetence and fear of alienating the far left. And even if refugees are making it into the country, why do cities like New York pay for their food and housing? If they’re here, there are lots of industries that need workers. Ideally we do this through a lot more legal immigration so those workers are vetted and taxed. But even if they’re here illegally, there’s no reason to make taxpayers cover their costs.

Launch drilling and mining on natural resources: Same point on climate change as above. With that said, if there are types of drilling and mining that are necessary to reduce reliance on imports and reduce the ability of other countries to threaten our national security, those are different and should be seriously considered.

Bring the U.S. military into border security: Agreed for all the reasons above. We have to fix this to ever get to a place on immigration that actually makes sense.

Declare migrant crossings from Mexico to Canada to be a national emergency: Same.

Designate drug cartels as global terrorists: I don’t know that prosecutors feel like they lack the legal tools to go after the cartels so this is just red meat for the base but with that said, it’s also fine. No one should ever have any sympathy for the cartels. The problem is that once you jail one of them, another equally vicious leader steps in so it’s unlikely this really achieves anything. The provision that allows law enforcement to deport suspected members of cartels and gangs without due process (the Alien Enemies Act) may have a greater impact (I’m not getting worked up about the rights of cartel members).

Establish biological sex definitions for federal workers: Let people be who they are and who they want to be. If they’re not hurting anyone else, who cares?

Remove transgender protection in federal prisons or for migrants in federal custody: How many people can this possibly apply to? This is like the cartel EO above. Just optics.

Direct federal agencies to begin investigations into trade practices: Absolutely. I don’t know if American companies suffer because we are subject to discriminatory trade practices by other countries but why wouldn’t we want to find out? Perhaps we already know the answers to all of these questions but rather than Trump just arbitrarily imposing tariffs left and right, this seems like a better way to start the process.

Assess China’s compliance with the US-China 2020 trade deal: Absolutely. It seems highly likely that China is not in compliance and if they are not and if American companies and workers are losing out as a result, that should be addressed and redressed.

Assess Mexico and Canada’s compliance with USMCA: Same, although my guess is non-compliance here is a lot less than it is by China.

Declare a national emergency to speed permitting for pipelines and power plants: If we’re talking all fossil fuels, this doesn’t make sense. But if it’s for renewables, it could make a lot of sense (permitting for wind facilities especially is incredibly slow and bureaucratic) and for nuclear, even more sense. Yes, I am very worried about what another Trump term will do to our ability to mitigate climate change and yes, we have way too much politics and bureaucracy in this country that blocks things we need from energy facilities to affordable housing to charter schools.

Roll back regulations that impeded domestic energy production: Same as above. If for fossil fuels, ultimately counterproductive (absent a real national security need). If it’s for renewables or nuclear, 100%.

Open the Alaska wilderness to more oil and gas drilling: Absent a strong national security argument around not wanting to rely on any energy imports from anyone (with clear justification as to why that’s necessary right now), this is a bad idea.

Eliminate environmental justice programs: A program is neither inherently good nor bad simply because it has the word “justice” in its name. Do I trust the Biden bureaucrats to have developed thoughtful programs that are more than just the left wing equivalent of political red meat? No. Does that mean everything they did is bad? Also no. Let’s look at them individually. A lot of them are meant to help poor people who live in communities with high rates of asthma so we shouldn’t lose progress on that. My guess is some of them are good, some are not and most are well intentioned but totally ineffective.

Delay the ban on Tik Tok: Absolutely not. Tik Tok is a propaganda tool controlled by the Chinese government that’s in the pockets of 170 million Americans including virtually every adolescent and teenager. It is patently insane to give them this kind of access. Congress passed the divestiture requirement and the Court upheld it. It should happen now.

Release the federal records on the assassinations of MLK, JFK and RFK: Hell yes. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I have spent too much time in government to believe that anyone can keep a secret. But of course I’d love to know what the records say. Who wouldn’t?

End DEI initiatives across the federal government: See the environmental justice item above. DEI as a concept is not bad. People cannot advance in society if they lack opportunities. Providing those opportunities can be a good thing. DEI has been applied poorly in some places and weaponized by the far left to demonize anyone who disagrees with them (yet another example of the left taking an idea with potential and good intentions and destroying it thanks to their desperation for moral superiority at all times). But the idea that it’s inherently bad and has to be repealed is just wrong.

Restore the death penalty for murders of police officers by illegal immigrants: This is complicated for me. I am opposed to the death penalty but not for the usual reasons. I just think the issue causes too much distraction for something that ultimately doesn’t matter much. Based on the latest data I could find, there are about 1.2 million people in prison and around 2,100 on death row. That’s .175% of the total prison population. We spend way too much time fighting about something that not only impacts virtually zero point zero percent of Americans total but just over one tenth of one percent of the prison population. Getting rid of the death penalty means we stop wasting time on this issue (I get the larger moral point but from the draft to deciding who gets health care, we’ve already established that the state has the ability to take a life) and eliminates the risk of anyone innocent being put to death. So I’m against this but for different reasons than most.

Clemency for people charged in the January 6 attacks: This is insane. They literally attempted a coup of our government. They belong in jail for a very long time.

Restart construction on a border wall: Sure. Knock yourself out. Drones would be a lot cheaper and more effective.

Re-issue Schedule F: This would allow Trump to replace thousands of high ranking civil servants with political loyalists. The reason that the substantive damage under Trump’s first term was somewhat limited is because the institutions of democracy (federal agencies, Congress, the media) were able to stand up to him. This is designed to remove that ability. It’s, of course, a terrible idea. Yes, there are probably lots of civil service jobs that are unnecessary, especially in the age of AI. Let DOGE identify them and then we can determine what stays and what goes. But turning them into political jobs is the opposite of what our democracy stands for and what our soldiers are risking their lives for.

Exclude employees of certain federal agencies (Veterans, Transportation, Defense) from collective bargaining: Collective bargaining is an important right that tries to set a balance of power between workers and employers. In the private sector, most labor deals (in my experience) reflect an emotional but ultimately arms length transaction that usually produces the right outcome. In the public sector, this is abused because those same unions are not only allowed to donate politically, taxpayer money is automatically withheld from workers paychecks that goes to the unions and then a portion of that to the unions’ political funds to then give the union power to negotiate deals that are not arms length and often bad for the taxpayers. Public sector unions should not be allowed to make political contributions. But they should be able to bargain collectively except in extreme circumstances that threaten public safety or national security.

Withdraw from the Paris Accords: This is beyond stupid. Los Angeles is literally on fire. You want to exacerbate the conditions that caused it? Sure, you can point fingers at government mismanagement in LA, at priorities like DEI, at the mayor being out of the country. But the vast, vast contributor to the problem was climate change. This is just one example but true in virtually every part of the nation and the world. We should be doing everything we can to fight it, not worsen it.

Restrict foreign organizations who provide or facilitate abortion services from receiving federal funding: This is the first front in a much larger coming war by the Trump administration to cut off all means of access to abortion procedures and medication for women in red states. Right now, telemedicine has allowed tens of thousands of women to still access the care they need. Trump and his team want to stop that. We at Tusk Philanthropies are strong supporters of access to abortion medication via telemedicine and recently funded a campaign in Albany to pass a law (will happen this week) to further provide legal protections for New York medical professionals who prescribe abortion medication.

Repeal Biden’s Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence: Biden’s EO on AI, in my reading, was fairly useless, so repealing it doesn’t matter much. What will matter are the new regulations that come and, hopefully, the adoption of AI tools by government to meaningfully improve and reform government functions like procurement, rule promulgation, licensure and permitting.

Create an External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and duties: If this generates more revenue, sure. Makes sense.

Rollback regulations for energy efficient dishwashers, showerheads and gas stoves: See all of the points above on climate. With that said, where the environmental movement and the left have erred is in their stridency. Significantly increasing costs on regular people by mandating they change their appliances is tone deaf and only ends up electing people like Trump. Household economic concerns should always be taken into account in any climate mandate.

End remote work policies and order the federal workforce back to the office 5 days a week: Good.

Rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America: This seems pointless and annoying for all the mapmakers out there who have to change everything (at least the maps are pretty much now all digital) but I also really don’t care what the gulf is called. There are much bigger things to dislike so far from caving to pressure to save Tik Tok to dismantling all protections to reduce climate change to pardoning the January 6 rioters to turning nonpartisan civil servants into political lackeys.

Rename Mount Denali to Mount McKinley: Turns out Trump loves McKinley because McKinley loved tariffs. I don’t see how tariffs end well — meaning how they’re not just inflation in another name. Trump also said he’s imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada starting February 1. It’s not clear if this is a firm plan or an opening gambit but Feb 1 is right around the corner so American consumers may start to see higher prices for everything from home heating oil to avocados in a few weeks.

Hiring freeze on all new federal workers: If there are specific shortages like TSA agents or air traffic controllers or nurses in VA hospitals, of course those hirings should continue. But overall, unchecked growth of the federal government just robs the taxpayers so a pause makes sense, plus this order is literally something every president has done since Jimmy Carter.

Prevent government censorship of free speech: Other than asking the social media platforms to stop the spread of misinformation about Covid, I’m not quite sure what censorship actually exists. But it’s clear Trump and his base very clearly feel like it does (I think what they’re really feeling is the manifestation of the left’s cancel culture on businesses and institutions, which is not government censorship of free speech but this probably feels like a way to strike back against it anyway).

Withdraw from the World Health Organization: If you’re an isolationist, you don’t believe in global cooperation. So it’s not surprising Trump did this, especially with RFK Jr’s influence now in the mix. Trump holds a zero sum world view where any other country’s gain is our loss, so working together undermines his notion that for me to win, you have to lose. Long term, this approach only ensures that everyone loses.

Revoke a Biden executive order to reunify families separated at the southern border: I’ve been supportive of most of the Trump executive orders around immigration simply because we can’t get what we truly need — a major increase in legal immigration — until we stop letting illegal immigration consume all the oxygen. But you don’t want to help lost kids find their parents? Seriously? That just seems cruel for the sake of cruelty. Why?

Revoke a Biden executive order ordering the gradual end of the use of private prisons: If private prisons can deliver a better product at a better price to the taxpayers than government run prisons, that’s fine with me. From what I can tell, that has not been the case with most of them, but if the goal here is to actually improve the system and not just reward campaign donors, it could be worth it (I suspect that’s not the case unfortunately).

Revoke a Biden executive order to ban the use of chokeholds by federal agents and reduce the number of no knock warrants: I’m a little surprised by the no knock warrant decision. Trump and his base distrust the federal government and federal law enforcement as much as (if not more than) anyone. They should see no knock warrants as government tyranny in action. I get that the goal here is to both signal a new era of law enforcement and to turn away from reforms spurred by George Floyd and other examples of police brutality but I think they’re actually undermining their own values in doing so.

Study which countries immigration should not be allowed from: This is mainly another travel ban on people from specific demographics like his first term (Muslims). If there is good intel that terrorists are easily entering the U.S. from a specific country, then that’s worth acting on. But to decide just that you like people from some parts of the world more than others is clear xenophobia and is just un-American.

Short-circuit security clearance review for White House staffers: If this is intended to get people into office who otherwise wouldn’t qualify, it’s a problem. If it’s to just reduce the process needed to get people working (something people from both parties entering a new administration complain about endlessly), it may make sense.

Scour federal agencies for evidence of political bias in the work conducted under Biden: This is almost funny. Trump has been unrepentant in declaring that the federal government exists for his political purposes. And now they want to look for evidence Biden did the same thing? Of course Biden did the same thing.

Strip John Bolton specifically of any remaining security clearance: I don’t have any admiration for John Bolton so putting the weird specificity (and pettiness) of this aside, fine with me.

Establish the Department of Government Efficiency: It’s very possible that Elon is wildly underestimating how complicated government is and the real world impacts of doing things that seem easy on paper. It’s possible DOGE is mainly cover to revoke regulations Trump donors don’t like. But it’s also possible that DOGE could find ways to make the federal government more responsive, efficient and cost effective. Keep in mind, while there’s plenty to complain about, Elon also makes very good cars and led the global revolution into electric vehicles (even if he now supports ending the electric vehicle mandate which isn’t actually an electric vehicle mandate). He makes space rockets that work. He makes more satellites than anyone in the world. Neuralink is changing the way the body and brain work together (Twitter/ X just sucks). So while he says a lot of dumb things and doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, to assume he can’t do anything worthwhile is foolish.

Challenge an international agreement to stop large corporations from booking profits in low tax countries: Pulling the U.S. out of this doesn’t help any U.S. companies avoid or reduce foreign taxation and may make it even worse. However, if Trump’s goal is to start global fights about the treatment of American products and businesses, this fits the theme (and maybe there’s something to it).

Deny federal funds to sanctuary cities: Defying the federal government to do something you believe is morally right is brave and noble. But only if you’re willing to bear the consequences of your choices. Once cities choose to pass mandates ignoring federal law, they are automatically electing to live with whatever penalties ensue. That’s what’s happening here. Doesn’t make the sanctuary cities less noble but you have to live with your choices.

Halt the leasing of federal waters for offshore wind farms: I know wind farm permitting is always a disaster but this seems designed to make it even worse. Even if you somehow don’t think global warming is real, why would you stop new forms of energy production from happening? (Obviously because it’s not in the interest of his supporters)

Direct the Secretary of State to put America first: This means nothing in reality (am pretty sure most Secretaries of State are trying to put America first) but is not only heavy in symbolism, it clearly matters to a lot of Americans. Democrats have to stop dismissing Trump and his supporters as stupid and recognize that when this many people care about something, you need to take notice, figure out why and adjust your own policies and rhetoric.

Defeating the cost of living crisis: This directs all agencies to take the impact of government spending and regulations onto day to day prices for consumers (food, gas, housing, health care). This is important because there is a disconnect in DC between Democrats who are creatures of the Beltway, are generally economically privileged and always have been, and make policies that are probably good in a macro sense long term and look good in white papers but ignore the day to day immediate impact of their actions. Yes, by definition, governing means making choices and balancing competing interests and needs. But when most of the country feels like you’re not looking out for them — and then you gaslight them by telling them that inflation actually is not a problem — of course they vote you out of office.

Route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California: The point of this is the same as the cost of living EO above — the needs of regular people matter more than ideological pursuits of conservation or ecological diversity. I don’t know if this will actually do anything to improve the lives of anyone in Southern California but it’s another example of Trump understanding the people in a way Democrats simply do not.It’s inauguration day and Trump has promised a host of executive orders on everything from tariffs to immigration to Tik Tok. Here’s our initial reactions as they come in (we’re not sure when they’ll all start or end so this will be an ongoing piece likely over the next few days; also, if you’re new to our substack or podcast and you’re looking for someone who will reliably reinforce your views either for or against Trump — or anyone — this is not the right place for you).

Close the border to asylum seeking migrants: I agree with this. The Biden administration lost control of the border completely. You cannot have a country if you cannot control your borders. What we need is a massive, massive increase in legal immigration. We need a lot more skilled workers for industries like construction and nursing. And because our population is aging quickly, we need to make it younger and we need to add millions of younger taxpayers to the system to cover the ballooning costs of Social Security and Medicare. We will never get a deal that significantly increases legal immigration for as long as illegal immigration dominates the headlines. So securing the border as a first step towards a broad immigration deal (which Trump is uniquely positioned to reach because of his credibility with the right on this issue) makes sense.

Reinstate Title 42: This allows the government to turn people away at the border without a chance at asylum. I wish we weren’t in a position where we have to do this, but because of the mess Biden created and because our legal immigration policies are so deficient, we can’t handle the flood of migrants at the border claiming asylum. So I’m not sure what other choice we realistically have (the status quo cannot continue).

End birthright citizenship: This idea is not only stupid, it’s unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment guarantees automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States. You need 2/3rds of Congress and 3/4ths of the states to amend the Constitution. That’s both not happening, nor should it happen. And it wouldn’t even be an issue if we had a logical immigration system that secures the borders but allows a lot more legal workers into this country based on the needs of the economy and tax revenue (which, of course, may only be feasible if we can get the logical 70% in the middle to start voting in primaries rather than just the far right — who hates all immigration all the time — and the far left, who wants open borders all the time).

End the electric vehicle mandate: What about the wildfires in Los Angeles, or the hurricanes in North Carolina or the spate of floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, droughts, polar vortexes and everything else would make you think that making climate change worse is a good idea? I’m not even sure how Elon hasn’t put a stop to this one unless it somehow in a backdoor way benefits Tesla relative to other EV makers (maybe it does).

End protections for transgender students: They’re kids. We should protect kids. Always.

Suspend refugee resettlement: I agree with this. We should not be letting more people into the country just by allowing them to claim asylum. The entire asylum process has become completely de-legitimized thanks to Biden’s incompetence and fear of alienating the far left. And even if refugees are making it into the country, why do cities like New York pay for their food and housing? If they’re here, there are lots of industries that need workers. Ideally we do this through a lot more legal immigration so those workers are vetted and taxed. But even if they’re here illegally, there’s no reason to make taxpayers cover their costs.

Launch drilling and mining on natural resources: Same point on climate change as above. With that said, if there are types of drilling and mining that are necessary to reduce reliance on imports and reduce the ability of other countries to threaten our national security, those are different and should be seriously considered.

Bring the U.S. military into border security: Agreed for all the reasons above. We have to fix this to ever get to a place on immigration that actually makes sense.

Declare migrant crossings from Mexico to Canada to be a national emergency: Same.

Designate drug cartels as global terrorists: I don’t know that prosecutors feel like they lack the legal tools to go after the cartels so this is just red meat for the base but with that said, it’s also fine. No one should ever have any sympathy for the cartels. The problem is that once you jail one of them, another equally vicious leader steps in so it’s unlikely this really achieves anything. The provision that allows law enforcement to deport suspected members of cartels and gangs without due process (the Alien Enemies Act) may have a greater impact (I’m not getting worked up about the rights of cartel members).

Establish biological sex definitions for federal workers: Let people be who they are and who they want to be. If they’re not hurting anyone else, who cares?

Remove transgender protection in federal prisons or for migrants in federal custody: How many people can this possibly apply to? This is like the cartel EO above. Just optics.

Direct federal agencies to begin investigations into trade practices: Absolutely. I don’t know if American companies suffer because we are subject to discriminatory trade practices by other countries but why wouldn’t we want to find out? Perhaps we already know the answers to all of these questions but rather than Trump just arbitrarily imposing tariffs left and right, this seems like a better way to start the process.

Assess China’s compliance with the US-China 2020 trade deal: Absolutely. It seems highly likely that China is not in compliance and if they are not and if American companies and workers are losing out as a result, that should be addressed and redressed.

Assess Mexico and Canada’s compliance with USMCA: Same, although my guess is non-compliance here is a lot less than it is by China.

Declare a national emergency to speed permitting for pipelines and power plants: If we’re talking all fossil fuels, this doesn’t make sense. But if it’s for renewables, it could make a lot of sense (permitting for wind facilities especially is incredibly slow and bureaucratic) and for nuclear, even more sense. Yes, I am very worried about what another Trump term will do to our ability to mitigate climate change and yes, we have way too much politics and bureaucracy in this country that blocks things we need from energy facilities to affordable housing to charter schools.

Roll back regulations that impeded domestic energy production: Same as above. If for fossil fuels, ultimately counterproductive (absent a real national security need). If it’s for renewables or nuclear, 100%.

Open the Alaska wilderness to more oil and gas drilling: Absent a strong national security argument around not wanting to rely on any energy imports from anyone (with clear justification as to why that’s necessary right now), this is a bad idea.

Eliminate environmental justice programs: A program is neither inherently good nor bad simply because it has the word “justice” in its name. Do I trust the Biden bureaucrats to have developed thoughtful programs that are more than just the left wing equivalent of political red meat? No. Does that mean everything they did is bad? Also no. Let’s look at them individually. A lot of them are meant to help poor people who live in communities with high rates of asthma so we shouldn’t lose progress on that. My guess is some of them are good, some are not and most are well intentioned but totally ineffective.

Delay the ban on Tik Tok: Absolutely not. Tik Tok is a propaganda tool controlled by the Chinese government that’s in the pockets of 170 million Americans including virtually every adolescent and teenager. It is patently insane to give them this kind of access. Congress passed the divestiture requirement and the Court upheld it. It should happen now.

Release the federal records on the assassinations of MLK, JFK and RFK: Hell yes. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I have spent too much time in government to believe that anyone can keep a secret. But of course I’d love to know what the records say. Who wouldn’t?

End DEI initiatives across the federal government: See the environmental justice item above. DEI as a concept is not bad. People cannot advance in society if they lack opportunities. Providing those opportunities can be a good thing. DEI has been applied poorly in some places and weaponized by the far left to demonize anyone who disagrees with them (yet another example of the left taking an idea with potential and good intentions and destroying it thanks to their desperation for moral superiority at all times). But the idea that it’s inherently bad and has to be repealed is just wrong.

Restore the death penalty for murders of police officers by illegal immigrants: This is complicated for me. I am opposed to the death penalty but not for the usual reasons. I just think the issue causes too much distraction for something that ultimately doesn’t matter much. Based on the latest data I could find, there are about 1.2 million people in prison and around 2,100 on death row. That’s .175% of the total prison population. We spend way too much time fighting about something that not only impacts virtually zero point zero percent of Americans total but just over one tenth of one percent of the prison population. Getting rid of the death penalty means we stop wasting time on this issue (I get the larger moral point but from the draft to deciding who gets health care, we’ve already established that the state has the ability to take a life) and eliminates the risk of anyone innocent being put to death. So I’m against this but for different reasons than most.

Clemency for people charged in the January 6 attacks: This is insane. They literally attempted a coup of our government. They belong in jail for a very long time.

Restart construction on a border wall: Sure. Knock yourself out. Drones would be a lot cheaper and more effective.

Re-issue Schedule F: This would allow Trump to replace thousands of high ranking civil servants with political loyalists. The reason that the substantive damage under Trump’s first term was somewhat limited is because the institutions of democracy (federal agencies, Congress, the media) were able to stand up to him. This is designed to remove that ability. It’s, of course, a terrible idea. Yes, there are probably lots of civil service jobs that are unnecessary, especially in the age of AI. Let DOGE identify them and then we can determine what stays and what goes. But turning them into political jobs is the opposite of what our democracy stands for and what our soldiers are risking their lives for.

Exclude employees of certain federal agencies (Veterans, Transportation, Defense) from collective bargaining: Collective bargaining is an important right that tries to set a balance of power between workers and employers. In the private sector, most labor deals (in my experience) reflect an emotional but ultimately arms length transaction that usually produces the right outcome. In the public sector, this is abused because those same unions are not only allowed to donate politically, taxpayer money is automatically withheld from workers paychecks that goes to the unions and then a portion of that to the unions’ political funds to then give the union power to negotiate deals that are not arms length and often bad for the taxpayers. Public sector unions should not be allowed to make political contributions. But they should be able to bargain collectively except in extreme circumstances that threaten public safety or national security.

Withdraw from the Paris Accords: This is beyond stupid. Los Angeles is literally on fire. You want to exacerbate the conditions that caused it? Sure, you can point fingers at government mismanagement in LA, at priorities like DEI, at the mayor being out of the country. But the vast, vast contributor to the problem was climate change. This is just one example but true in virtually every part of the nation and the world. We should be doing everything we can to fight it, not worsen it.

Restrict foreign organizations who provide or facilitate abortion services from receiving federal funding: This is the first front in a much larger coming war by the Trump administration to cut off all means of access to abortion procedures and medication for women in red states. Right now, telemedicine has allowed tens of thousands of women to still access the care they need. Trump and his team want to stop that. We at Tusk Philanthropies are strong supporters of access to abortion medication via telemedicine and recently funded a campaign in Albany to pass a law (will happen this week) to further provide legal protections for New York medical professionals who prescribe abortion medication.

Repeal Biden’s Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence: Biden’s EO on AI, in my reading, was fairly useless, so repealing it doesn’t matter much. What will matter are the new regulations that come and, hopefully, the adoption of AI tools by government to meaningfully improve and reform government functions like procurement, rule promulgation, licensure and permitting.

Create an External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and duties: If this generates more revenue, sure. Makes sense.

Rollback regulations for energy efficient dishwashers, showerheads and gas stoves: See all of the points above on climate. With that said, where the environmental movement and the left have erred is in their stridency. Significantly increasing costs on regular people by mandating they change their appliances is tone deaf and only ends up electing people like Trump. Household economic concerns should always be taken into account in any climate mandate.

End remote work policies and order the federal workforce back to the office 5 days a week: Good.

Rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America: This seems pointless and annoying for all the mapmakers out there who have to change everything (at least the maps are pretty much now all digital) but I also really don’t care what the gulf is called. There are much bigger things to dislike so far from caving to pressure to save Tik Tok to dismantling all protections to reduce climate change to pardoning the January 6 rioters to turning nonpartisan civil servants into political lackeys.

Rename Mount Denali to Mount McKinley: Turns out Trump loves McKinley because McKinley loved tariffs. I don’t see how tariffs end well — meaning how they’re not just inflation in another name. Trump also said he’s imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada starting February 1. It’s not clear if this is a firm plan or an opening gambit but Feb 1 is right around the corner so American consumers may start to see higher prices for everything from home heating oil to avocados in a few weeks.

Hiring freeze on all new federal workers: If there are specific shortages like TSA agents or air traffic controllers or nurses in VA hospitals, of course those hirings should continue. But overall, unchecked growth of the federal government just robs the taxpayers so a pause makes sense, plus this order is literally something every president has done since Jimmy Carter.

Prevent government censorship of free speech: Other than asking the social media platforms to stop the spread of misinformation about Covid, I’m not quite sure what censorship actually exists. But it’s clear Trump and his base very clearly feel like it does (I think what they’re really feeling is the manifestation of the left’s cancel culture on businesses and institutions, which is not government censorship of free speech but this probably feels like a way to strike back against it anyway).

Withdraw from the World Health Organization: If you’re an isolationist, you don’t believe in global cooperation. So it’s not surprising Trump did this, especially with RFK Jr’s influence now in the mix. Trump holds a zero sum world view where any other country’s gain is our loss, so working together undermines his notion that for me to win, you have to lose. Long term, this approach only ensures that everyone loses.

Revoke a Biden executive order to reunify families separated at the southern border: I’ve been supportive of most of the Trump executive orders around immigration simply because we can’t get what we truly need — a major increase in legal immigration — until we stop letting illegal immigration consume all the oxygen. But you don’t want to help lost kids find their parents? Seriously? That just seems cruel for the sake of cruelty. Why?

Revoke a Biden executive order ordering the gradual end of the use of private prisons: If private prisons can deliver a better product at a better price to the taxpayers than government run prisons, that’s fine with me. From what I can tell, that has not been the case with most of them, but if the goal here is to actually improve the system and not just reward campaign donors, it could be worth it (I suspect that’s not the case unfortunately).

Revoke a Biden executive order to ban the use of chokeholds by federal agents and reduce the number of no knock warrants: I’m a little surprised by the no knock warrant decision. Trump and his base distrust the federal government and federal law enforcement as much as (if not more than) anyone. They should see no knock warrants as government tyranny in action. I get that the goal here is to both signal a new era of law enforcement and to turn away from reforms spurred by George Floyd and other examples of police brutality but I think they’re actually undermining their own values in doing so.

Study which countries immigration should not be allowed from: This is mainly another travel ban on people from specific demographics like his first term (Muslims). If there is good intel that terrorists are easily entering the U.S. from a specific country, then that’s worth acting on. But to decide just that you like people from some parts of the world more than others is clear xenophobia and is just un-American.

Short-circuit security clearance review for White House staffers: If this is intended to get people into office who otherwise wouldn’t qualify, it’s a problem. If it’s to just reduce the process needed to get people working (something people from both parties entering a new administration complain about endlessly), it may make sense.

Scour federal agencies for evidence of political bias in the work conducted under Biden: This is almost funny. Trump has been unrepentant in declaring that the federal government exists for his political purposes. And now they want to look for evidence Biden did the same thing? Of course Biden did the same thing.

Strip John Bolton specifically of any remaining security clearance: I don’t have any admiration for John Bolton so putting the weird specificity (and pettiness) of this aside, fine with me.

Establish the Department of Government Efficiency: It’s very possible that Elon is wildly underestimating how complicated government is and the real world impacts of doing things that seem easy on paper. It’s possible DOGE is mainly cover to revoke regulations Trump donors don’t like. But it’s also possible that DOGE could find ways to make the federal government more responsive, efficient and cost effective. Keep in mind, while there’s plenty to complain about, Elon also makes very good cars and led the global revolution into electric vehicles (even if he now supports ending the electric vehicle mandate which isn’t actually an electric vehicle mandate). He makes space rockets that work. He makes more satellites than anyone in the world. Neuralink is changing the way the body and brain work together (Twitter/ X just sucks). So while he says a lot of dumb things and doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, to assume he can’t do anything worthwhile is foolish.

Challenge an international agreement to stop large corporations from booking profits in low tax countries: Pulling the U.S. out of this doesn’t help any U.S. companies avoid or reduce foreign taxation and may make it even worse. However, if Trump’s goal is to start global fights about the treatment of American products and businesses, this fits the theme (and maybe there’s something to it).

Deny federal funds to sanctuary cities: Defying the federal government to do something you believe is morally right is brave and noble. But only if you’re willing to bear the consequences of your choices. Once cities choose to pass mandates ignoring federal law, they are automatically electing to live with whatever penalties ensue. That’s what’s happening here. Doesn’t make the sanctuary cities less noble but you have to live with your choices.

Halt the leasing of federal waters for offshore wind farms: I know wind farm permitting is always a disaster but this seems designed to make it even worse. Even if you somehow don’t think global warming is real, why would you stop new forms of energy production from happening? (Obviously because it’s not in the interest of his supporters)

Direct the Secretary of State to put America first: This means nothing in reality (am pretty sure most Secretaries of State are trying to put America first) but is not only heavy in symbolism, it clearly matters to a lot of Americans. Democrats have to stop dismissing Trump and his supporters as stupid and recognize that when this many people care about something, you need to take notice, figure out why and adjust your own policies and rhetoric.

Defeating the cost of living crisis: This directs all agencies to take the impact of government spending and regulations onto day to day prices for consumers (food, gas, housing, health care). This is important because there is a disconnect in DC between Democrats who are creatures of the Beltway, are generally economically privileged and always have been, and make policies that are probably good in a macro sense long term and look good in white papers but ignore the day to day immediate impact of their actions. Yes, by definition, governing means making choices and balancing competing interests and needs. But when most of the country feels like you’re not looking out for them — and then you gaslight them by telling them that inflation actually is not a problem — of course they vote you out of office.

Route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California: The point of this is the same as the cost of living EO above — the needs of regular people matter more than ideological pursuits of conservation or ecological diversity. I don’t know if this will actually do anything to improve the lives of anyone in Southern California but it’s another example of Trump understanding the people in a way Democrats simply do not.