Donald Trump's 'Day One' will play out for weeks and months
WASHINGTON — During the campaign, President-elect Donald Trump pledged to do all sorts of things on "Day One" of his presidency. But as that day approached, Trump and his aides now say that his opening agenda will play out over the next several weeks and months.
"He is committed to not just day one, but day two, day three, of enacting an agenda of real change," said Trump press secretary Sean Spicer. "What he's trying to do is to ensure a proper sequencing."
It's possible that Trump could take time to sign executive orders during a busy day of inaugural festivities, Spicer said Thursday. But those orders are most likely to be administrative, dealing with issues of White House organization and protocol. "Monday is where I'd see that the focus should be in terms of some of the bigger issues," Spicer said.
That means action on immigration, health care, trade or other policy priorities won't come until the first business day of the administration on Monday.
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After meeting with congressional leaders this month, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Trump's executive action would "literally begin on Day One."
"Before the end of the day, we do anticipate that the president-elect will be in the Oval Office taking action to both repeal executive orders and also set into motion through executive action policies to implement promises that were made on the campaign trail," he said.
One of those executive orders, Pence said, will be to enable an "orderly transition to take place even as the Congress appropriately debates alternatives to and replacement of Obamacare."
But only Congress can repeal the law, so it's unclear what form that executive order could take. "All this talk about executive orders seems to be part of a communications strategy that will allow President Trump to claim credit for changes that the implementing agencies will ultimately have to make," said Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan.
Some of Trump's first executive orders could be relatively simple. During the campaign, he vowed to "cancel every unconstitutional executive order" signed by Obama. "You have executive orders all over the place," he said. "So many would be terminated."
While he did not identify which orders he believed to be unconstitutional, Trump took particular aim at new environmental rules he said hurt energy production, as well as a high-profile presidential memoranda — sometimes called "executive orders by another name" — changing immigration rules to shield the children of undocumented migrants from deportation.
The newly sworn-in Trump will take some actions on Friday, including the formal nominations of Cabinet secretaries and logistical executive orders needed to get his new administration functioning. He must authorize newly created positions, such as a new White House office to oversee trade and industrial policies.
Most presidents also sign executive orders establishing a policy on presidential records and setting ethics rules for their administration. President Obama signed those on the second day of his administration, along with presidential memoranda on the Freedom of Information Act, government transparency and a pay freeze for federal workers.
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Saturday features the broadcast of Trump's first weekly radio address. The new president is scheduled to attend a National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral, and there could be more executive actions and meetings with staff members.
"Over the weekend, there are some things that he is going to do with the staff and I think we're still working on the sequencing of that," Spicer said.
Trump himself told Fox & Friends that "Monday is really the day that we start signing and working and making great deals for the country."
Multiple options
He has many options, based on his campaign promises.
Throughout his candidacy, Trump made first-day promises that ranged from declaring China a currency manipulator to asserting Second Amendment gun rights to ripping up the Iran nuclear deal.
In a brief Facebook video from back in February, Trump said his emphasis would be rolling back Obama orders on immigration and new restrictions on gun purchases.
But immigration was most often mentioned. In August in Phoenix, Trump said he would order immediate deportation of migrants with criminal records: “We will begin moving them out, Day One; my first hour in office, those people are gone." (Obama's policy already mandated deportations of known criminals.)
Other Day One promises include the formal killing off of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which doesn't have the votes in Congress anyway.
Trump is also expected to use his first days in office to define his legislative agenda. Aides pointed to Trump's Oct. 22 speech in Gettysburg, Pa., laying out proposals for the first 100 days of his administration.
His plan includes a 35% income tax cut, with bracket reductions from seven to three, as well as corporate tax reductions; a tariff on goods made in the United States coming back in from overseas; reduced regulations on the energy and financial sectors of the economy; "school choice"; increased aid to local law enforcement; and ending sequestration, the congressional rule that restricts defense spending.
Pence — who during the campaign told supporters that Trump will "end the war on coal on Day One" — said Trump and his aides are ready to "hit the ground running" on Monday and beyond. Pence has also suggested that executive actions could be used to help developed Trump's proposed anti-migration wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"I would frankly anticipate over the course of the next week or two that the president-elect will take executive action both repealing executive orders and also implementing executive orders that will create a framework for the administration to keep promises," Pence said.
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