Comment on Reince Priebus and the debate season from hell

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed around 10 executive orders to restrict immigration to the United States. “With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense,” he said during his inauguration speech. “It’s all about common sense.” The promises, many pushed by top advisor Stephen Miller, were striking.

This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On his first day in office, President Trump has signed a slew of executive orders that will set the United States on a radically different environmental path from the Biden administration. The executive orders and memoranda take the first steps to fulfilling many of Trump’s promises from the campaign trail: withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement, drilling more oil and natural gas, and repealing multiple Biden-era environmental directives and departments. While Trump’s day-one executive orders are far-reaching, it’s not yet clear how they will be implemented or how quickly they will be felt.

President Donald Trump is demanding an apology from Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington after Budde urged him in Tuesday’s inaugural prayer service to show compassion for the marginalized. “She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that referred to Budde as a “so-called Bishop” and a “Radical left hard line Trump hater.” “She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people,” he continued before demanding a public apology from Budde and “her church.” Trump wasn’t the only one worked up over the sermon, which saw Budde looking directly at Trump as she pleaded with him to “have mercy” on immigrants and the LGBTQ community.

On Tuesday, NBC broke the story of sworn testimony from the ex-sister-in-law of Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense. In an affidavit, which was released for senators to review ahead Hegseth’s confirmation hearing this week, Danielle Hegseth alleged that Hegseth’s former wife Samantha Hegseth had often feared for her safety.

There were plenty of troubling moments during the string of inauguration events for the second presidency of Donald Trump. These include the multiple times Trump lied during his inaugural address and other appearances (including when he insulted the courageous firefighters in California by claiming the LA fires were burning “without even a token of defense”), Elon Musk’s Nazi-or-Nazi-ish salute, Proud Boys marching in Washington, DC, and the presence of the tech overlords on the stage in the Capitol Rotunda sucking up to Trump.

On Monday, Cecile Richards, the former head of Planned Parenthood and founder of the women’s political action group Supermajority, died at age 67 of brain cancer. In a press release about her passing, Planned Parenthood chronicled her career, recounting how over the 12 years she was in charge, Richards “led us through fights that transformed the reproductive health and rights landscape.” Richards, the group said, was “an indomitable force.” Even with the inauguration of President Donald Trump dominating the news, tributes to Richards flooded social media.