Domestically, Trump halted grants to programs he politically opposed, including those focused on climate change, diversity, and education. He also blocked the hiring of thousands of IRS agents who had been tasked with auditing high-income earners. Under Biden, those agents were supposed to target people earning more than $400,000. By canceling the hires, Trump effectively removed a layer of tax enforcement aimed at the wealthy — including, potentially, himself.
Trump also escalated his long-running feud with the press. He filed a $20 billion defamation lawsuit against CBS News. Days later, the FCC — now under a Trump appointee — launched investigations into CBS, ABC, and NBC. All of this occurred while CBS’s parent company was seeking government approval for a major merger. Analysts warned that Trump’s actions blurred the line between regulatory power and political retaliation.
Elsewhere, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) settled a lawsuit with Trump for $25 million. Around the same time, the platform scaled back fact-checking policies that had frustrated conservative groups. For critics, the timing suggested that large corporations were adjusting policies to avoid conflict with Trump’s administration — not based on principle but pressure.
But no move drew more criticism than the wave of pardons issued in Trump’s first days. He granted clemency to more than 1,500 people connected to the January 6 Capitol riot — including some convicted of violent assaults. He called them “patriots” and later instructed the Justice Department to dismiss pending cases related to the attack. Prosecutors and legal experts warned this set a dangerous precedent: that violence carried out for political reasons might go unpunished.
And Trump’s own legal issues? Those disappeared too. Federal prosecutors dropped both the election interference and classified documents cases in late 2024, citing presidential immunity. Trump moved quickly to install loyalists atop the Department of Justice, making any future prosecution unlikely. State charges — including those in Georgia — still hang in the air, but Trump has attacked those as well and hinted at future pardons for his co-defendants.
Taken together, Trump’s early executive actions in 2025 form a clear pattern: remove oversight, reward allies, and create opportunities for personal and political advantage — even in places as far-flung as Greenland or as entrenched as the IRS. Watchdog groups are tracking the moves. A few courts have pushed back — one blocked his effort to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — but with Congress controlled by Trump’s party, meaningful legislative oversight remains thin.
Trump isn’t just rewriting policy. He’s redefining what the presidency can be used for — and how much personal benefit can be extracted from public power.
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