“Here I am,” Donald Trump said as season two of his presidency began Monday.
“The American people have spoken.”
Since then he has been a man in a hurry. In his first half-day, he gave two more speeches, attended three inaugural balls and, in another Trumpian break with tradition, took questions from reporters as he signed a series of executive orders in the Oval Office.
He faces a race against the deadline that all presidents face: the moment he becomes a lame duck.
Trump showed how he plans to handle this during his first full day in office on Tuesday (episode two), simply flooding the media with an avalanche of events and headlines.
He went to church, met with his congressional leadership team and unveiled plans for a massive AI venture, all before discussing everything from TikTok to the Jan. 6 pardon in a question-and-answer session with reporters.
But Tuesday's news started in the most Trumpian way possible, with an early morning social media post.
00:28: 'You're fired'
President Donald Trump used his Truth Social platform to start the day with action
Chef Jose Andres of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition (left) and General Mark Milley of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (right) were publicly fired by Trump on Truth Social
Reporters who have grown accustomed to the leisurely pace of the Biden White House are getting their first reminder that Trump is operating on a different clock.
Phones buzz at 28 minutes past midnight. Inauguration Day is technically over, but the president is leaving messages on his Truth Social platform.
It announces that the White House personnel office is sifting through lists of Biden appointees and naming the first four to be fired, including some high-profile critics.
“Jose Andres of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Mark Milley of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook of the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms of the President's Export Council – YOU'RE FIRED!”
For example, Milley was quoted in a recent book saying that Trump was “fascist to the core.”
9:00 AM The White House wakes up
There is no Marine guard outside the front door of the West Wing, a sign that Trump has not yet made it from the home to his office.
It's perhaps not surprising after a late night on Inauguration Day. After the ceremonial occasion of the swearing-in, an impromptu news conference in the Oval Office, he attended three inaugural balls and arrived home at the White House at 12:51 p.m.
The rest of the White House comes to life. A handful of employees are in the press rooms learning how to log in to their new computers.
11.18am National prayer service
Trump and First Lady Melania arrived for the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday morning, a day after the inauguration
They took a seat on the couch next to Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha
Trump takes his seat at the Washington National Cathedral, next to First Lady Melania, and Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha.
The president has at times shown some ignorance of the Bible (which he held upside down in a photo) and matters of church practice (once reaching into his pocket for dollars to put on a communion plate, which he mistook for a collection board in Iowa). .)
But the day after the inauguration means going to the cathedral for an interfaith prayer service.
Trump looked every bit the bored schoolboy, dressed in his Sunday best as he slumped on a couch.
“Bless all those who devote themselves to government in our country,” read one of the prayers.
“Fill them with the love of truth and strength to uphold our democracy and the rule of law, so that we can bring people together in peace and be a blessing to other countries of the world.”
12:20 A lecture on mercy
Rev. Mariann Budde leads the national prayer service
Trump undoubtedly expects criticism from all corners of America as he cracks down on illegal immigration and begins a rejection of “diversity, equity and inclusion policies.”
But he may not have expected to be on the receiving end of a talk on compassion and mercy at a service held in his honor.
The Rev. Mariann Budde took her moment to directly urge the president to show mercy to gay, lesbian and transgender children who “fear for their lives.”
“And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who work on poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who do the dishes after we eat in restaurants and who work night shifts in hospitals,” she continued.
'They may not be citizens or have the correct papers. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”
Trump appeared to look down at his feet as Vice President JD Vance raised his eyebrows next to him.
Afterwards, Trump was asked what he thought of the sermon.
'Not that exciting, right? “I didn't think it was good service,” was his scathing response. “No…They can do much better.”
3:20 PM Meeting with Republican leaders
After lunch we continued with congressional business and met with Republican leaders in the Cabinet Room.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune went first. Other top party figures were then expected to attend a larger meeting during their first formal meeting with the new president to outline how they plan to use Republican power in Washington.
They control the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate, which provides a great opportunity to pass legislation, at least for the next two years.
But Johnson and Thune will have to address the thorny issue of the looming debt ceiling and try to get Trump out of the way to avoid the threat of a government shutdown.
White House officials said Republican leaders would appear outside the West Wing to answer questions about the meeting.
But when they didn't show up, a reporter asked if that meant things had gone bad.
“It went great,” said a senior administration official.
5:20 PM Stargate has taken off
Trump announces the launch of Stargate with Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison (second from right), SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (far right) in the Roosevelt Hall
Trump arrived in the Roosevelt Room for his final public event of the day with the CEOs of Oracle, OpenAI and Softbank.
They announced a joint venture in artificial intelligence called Stargate. (The name is a classic Trump move, taking the title of an '80s sci-fi movie.)
“So mark that name in your books because I think you'll be hearing a lot about it in the future,” he said.
“A new American company that will invest at least $500 billion in the AI infrastructure in the United States, and move very, very quickly, very quickly, creating more than 100,000 American jobs almost immediately.”
5:37 PM Question Time with Trump
Stargate is quickly forgotten when Trump indicates he is ready to answer journalists' questions.
With three tech titans standing awkwardly next to him, the president is being asked to defend his pardon of January 6 convicts who attacked police officers.
“These people have been in prison for years, and they have served them cruelly,” he said, relishing the chance to spar with reporters.
'It's a disgusting prison. It was terrible, it's inhumane.'
Trump answered questions for 30 minutes at the end of a major AI announcement
And then he was off to the races, enjoying the back and forth.
He discussed his meeting with members of Congress, outlined his plans to travel to North Carolina, California and Nevada on Friday, his thoughts on finding a U.S. buyer for TikTok, his plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” to talk, how Chinese President Xi could help end the war in Ukraine, the letter Joe Biden left for him at the Resolute Desk, which stripped Secret Service protection from his former National Security Advisor John Bolton (“I thought that he was a very stupid person'), death tolls in Ukraine, and so on.
Half an hour after he started asking questions, he said he was done.
“I have to go now,” he said.
But he couldn't resist answering one last question about whether he had TikTok on his phone.
No. “I think I get it right now,” he said with a smile, no doubt sending a shiver down the spines of his national security officials, who believe the app searches American phones for the Chinese Communist Party.
7:12 PM An apology via a social media post
Twelve minutes after the White House declared a “lid” (meaning no more public events), Trump turned to social media again, this time to pardon Ross Ulbricht.
He was the founder of the infamous dark website Silk Road. It allowed users to buy and sell goods and services anonymously, and was used for drug deals and even reportedly by people looking for hitmen.
Ulbricht was ultimately convicted of participating in a continuing criminal enterprise, narcotics trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking.
“I just called Ross William Ulbricht's mother to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, I was pleased to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon for her son Ross Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.
