‘Here I am,’ said Donald Trump 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 delivered two more speeches, attended three inaugural balls and, in yet another Trumpian break with tradition, answering journalists’ question while signing a slate of executive orders in the Oval Office.
He faces a race against the deadline facing all presidents: The moment he becomes a lame duck.
Trump showed how he plans to tackle it during his first full day in office on Tuesday (episode two), simply swamping the media with an avalanche of events and headlines.
He went to church, met his congressional leadership team and unveiled plans for a huge AI venture, all before discussing everything from TikTok to Jan. 6 pardons in a question and answer session with reporters.
But Tuesday’s news began in the most Trumpian way possible, with an early morning firing by 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 from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition (left) and Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (right) were publicly fired on Truth Social by Trump
Reporters who got used to the leisurely pace of the Biden White House get their first reminder that Trump operates on a different clock.
Phones buzz at 28 minutes past midnight. Inauguration day is technically over but the president is dropping messages on his Truth Social platform.
This one announces that the White House personnel office is combing through lists of Biden appointees and names the first four to be fired, including some high-profile critics.
‘Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council—YOU’RE FIRED!’
Milley, for example, was quoted in a recent book saying Trump was ‘fascist to the core.’
9:00 am The White House wakes up
There is no Marine guard outside the West Wing’s front door, a sign that Trump has not yet made it down from the residence to his office.
It is perhaps not surprising after a late night on inauguration day. After the ceremonial occasion of being sworn in, an impromptu press conference in the Oval Office, he attended three inaugural balls, arriving home to the White House at 12:51 am.
The rest of the White House is coming to life. A handful of staff are in the press areas, learning how to log on to their new computers.
11:18 am National prayer service
Trump and First Lady Melania arrived for the national prayer service at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday morning, a day after the inauguration
They took their place in the pew beside Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Usha
Trump takes a seat in Washington National Cathedral, beside First Lady Melania, and Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Usha.
The president has sometimes displayed a little unfamiliarity with the Bible (famously holding it upside down in a photo op) and matters of church practice (once digging in his pocket for dollars to put on a communion plate, which he mistook for collection plate in Iowa.)
But the day after the inauguration means heading to the cathedral for an interfaith prayer service.
Trump looked every inch the bored schoolboy dressed up in his Sunday best as he slouched in a pew.
‘Bless all who dedicate themselves to governing in our land,’ went one of the prayers.
‘Fill them with the love of truth and strength to uphold our democracy and the rule of law enable us to people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the World.’
12:20 pm A lecture on mercy
Rev. Mariann Budde leads the national prayer service
Trump no doubt expects to get criticism from all corners of America as he embarks on a crackdown on illegal immigration and a rejection of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies.
But he might not expected to be on the receiving end of a lecture on compassion and mercy at a service held in his honor.
Rev. Mariann Budde seized her moment to urge the president directly 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 labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals,’ she continued.
‘They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.’
Trump appeared to look down at his feet while beside him Vice President J.D. Vance raised his eyebrows.
Afterwards, Trump was asked what he thought of the sermon.
‘Not too exciting, was it? I didn’t think it was a good service,’ was his scathing response. ‘No…They can do much better.’
3:20 pm Meeting with Republican leaders
After lunch it was on to congressional matters and a meeting with Republican leaders in the Cabinet Room.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune went first. Then other other top party figures were expected to fill out a bigger meeting in their first formal sit-down with the new president to plot how they want to use Republican power in Washington.
They control the White House, House of Representatives and the Senate, offering a plum opportunity to drive through legislation, at least for the next two years.
But Johnson and Thune will need to broach the prickly issue of the approaching debt ceiling and try to get Trump onside to avoid the threat of a government shutdown.
White House officials said the Republican leaders would appear outside the West Wing to answer questions about the meeting.
But when they failed to appear a reporter asked whether that meant it had gone badly.
‘It went great,’ said a senior administration official.
5:20 pm Stargate has liftoff
Trump announces 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 room
Trump arrived in the Roosevelt Room for his final public event of the day with the chief executives of Oracle, OpenAI, and Softbank.
They announced a joint artificial intelligence venture called Stargate. (The name is a classic Trump move, coopting the title of a 1980s sci-fi movie.)
‘So put that name down in your books, because I think you’re going to hear a lot about it in the future,’ he said.
‘A new American company that will invest $500 billion at least, in AI infrastructure in the United States, and move and very, very quickly, moving very rapidly, creating over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately.’
5:37 pm Question time with Trump
Stargate is quickly forgotten as Trump signals he is ready to answer journalists’ questions.
With three tech titans now standing awkwardly beside him, the president is asked to defend his pardons for Jan. 6 convicts who assaulted police officers.
‘These people have already served years in prison, and they have served them viciously,’ he said, relishing the chance to spar with reporters.
‘It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible, it’s inhumane.’
Trump took 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 an American buyer for TikTok, his plans to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘very soon,’ how Chinese President Xi could help end the war in Ukraine, the letter left for him in the Resolute Desk by Joe Biden, removing Secret Service protection from his former National Security Adviser John Bolton (‘I thought he was a very dumb person’), the death toll in Ukraine, and so on.
Half an hour after he started taking questions he said he was done.
‘I’m going to have to go now’ he said.
But he could not resist answering one last question about whether he had TikTok on his phone.
No. ‘I think I’ll 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 scours American phones for the Chinese Communist Party.
7:12 pm A pardon by social media post
Twelve minutes after the White House called a ‘lid’ (meaning no more public events), Trump turned to social media once again, this time to pardon Ross Ulbricht.
He was founder of the notorious dark web site Silk Road. It allowed users to buy and sell goods and services anonymously, and came to be used for drug deals and even allegedly by people looking for hitmen.
Ulbricht was eventually convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and computer hacking
‘I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.