Trump’s first day in office: Signing orders, spinning yarns, settling scores

Summary
The president and his top aides return to the White House and say they are ready to transform Washington—and the world.After delivering a sober inaugural address that called for a new “golden age in America," President Trump cannonballed into an overflow room at the U.S. Capitol, where he shed the teleprompter and told the assembled crowd what was really on his mind.
“I had a couple of things to say that were extremely controversial, but between JD and Melania, and everybody else, they said, ‘Please, sir. It’s such a beautiful unifying speech. Please, sir, don’t say these things,’" Trump said, referring to Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump.
“I think this was a better speech than the one I gave upstairs," Trump concluded after 30-plus minute remarks in which he signaled his plans to pardon those convicted of criminal offenses in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot and delivered an extended riff on his wife’s sore feet.
President Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday.
Four years after he left Washington, and less than two hours after he became president again, Trump made clear that he would govern on his own terms and had no interest in muting the persona that helped secure his return to the White House.
His first day in office showed that he will continue to ping-pong between the serious and the stunning, participating in official Washington rituals one minute and whipping up his devoted supporters the next. And while former President Joe Biden was tightly managed by his advisers, Trump has made clear that he will resist efforts by friends, allies and advisers to constrain him.
Unlike in 2017, when Trump arrived in Washington as an outsider with few political ties, this time he returns with greater knowledge about how to pull the levers of government, how to enact his agenda—and how to plow through those who might stand in his way.
Trump’s team spent months assembling dozens of executive orders—some incremental, some significant—that the incoming president could sign soon after ascending to the presidency, a show of force aimed at flexing his power. The pace of change in less than 24 hours was staggering: Trump says he put in place a federal hiring freeze, ordered government workers back to the office five days a week, moved to end birthright citizenship, took steps to withdraw from a major international climate accord and called for the end of government-backed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Many of his actions will be challenged in court.
In the coming weeks and months, the president’s advisers have pledged to go further. They are drawing up plans to slash federal spending, attempt to fire thousands of career government employees and conduct mass deportations.
There are other notable indications that while Trump was the same man, his second term might be different. Among those present for Trump’s Inauguration were tech and media giants such as Meta Platforms’ Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Both men had long been the subject of Trump’s ridicule. During the presidential campaign, he suggested he might throw Zuckerberg in jail.
But there they were, lined up behind him as he delivered his second inaugural address, sitting next to other powerful executives who had come to show their respect to the incoming commander in chief.
It wasn’t just Trump who was returning to the White House. Several members of his senior staff were returning to desks that they sat in just four years ago.
One official described arriving in the White House during the first term and not knowing where the restrooms were, or which areas were off limits. It felt such as “starting on the first day of school," the official said. But this time, many Trump staffers are returning as White House veterans who know the rhythms of the West Wing.
Karoline Leavitt, who served in Trump’s first term as an intern and later as an assistant press secretary, arrived at the White House on Monday as the president’s top spokeswoman. She helped press aides, many of whom didn’t work for Trump four years ago, to send out a flurry of transcripts and executive orders.
“Feels good to be back!" Leavitt said.
Trump White House staff and advisers, including incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles and billionaire Elon Musk, arrived on Monday afternoon to get settled into their offices. Musk, who is leading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is expected to work out of an office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, just steps from the West Wing.
Trump, appearing in the Oval Office on Monday night, held court with reporters for roughly 45 minutes, taking questions on immigration, tariffs and foreign policy as he used a large black Sharpie to sign executive orders.
A reporter asked if he had read the letter that Biden had left for him. Trump then opened the resolute desk and held up the letter—addressed to “47"—for the cameras, joking that he might be willing to read it out loud.
“What a great feeling," Trump said when asked about what it was such as to walk back into the Oval Office. “One of the better feelings I have ever had."
Annie Linskey contributed to this article.
Write to Meridith McGraw at Meridith.McGraw@WSJ.com