ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office this week and was quite busy in his first week back at the White House.
At the start of his second administration, Trump made a litany of executive orders, which included allowing U.S. military service members to act as immigration and border enforcement officers as part of Trump’s promised mass deportation program, attempting to redefine birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, repealing a Biden order requiring planning for the effects of climate change on world migration patterns and more.
KMOX Political Analysts John Hancock and Michael Kelley, hosts of 'Hancock and Kelley' joined 'Total Information A.M.' to give their takes on Trump's first week so far back in the Oval Office.
"I too am exhausted by what I have witnessed with the executive orders, but I haven't seen anything this week that I have seen surprised me," said Kelley, a longtime Democratic strategist. "I saw the billionaires standing right him at the inauguration, I saw him go out with all that extreme stuff that he's going to do related to the border."
"It also hasn't surprised me that he didn't end (Israel-Hamas War) on day one, bacon prices and gas hasn't gone down."
Kelley says the executive order that stands out the most to him is Trump's attempts to end birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment.
"I think the president and the people around him knows full well that it's a complete violation of the 14th amendment of the Constitution and this will be a good year-long process of going through the courts to ultimately to get to the Supreme Court," said Kelley. "It gives him an opportunity of something to focus on, keep his key issue out on everybody's mind. He may even expect to lose it."
Hancock, a former Republican strategist, says the executive order that has stood out to him is Trump's executive order to stop refugee arrivals and suspend the U.S. Refugee Admission Program effective Jan. 27.
"We got these thousands of Afghans who interpreted and fought alongside our military who were left behind when Biden pulled all our troops out in August 2021 and he was broadly criticized for doing so by Trump," said Hancock. "By ending the refugee program entirely, we are basically sending a death sentence to these Afghans that fought alongside us, some of those who are relatives to U.S. military personnel."