ACTIVISTS slam Donald Trump as he fires off a blitz of pardons and orders immediately after taking office as the 47th president of the United States.

Mr Trump began his new term by pardoning around 1,500 of his supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6 2021, as well as commuting the sentences of another 14 people, including leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

Five people died within 36 hours of the attack, including one person shot by Capitol Police, and a police officer who died a day after being assaulted by rioters.

The new president also issued a blizzard of executive orders.

Among them, Mr Trump reversed several immigration orders from Joe Biden’s presidency, including one that narrowed deportation priorities to people who commit serious crimes, are deemed national security threats or were stopped at the border. 

The president also declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border and he plans to send US troops to help support immigration agents and restrict refugees and asylum.

Mr Trump is also trying to end birthright citizenship. It is unclear, though, whether his order will survive inevitable legal challenges, since birthright citizenship is enshrined in the US constitution.

The new president temporarily suspended the US Refugee Admission Programme and ended the Biden-era border app that gave legal entry to nearly a million migrants.

Mr Trump also formally withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreements and the World Health Organisation.

He also declared an energy emergency as he promised to “drill, baby, drill,” and said he will eliminate what he calls Mr Biden’s electric vehicle mandate.

President Trump also revoked sanctions on Israeli settlers involved in acts of violence against settlers in the West Bank.

Black Agenda Report executive editor Margaret Kimberley told the Morning Star that Mr Trump has also threatened “to undo the Carter administration treaty which returned the Canal Zone to Panama, but how is that different from invading Iraq or using proxies to destroy the Libyan government?

“His talk of an ‘exceptional’ country is no different from that of his predecessors.”

Journalist Ben Norton posted on X that during his inauguration Mr Trump “invoked the colonialist ‘Manifest Destiny,’ promised to ‘expand our territory,’ and vowed to forcibly take over the Panama Canal (falsely and absurdly claiming China runs it).

“This is blatant imperialism. He is not even hiding it.”