Donald Trump signed more than 200 orders yesterday. Here's what you should know.

Donald Trump has returned to the White House and what a wild first 24 hours it has been. On day one alone, the president signed a multitude of executive orders to overhaul federal agencies, dismantling many of Joe Biden's policies.

All up, he's introduced 42 executive orders, memoranda and proclamations; 115 personnel actions and over 200 executive actions.

Conspiracy theories are also running rampant online after the constitution disappeared from the White House website. Oh also, people are claiming their social media had been censored. So, that's great.

Basically, a lot has happened. Let us walk you through it.

Trump's first day executive orders.

An executive order is basically a directive by Trump to federal agencies about how he wants them to be managed. They don't require congressional approval but are legally binding and are based on powers granted to the president in the constitution.

Listen to Trump's big first day in office on Mamamia's twice-daily news podcast, The Quicky. Post continues below.

During his first term, Trump signed 220, while Biden signed 160, as of December 20. Now, Trump's rushed through just 42 in his first few hours. Here's what we know about the major ones.

Ditching Biden-era policies.

Trump promised a cheering crowd he would revoke "nearly 80 destructive and radical executive actions of the previous administration". And he delivered.

The president rescinded 78 Biden-era executive actions, including a ban on offshore drilling and policies supporting racial equity and supporting transgender people.

Ending automatic citizenship.

Trump has ordered the overturning of birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th amendment of the US constitution as: "All persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

The president wants to limit birthright citizenship if a person's "mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person's birth" or "when that person's mother's presence in the United States at the time of said person's birth was lawful but temporary… and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person's birth."

Basically, he wants to target automatic citizenship for US-born children of immigrants.

Trump getting sworn in. Image: Getty.

Declaring a national 'border emergency'.

Trump has declared an emergency at the US southern border — a starter for him to implement hardline immigration policies.

"All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came," he said during his inauguration address.

Leaving the World Health Organisation and Paris Climate Agreement.

Trump has signed an order for the US to leave the World Health Organisation.

He claimed WHO "ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It's not going to happen anymore" and accused it of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.

He's also decided to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (again), calling it "unfair" and "one-sided". Trump exited the agreement in 2017. However, Biden rejoined after taking office in 2021.

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A post shared by President Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump)

Renaming things.

Trump signed executive orders to change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and the United States' highest mountain, Alaska's Denali.

He wants the Gulf of Mexico to be changed to the Gulf of America to reclaim the US's "rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on Earth". (We caught Hillary Clinton laughing at this).

He will also change Mount Denali to Mount McKinley, despite Denali reflecting the traditions of Alaskan Natives.

Creating a policy recognising 'only' two genders.

Trump wants the government to recognise only two genders: male and female. The order says to remove "gender ideology guidance" from federal government communication and remove the word "gender" from federal documents and replace it with "sex".

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A post shared by The White House (@whitehouse)

Pausing the TikTok ban.

TikTok is back… At least for now. Trump signed an executive order to keep the platform operating for at least 75 days.

The social media platform briefly went dark earlier this week in the US after its China-based parent company failed to find a US buyer. Trump ordered his attorney general not to enforce the law requiring TikTok's sale to give TikTok more time to find a buyer.

"I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok," Trump said.

Issuing a pardon for the January 6 defendants.

One of the first acts he announced was a pardon for most of the people charged in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol after he falsely claimed the election victory had been "stolen" from him.

The president said his pardons would cover "approximately 1,500 for a pardon—full pardon".

Other executive orders include:

• Ending working from home for federal employees

• Declaring a national energy emergency

• Restoring free speech

• Revoking electric vehicle targets

• Restoring the death penalty

• Directing the government to bring down inflation

• Reclassifying federal employees, making them easier to fire

Donald Trump signing executive orders after his inauguration. Image: Getty.

Constitution conspiracy theories.

When Trump's team took over the White House website, it wasted no time taking down pages that included views of the former administration. The constitution page has also gone MIA.

Now, you're greeted by a giant photo of Trump with a bold-faced, "AMERICA IS BACK".

The changes didn't go unnoticed. But don't fear. The White House says the 'errors are temporary'.

"It's day two. We are in the process of developing, editing and tweaking the White House website. As part of this ongoing work, some of the archived content on the website went dormant. We are committed to reloading that content in a short timeline," principal White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said, per People.

Instagram hiding search results.

Following Trump's inauguration, Meta also came under fire over a problem with Instagram, where users were being met with a "results hidden" message while searching for the terms "democrat" and "democrats".

Some people were quick to accuse the company of political bias, especially after Mark Zuckerberg — Meta's owner — was standing front and centre at Trump's inauguration.

Search results for "democrat" on Instagram were hidden for several hours following Trump's inauguration. Image: Mamamia.

Meta insisted it was a technical problem and has rectified it.

Social media expert Matt Navarra said it was "embarrassing" for Instagram.

"In a hyper-partisan environment, even unintentional errors like this can escalate into accusations of partisanship," he told the BBC. "If these issues are not resolved quickly they risk fuelling conspiracy theories and damaging Meta's reputation."

What's next?

That was just day one for Trump. The man is only getting started. He has reportedly prepared more than 100 executive orders for his early days in office. Buckle up.

Feature image: Getty.