SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Pete Hegseth was confirmed as secretary of defense last night - a squeaker of a vote - just part of a lightning round that was the first week of the new Trump administration.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: A tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world.
So this is January 6, and these are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes.
TRUMP: Full pardon.
I'll also be signed an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.
SIMON: President Trump wielded a Sharpie to sign pardons and commutations for supporters who participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol four years ago and a profusion of executive orders, declared a national emergency on the Southern border, pledged to end birthright citizenship. And last night, according to a number of media sources, fired at least a dozen inspector generals of major federal agencies. NPR's Ron Elving joins us. Ron, thanks for being with us.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: What do we know about last night's firings?
ELVING: The inspector general position is a kind of in-house watchdog in federal agencies - in-house, but independent. It's been a source of reform and oversight, but also a source of frustration because of their independence and uncertainty as to whom they answer to. Trump sent firing notices to a dozen of these last night, some of whom are people he himself appointed in his first term. And it's unclear what the legal effect of this will be, as the law says, Congress has to get 30 days' notice in advance, and obviously that didn't happen.
SIMON: Vice President Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary last night. Republican Senator Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted no. So did Mitch McConnell, former Republican leader. What's the significance?
ELVING: Murkowski and Collins were expected, and there were plenty of reasons for relatively centrist Republicans to be unhappy with Hegseth - his personal problems, of course, but also his views on women, in opposition to diversity in general in the Defense Department and the Army and Navy and so on. But McConnell was a surprise. He is no longer the party leader in the Republican Party in the Senate. He is serving out his last term as a regular member. So in that role, he can, to some degree, be his own man. And last night, we saw that included the desire to resist pressure from Trump when he thought Trump had made a bad choice.
SIMON: What do you think we're seeing over these last few days?
ELVING: Wouldn't call it Trump 2 or Trump 2.0. It's more like Trump 1, more like Trump being the president that he wanted to be all along. Now, eight years ago, Trump came to Washington willing to listen to people who wanted to help him, people who were part of the power structure in the Congress or in the military or within the power structure of the Republican Party itself. He allowed himself to be restrained by some of his cabinet members and by his first two chiefs of staff. It now seems that he very much regretted that restraint and things are going to be quite different this time around. The idea seems to be to issue his challenge, not just to his rivals or critics, but to the entire federal establishment. And I think he would like that description. The main thing - he feels very empowered. No more worries about reelection, so he can be the kind of president he always wanted to be.
SIMON: Try and review some of those items beginning with the January 6 pardons and commutations.
ELVING: This move may have been the biggest surprise of the week and the one thing that put Republican unity at risk. Vice President Vance had said he supported pardons for nonviolent protesters but not for those who were violent, and especially not those who beat on the police. But then Trump pardoned almost all of those charged, including the organizers, including the ringleaders, including the most violent.
SIMON: And how do you assess the executive orders we've seen?
ELVING: They run the gamut from pure fantasy to cold reality. Deportations are real. They have begun. But Trump's suggestion that he could really eliminate birthright citizenship with a wave of his black Sharpie was shot down before the week was over. Federal judge in Seattle, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan four decades ago, called it a legal absurdity and clearly unconstitutional.
SIMON: Does President Trump really want to get rid of FEMA?
ELVING: You know, you can always get cheers at a rally by promising to get rid of a federal agency, and Trump was not saying the federal government would never provide any money, but just that it wouldn't be up to FEMA. He said the agency got in the way. But Trump also said he would withhold disaster aid for California until the state adopted a voter ID law. So not quite removing the politics from the equation.
SIMON: NPR's Ron Elving. Thanks so much for being with us.
ELVING: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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