Trump signs 225 executive orders in 2025 directing agencies to bypass public input, eliminate DEI offices, and gut environmental rules while fossil fuel companies gain billions in tax breaks

Donald J. Trump signed 225 executive orders in 2025 (EO 14147 through EO 14371), with 161 signed by May 2025, making it the highest first-year executive order total since Franklin Roosevelt's 568 orders in 1933 (Federal Register, Ballotpedia).

Trump's Apr. 9, 2025 presidential memorandum 'Directing the Repeal of Unlawful Regulations' instructed agencies to invoke the Administrative Procedure Act's 'good cause' exception to bypass public notice-and-comment rulemaking, claiming public participation was 'unnecessary' or 'contrary to the public interest' where regulation repeal aligned with Supreme Court precedents (Arnold & Porter legal analysis).

Acting OMB Director Matthew Vaeth issued memo M-25-13 on Jan. 27, 2025, ordering a freeze on all federal grants, loans, and assistance programs effective Jan. 28, 2025 at 5 PM EST, targeting programs supporting 'foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,' before a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement on Jan. 31, 2025 (OMB Memo M-25-13, Mayer Brown).

Trump's May 23, 2025 executive order 'Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission' mandated the NRC complete rulemakings within 18 months to establish fixed deadlines for reactor licenses (18 months for new reactors, 12 months for existing reactor renewals), reconsider the linear no-threshold radiation model, and reorganize the agency in consultation with DOGE teams to 'expedite' approvals (White House Fact Sheet).

Trump appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Nov. 2024, tasking them with slashing $2 trillion in federal spending, embedding lawyers in agencies to identify 'unconstitutional regulations,' and recommending entire agency eliminations through executive action, though DOGE dissolved as a 'centralized entity' by late 2025 after Ramaswamy left to run for Ohio governor and Musk had a falling out with Trump in Jul. (NPR, White House statement).

Trump's Jan. 31, 2025 executive order 'Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation' requires federal agencies to eliminate ten existing regulations for each new regulation implemented, escalating from his first-term 'two-for-one' policy that achieved a claimed 22-to-1 ratio early on, with legal analysts stating this goal requires 'eliminating entire departments and agencies' beyond conventional regulatory reform (Competitive Enterprise Institute).

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in Mar. 2025 plans to repeal the 2009 'endangerment finding' - the 16-year-old determination that greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide can be regulated under the Clean Air Act - calling it the 'biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history' and proposing to review 31 regulatory actions including vehicle emissions standards, power plant pollution rules, and air quality standards within Trump's first 100 days (NPR, Politico, PBS NewsHour).

Trump signed executive order 'Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing' on Jan. 20, 2025, requiring all federal agencies to terminate DEI offices, place employees on paid leave by Jan. 22, 2025, and submit reduction-in-force plans by Jan. 31, 2025, while directing the Attorney General to investigate corporations, nonprofits with $500+ million in assets, and universities with $1+ billion endowments for 'illegal DEI' programs, though a federal district court in Maryland blocked enforcement on Feb. 21, 2025, ruling the orders violated First and Fifth Amendment protections (White House executive order, Harvard Law School).

ExxonMobil received $6 billion in the first year of Trump's 2017 tax bill (second only to Apple), with 17 American oil and gas companies gaining a combined $25 billion from reduced corporate tax rates, while Trump's 2025 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' reinstated tax credits and deductions for oil and gas producers, reduced environmental review timelines from multi-year processes to 28 days at most, and generated $356.6 million from Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sales in his first year - more than all four years of the Biden administration combined (Rolling Stone investigation, Spencer Fane legal analysis).