Trump shakes up world in a week

Donald Trump hurtled through his first week in power, punching out at critics, dishing up "alternative facts," polarising public opinion and making good on an electoral promise to shake up Washington.

Just a week ago, an outsider who never before held elected office rode into town. Seven days later, norms and doctrine that have guided the United States for decades are being re-examined.

The establishment "elites" in big cities, in politics and the media were no longer the technocrats in charge of the world's only superpower, they were the enemy.

The new president also put the rest of the world on notice.

Protesters gather at JFK International Airport against Donald Trump's executive order in New York. Photo: AFP

The era of Trump would be the era of "America first," he said, of naked self-interest and zero-sum diplomacy. Old alliances would be reassessed, new alliances would be explored.

Before his inauguration, many asked if the presidency would change Donald Trump, or whether Donald Trump would change the presidency.

Barely 20 minutes into his four-year term, anyone who was listening had their answer.

Before arriving to the Oval Office, Trump's strategists had decided to use the first few weeks to unleash a daily wave of executive orders. The aim was to unbalance opponents, define Trump as a man of action and slake his supporters' thirst for change.

A girl holds a sign in support of Muslim family at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles. Photo: AFP

Trump ripped up a trans-Pacific trade deal designed to counterbalance China's regional economic power, imposed a ban on refugees from Syria and migrants from seven other Muslim countries. He ordered planning to begin to build a wall on Mexico's southern border.

The United States, a nation founded by migrants, was now willing to shut its doors.

Not since Obama's election or perhaps the Iraq War has America's image around the world changed so dramatically and so quickly.

"Get used to it," said Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, boasting that Trump had delivered a "shock to the system."

"And he's just getting started," she said.

And demonstrators block traffic at the international arrival terminal at San Francisco International Airport, California. Pictures were taken on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Mindy Finn, who ran as a independent vice presidential candidate, summed up Trump's strategy as "sow chaos, deepen division and consolidate power."

For his harshest critics, the question is now whether Donald Trump breaks the presidency, or whether the presidency breaks Donald Trump.