Trump plans to sign executive order making English the official language of the U.S.

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: February 28, 2025 / 10:15 AM EST


President Trump is planning to sign an executive order making English the official language of the United States, multiple White House sources tell CBS News. English is already the most commonly used language in the country, but the U.S. has never had an official language at the federal level.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the president's plan to sign the executive order.

The English language executive order will rescind a federal mandate that requires agencies and other recipients of federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers, a mandate issued by former President Bill Clinton. Agencies, however, will still be able to provide documents and services in other languages. The Trump administration says its goal is to "promote unity, establish efficiency in the government, and provide a pathway to civic engagement."

Republican members of Congress have tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation declaring English the official language. Many states have designated English as their official language. On the campaign trail last year, Mr. Trump decried other languages entering the U.S.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-executive-order-english-official-language/

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"Price of eggs", "Kitchen table issues", "Working class".

[IronLionZion]

1. He better learn to speak it then

Many people with English as a second language speak it better than he does. I like the comparison videos of him with intelligent foreign leaders. The caption says only one of these two is the leader of an English speaking country.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. If I could only

rec your post a million times!

[Botany]

20. Or write it too

I think, AI, might have, fixed his problem with random commas, in his sentences,.

[twodogsbarking]

26. Melania was helping him. What happened?

[Bengus81]

3. Listen to Musk speak--when he's not screaming at a NAZI rally

I don't know what that is...broken South African?

[IronLionZion]

5. His first language is Afrikaans

Like Trump, he used his family connections to avoid their mandatory military service by leaving South Africa.

[sboatcar]

6. That's the drugs speaking

He's a big fan of calvin klein, which is a mix of cocaine and ketamine. Ketamine for the trip, cocaine to keep you awake for it.

[purr-rat beauty]

4. the idiot can barely speak out of a paper bag

too bad it's not plastic and firmly sealed

[sop]

7. Trump speaks MAGAbonics

[BumRushDaShow]

8. DUzy!

[bhikkhu]

9. I always wondered how they would enforce something like that

Of course we all know what English is, but at least half of it is borrowed words from other languages already. Do we assume that happened freely before, but it stops now? Do we have lists of prohibited words as they come up, or do we go back and specifically ban individual words that are already part of the everyday lexicon? Do we need committees to figure all that out?

That kind of order, btw, is how you wind up with an official language frozen in time, like Latin became, while spoken language slowly becomes something entirely different.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. If this survives a court challenge

what this could (and probably will) lead to is eliminating ANY alternate language "translations" of official government documents and webpages and could conceivably extend to banning ASL (American Sign Language despite a law since laws don't matter with this administration because they claim they "are the law" ).

I.e., many governmental entities will have translations of communications and policies in Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, & Arabic, which captures most of the "recent" immigrant populations.

[thesquanderer]

21. Also whether someone who is arrested needs to have their rights explained to them in their own language,

and possibly whether they are entitled to a court-appointed lawyer who speaks their language or has a translator.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. All of that would probably be dispensed with

in terms of "government-provided/funded" translators because these people are sadistic. The hope that these gestapos would allow "3rd party" translators in for that purpose.

[LeftInTX]

24. English and Hindi are the two official languages in India. Yet there are many languages in many documents.

This may be nothing but a "for show" EO. All official documents in the US are already English. Of course there are translations, but those are translations of official documents.

It depends "how far" the EO goes.

It could affect citizenship exams, if we have exams that are not in English. ETA: Citizenship exam still requires English
However, is all of it in English?

A. Educational Requirements
An officer administers a naturalization test to determine whether an applicant meets the English and civics requirements.[1] The naturalization test consists of two components:

English language proficiency, which is determined by the applicant’s ability to read, write, speak and understand English
https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-e-chapter-2#:~:text=An%20officer%20administers%20a%20naturalization,failed%20portion%20of%20the%20tests.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. This administration is intent on "wiping out 'woke'"

as white supremacists.

This term, very little of his EOs have been "for show", despite how hyperbolic they are. They have been enforced.

[SupportSanity]

11. Whew!! That's a relief. I thought he was going to make Russian the offical language!!

[2naSalit]

13. Right?

We'd have to learn a new alphabet and everything for that one.

[homegirl]

12. I beleive English

won over German as the official language of the USA, by one vote, about 100 years ago, maybe longer!

[Solly Mack]

14. Would that be bigly English or yuge English or covfefe English or infrastrucker English?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

30. Maybe Olde English, going back to the oranges of the language

[Solly Mack]

31. Heh!

lolol

The man is an idiot.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

15. His next EO will declare caucasian as the official race

and Christianity the official religion.

The "rule of law" has been replaced by the "rule by executive order." Congress may as well go home and enjoy that raise Elon's going to give them.

By the end of February President Musk and First Puppet Trump will have destroyed our country in every way possible.

[no_hypocrisy]

16. On Election Day, as a poll worker if I speak Spanish

to a voter, will that be against the EO?

[LeftinOH]

17. The MAGA crowd, which can't differentiate their/there/they're, will love this.

Not to mention your/you're, and using an apostrophe for every word that ends with the letter S.

[thesquanderer]

19. re: "can't differentiate their/there/they're" -- Ah, another reason they objected to "pronouns." (n/t)

[Botany]

18. Does Trump Mr. I will now make English as America's language trying to change the name of the gulf of Mexico to the ....

.... Gulf of America even knows that he is giving it a foreign title. America is from THE ITALIAN AMERIGO VESPUCCI.



BTW to all the Mexicans and Hispanics who voted for Trump you do know he doesn't like you?

[Bayard]

22. Next up:

You will be arrested if you are heard speaking anything but English, and possibly deported.

[Joinfortmill]

25. More of his bullshit

[RobertDevereaux]

27. More specifically,. the dialect known as "word salad smothered in a shit ton of lies"

[tulipsandroses]

28. I just want to give an example of what this looks like in real life. I worked for 2 clinics that received Govt funding

. You have to provide translators. (Well, I guess until today you had to) You also have to provide sign language interpreters.

When I worked in FL, we had a full time Spanish translator on staff. He couldn't be everywhere all at once so there were services that offered translators by video that we used. The translators sat in on the appointment to translate for the patient.
It is better for the patient to have a neutral party doing the translation.
Family members do not always give you the information you need. Also, when it comes to mental health, not uncommon for us to encounter people who are in abusive situations. You certainly don't want an abusive partner/parent doing the translating. Our on staff translator was good at relaying medical information in a way that a family member would not do as well.

It will be interesting how this plays out in the healthcare community. If they yank funding for translation services, then clinics start advertising job openings for Spanish speaking providers only, creole speaking providers only, MAGA will surely complain.

I would not be surprised if they also yank funding for sign language interpreters.

[C_U_L8R]

29. Trump couldn't even pass an English exam

he has no right to dictate what or how we speak.

[Initech]

33. He can go shove each and every one of his BS executive orders straight up his ass!

That might be difficult to do with so many people kissing it.

[Mz Pip]

34. For all practical purposes

English already is the official language. It’s certainly the language of commerce. There’s no reason to do this as it changes nothing, improves nothing and even if it is perceived by some as a kind of mandate, it’s impossible to enforce.