Someone seems to be in a hurry. And this could make a lot of folks uneasy, not just the Democrats.

As it is there is apprehension on what is it that Donald J Trump is likely to come up with after he is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.

The only fair bet would be in assuming the raft of tweets that are expected to deluge the social media from his limousine enroute the White House.

One impression is that the Grand Old Party, especially in the House of Representatives, would be trying to pass an omnibus legislation or in a so-called “Big, Beautiful” Bill that would include all aspects of immigration, tax cuts, raising or doing away with the debt limit and defence spending.

Trump urged members of Congress on work on that legislation that will bring “our Country back” so as to make it greater than ever before. “Get smart, tough, and send the Bill to my desk as soon as possible” the incoming President said in a social media post.

‘Big, Beautiful’ bill

The “Big, Beautiful” bill is not the only thing on Trump’s mind. For the last several days he has been talking about “buying” Greenland, hopeful of Canada being the 51st state, re-taking the Panama Canal — militarily if needed — and imposing hefty tariffs on China, Mexico and its northern neighbour.

On Greenland, Trump forgets that it is not real estate-type of buying, acquiring or even land settled as price of war. In short, Greenland is not in the same league of Texas, Louisiana, Florida or Alaska, to mention a few.

Russia-Ukraine war

For a person who had said right through the campaign season that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours, Trump now sees the conflict as “more difficult to solve”.

Trump has complicated matters by saying that he sympathizes with Moscow that Ukraine should not be part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has for long maintained that any NATO expansion would have to bear in mind the security interests of Russia; and Trump seems to believe that Ukraine in NATO would drag the alliance into the war. “… Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that”, Trump has said.

Middle East crisis

There is another festering problem that has been meriting the incoming President’s attention.

That has to do with the Gaza crisis with another plan for the release of 34 hostages still up in the air; and Trump once again warning that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East” should hostages remain in captivity at the time of his inauguration on January 20.

It is not just the Hamas that would have to be worried should the situation spiral out of control as that would involve allies and adversaries in the region including Iran, the Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen. Excepting the right wing war hawks in the United States and Israel, few would be celebrating this sort of jingoism.

For now not many are taking the offer to Greenland and Canada seriously. But there is something called reality check when it comes to the Big, Beautiful Bill that the optimists in the GOP hope to push through by a “reconciliation” procedure that requires only a simple majority in the Senate as opposed to the 60 votes.

But the omnibus legislation is so vast that Democrats will be able to break it down into parts that are not related to spending and taxes.

Plus, Republicans must be worried about a prolonged firefight on Capitol Hill given their slender majorities, fragility within their own ranks and the November 2026 mid-term elections not too far away.

The writer is a senior journalist who has reported from Washington DC on North America and United Nations