From immigration to retaliation, Trump’s return to the White House has vowed sweeping transformations of how America is perceived globally.
Donald Trump just won the presidency. Below is a brief of what is expected to be on Trump’s mind when he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
BBC News estimates that Republicans will maintain control of the Senate, which means Trump will have an easy time passing legislation and staffing his administration in the Senate.
But the battle for the House remains tight; the Republicans are aspiring to have a sweep to dominate Washington while the Democrats can act as a counterbalance to Trump’s administration.
Immigration
Trump has said many times that on his first day in office, he will “close” the border to the south and begin what he calls “the biggest deportation operation in the history of the United States” and use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which was last used in World War II.
The removal of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States would be costly for the U.S in terms of billions of dollars and would also call for hiring of tens of thousands of people.
As BBC News has pointed out, his team is also thinking of cutting federal police grants for the local police departments that do not want to be involved in the deportations.
On immigration, Trump said he will stop “catch and release,” revive the “Remain in Mexico” policy and Title 42, a measure from his first term that turns away migrants who arrived unlawfully and does not let them apply for asylum for health reasons.
Trump also stated that he will also submit to Congress a legislation to end the so-called sanctuary cities.
He also wants to request from Congress the money to hire 10,000 new border agents, and to provide 10% pay increase for the current agents, plus $10,000 retention and signing bonus.
Trump also promised to verify that federally funded benefits are going to Americans only and not anyone else.
He has also pledged to do within the first 24 hours of his administration, to close the Department of Homeland Security’s CBP One app, which offers potential immigrants appointment scheduling, remote interview, and the opportunity to complete the necessary forms.
Trump has vowed to confiscate the property of criminal gangs and drug cartels operating in the United States and use the proceeds to compensate victims of violent crime.
He also demanded that any migrant who enters the United States and kills Americans or police officers should be given the death penalty.
Trump has also pledged to reinstate the travel ban affecting some Muslim-dominated nations — which was blocked by courts — and to extend the ban to refugees from the Gaza Strip and implement some ideological tests for all immigrants.
Abortion
On reproductive rights, a significant topic in this election, Trump stated that he would veto a federal abortion ban but would let states regulate abortions as they please.
During his first term, Trump was able to push through the senate three of his conservative nominees to the Supreme Court; all three of them voted in the majority to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Speaking in comments that were met with disapproval from the Democrats, Trump said he would “protect” women, “whether the women like it or not.”
Economy
On the economy, Trump stated that he will “end inflation” and has promised to sign into law what he termed as the biggest tax reforms for workers and Small businesses.
He said this will mean no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security benefits and a tax credit for family caregivers who look after a parent or relative.
Trump promised to join forces with Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk to remove ‘every single’ federal regulation Trump claims makes prices higher and kills jobs in America.
Regarding regulations, Trump has pledged to repeal one federal regulation for every new one enacted, ten to be precise.
One thing Trump said he will keep in place: the Affordable Care Act, the much loved health insurance marketplace.
He has stated that he will issue an executive order to instruct every Cabinet secretary and agency head to focus on inflation as one of their goals.
“We will be going after everything, car prices, car insurance, housing prices, supply chain, everything,” Trump said in a rally in North Carolina in August.
“I will brief my Cabinet that I want to see action within the first 100 days or even earlier than that.”
Trump has also pledged that his administration will not tax the first $10,000 of expenses incurred by parents with children in homeschooling.
Trump has pledged that American companies will get the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs, the lowest regulatory burdens, and free access to the single best and biggest market on the planet.
Before that, he has promised to reduce the corporate income tax rate to 15%, from the current 21% and has stated that he will apply a 10-20% tariff on all imported goods, and a tariff of between 100-200% on all businesses originating from countries that do not wish to use US dollars as their reserve currency.
This focus on putting America first is one that is consistent throughout the entirety of Trump’s campaign. In September, Trump was urging to restore the state and local tax deduction, also known as SALT.
In 2017, Trump signed the legislation that limited the previously unlimited federal deduction to only $10,000 per filer.
The policy affected people in blue states most of all. While Trump signed that measure, he has vowed to repeal it.
Environment
On cars manufactured in the United States, Trump said he will allow for total deductibility of interest on car loans.
He said he will rescind an electric vehicle rule issued in March by President Joe Biden’s administration that makes EVs more accessible and affordable in the coming years, and makes it challenging for gasoline vehicles to meet an ever-tightening EPA standard.
Trump also wants to, once again, pull out of the Paris Accord, a significant global climate pact.
In some ways even more dangerously, without offering any indication of how he will accomplish this, Trump has declared that he will cut consumer energy prices in half within the first year of his presidency.
“We were energy independent four years ago,” Trump often said at rallies, urging to use fracking and drill for oil on the first day.
He also wants to reduce housing expenses by constructing on the “fringe of metropolitan areas and suburbs,” where the land is less costly, repealing what he dubs Biden’s “anti-suburban housing regulation.”
Foreign Policy
On foreign policy, Trump said he will end Russia’s war in Ukraine within a day.
“First, I’ll meet with Putin, I’ll meet with Zelenskyy. They both have weaknesses and they both have strengths,” Trump said in a CNN town hall about the presidents of Russia and Ukraine in 2023.
“And within 24 hours that war will be settled. It will be over. It will be absolutely over.”
Trump also wants to end “the chaos” in the Middle East and avoid “World War III.”It is also not clear how he will achieve these objectives.
Trump has also shown desire in having a missile defense over the United States like the Iron Dome of Israel.
Culture Wars
Trump focused a lot on anti-transgender policies during his campaign and vowed to implement them during his presidency.
“On Day 1, I will sign a new executive order to defund any school that teaches critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other racial, sexual or political indoctrination to our children,” Trump has said. “And I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.”
Trump said he wants to “get rid” of the Education Department as it is now and let each state “handle education,” as he put it.
‘We will have one plus a secretary, and all that the person will be doing is, ‘Are you teaching English? Are you teaching arithmetic? What are you doing? The three Rs are reading, writing and arithmetic and are you not teaching woke?’ Not teaching woke is a very big factor, but we’ll have a very small staff,”
Trump said of his plans. Trump also wants, as he said it, to “protect women’s sports” and to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors.
Retaliation
In May, Trump set a historical record of being the first former president to be convicted of a crime after a New York jury convicted him on 34 counts of criminal contempt of business records.
He is still in legal trouble in federal and state cases but they will be dismissed or stayed now that he has won the election.
Trump turned political persecution into a key message of his campaign, and he often vowed “payback” for his foes.
Indeed, since he joined the 2024 race, Trump has demanded the arrest of at least 16 rival politicians and 15 law enforcement, military and intelligence personnel, two federal public health agency workers, two billionaires, and technology company Google.
Trump stated that he thinks that the current and the former members of Congress who served on the committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, such as Jamie Raskin and Liz Cheney, should be prosecuted for what he calls lies and treason.
He also wants to choose a special prosecutor to “pursue” Biden and his kin.
Another official who should be relieved of his investigatory duties is special counsel Jack Smith who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Speaking to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump said about Smith: “I would fire him within two seconds.”
Trump moved from referring to the riots as a ‘heinous attack’ in the days following the event to a ‘day of love’ when he was still a presidential candidate.
He has stated that he would like to free many of the prisoners who were arrested, charged and convicted for offenses in relation to their activities on that day.
Trump has shown willingness to imprison journalists if they do not reveal the identity of the sources that provided them with the information.
He also wants anyone who desecrates an American flag to face a one-year jail sentence.
