The long-awaited election has happened, ending with shocking turnouts, including higher voter turnout and a controversial change of atmosphere in swing states. Crucial swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan took turns to the right near the end of counting the votes. Voter turnout in the 2024 election compared to 2020 was an interesting comparison, in 2020, 158,429,631 voted, while in 2024 only 153,782,589 voted. The 4.6 million dip in voters may support how many Americans didn’t support either candidate. Yet, Donald J. Trump is the 47th president of the United States with a little under 77 million of those votes. What does the 47th president intend to do with his first 100 days in office? One way to figure out what Trump’s first 100 days in office is to simply look at what he said during his campaign. This includes topics such as highlighting major themes like immigration, climate, and foreign policy.
After a campaign that heavily focused on immigration, Trump has vowed sweeping changes beginning on Day 1. Day 1, January 20th, 2025. This will be Trump’s first day in office, and he already has plans. Last year, Fox News asked Trump about his known “dictatorship,”, yet Trump doesn’t deny it. He claims he “would never abuse power as retribution against anybody, except for Day 1.” This goes to say that Trump says he’s not going to abuse power, but the only time he would consider it would be Day 1 of the presidency.
Justice and Pardons
One of Trump’s first action plans is punishing the prosecutors and judges overseeing his multiple court cases. Contrasting with punishing those who did him wrong, he also wants to release those who were convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. This could be controversial to some because people claim that Trump didn’t stop them, or tell his supporters to stop. He claims they were “wrongfully convicted.”. Trump claims he is, “Inclined to pardon many of them,” although he does admit that some may have gone too far.
Climate Action
Another plan of action Trump has is to cut Biden’s climate subsidies, which include cutting taxes on oil, coal, and gas producers. This includes ending the “Green New Deal.”. The “Green New Deal” is a public policy initiative to address climate change pitched by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey. The “Green New Deal” impacts economic growth and reduces economic inequality, benefiting the transition to renewable energy sources and creating new green jobs, increasing the number of available jobs for Americans. Trump has spoken out about his opinion on climate change and constantly exclaims how “it doesn’t exist,” so it doesn’t pose a threat to him.
Immigration Policies
Through analyzing Trump’s campaign plan, we have all seen that immigration is one of the central campaign issues he is addressing. He spent the majority of his time in debates and rallies talking about immigration, so we all know he is passionate about it. Trump wants to start by closing the border quickly. This restricts the amount of communicable diseases and the amount of “illegal” immigrants from coming into the U.S. and “stealing” American jobs and housing. Large-scale deportations could strain law enforcement resources. Trump admits that the border was a mess when he was president in his last term. Becoming the 47th president, Trump vows to “take care of it,”, meaning having Mexico pay for the wall entirely. This is a running parallel, as it is shown he is not handling it, he is handing the responsibility over to Mexico.
He plans on expanding his travel ban on people coming into the U.S., specifically in major Muslim countries. Which he claims is “the largest deportation operation in the country’s history.”. This entails that he is going to enforce more of the rejection of visas for people coming from countries he believes didn’t have enough screening. This includes countries like Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and North Korea. This also entails that he is going to search, round up, and deport millions of migrants who are living in the U.S. without legal permission. This poses a threat to those immigrants who are in the U.S. with a certified green card because they will be scared to be approached and questioned randomly in public. Trump promises, “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” continuing with, “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”
Economic Plan
Another popular claim he preaches to his supporters is that he is going to “end inflation.”. But any president is limited in how they can help it. The main organizations that fueled America’s economy, cannot be controlled by the government. Economists see it as influenced by global supply chains, labor costs, and other external factors. It’s simple, when prices are higher, workers demand higher pay. Especially if they are based outside the U.S. Trump also claims he is going to “sweep” tax cuts, which include making tips tax-free and ending the tax on social security payments and corporation tax. A part of his plan also includes cutting taxes for the wealthy, which causes the trickle-down effect, carrying the cut taxes to the middle/lower class Americans.
Overseas Conflict
He then wants to end the Ukraine war. Trump has criticized the billions of dollars the U.S. has spent on supporting Ukraine in the Russian war. He has claimed he is going to end the war in “24 hours” through a negotiation deal. This goes into how Trump wants to become less involved in foreign cultures in general. This includes the Gaza war, in which Trump has placed himself as a supporter of Israel, but is urging for America to stop being an ally. Trump preaches he’s going to “end all wars,”, but some are skeptical because he has yet to publish real plans to resolve the conflicts and wars.
Abortion Laws
In June of 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned, meaning the U.S. government eliminated the federal right to abortion. The nationwide constitutional right to abortion was overturned by the Supreme Court, which included a majority of the judges following Trump’s first presidency. Yet during Trump’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he claimed he would not sign into law a national abortion ban. Trump has preached that he will let the debate of an abortion ban go to the states themselves, which leads to the fight for the right to an abortion in every 50 states.
This leads to Trump’s main idea of eliminating all of Biden’s policies and “resuming” where he left off in office during his last term. Although many are heartbroken and many are celebrating Trump’s re-election, going forward the most important thing anyone can do is inform themselves of the future. We as Americans need to learn what Trump plans on doing in the next 4 years of his presidency, through attending rallies or participating in civic discussions. Whether we support him or not. Knowledge is key.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/06/nx-s1-5181800/2024-election-trump-first-100-days-agenda
https://abc7.com/post/what-donald-trump-has-said-he-would-do-day-1-reelected/15517131/
