Donald Trump has won the 2024 Presidential Election as of November 6th, 2024. Kamala Harris conceded on November 6th, 2024 stating on her Twitter “The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, but hear me out when I say: the light of America’s promise will always burn bright. We must accept the results of this election.” On the account that the votes are mostly finalized in counting, we can assume Donald Trump will be sworn into the White House soon. 

He will be the first convicted criminal to be elected U.S. President. 

The Republican Party has regained control of the Senate.

Here is what he plans to do during his second time in office, promising plans of tighter immigration policies, “fixing” the economy, and finishing the war in Ukraine.

His main agenda is to scale back federal government efforts on civil rights and expand presidential powers. 

Immigration – Deporting Undocumented Migrants

Trump has called for using the National Guard and domestic police forces to help fulfill his plan of deporting undocumented migrants, targeting those at mass migrant camps. However, he is still scant on the details of what the program ensues and making sure it only targets those in the U.S. illegally, not legally. 

He wants to reinstate policies from his first term such as “Remain in Mexico” which limits migrants on public health grounds, limiting or banning entry from majority-Muslim nations. He will also roll back Temporary Protected Status. He has pledged to complete the building of a wall at the border with Mexico, a project started at the start of his first term. Another pitch of his is “ideological screening” for those wanting to enter, which ends birth-right citizenship and would call for a change in the constitution. However, he still does not have a written proposal for these changes yet. 

He will aim to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, as well as “birthright” citizenship for children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents. 

Experts told the BBC that deportations on the scale Donald Trump is promising would cause legal and logistical challenges, and could slow economic growth. 

Economy and Taxes

His tax policies broadly tilt toward corporations and wealthier Americans. 

Trump promises to extend his 2017 tax overhaul, lowering the corporate income tax rate to 15% from the current 21%. He wants to go back on President Joe Biden’s income tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and scrap the Inflation Reduction Act that finances energy measures intended to combat climate change. 

He wants to make tips tax-free, abolish tax on social security payments, and shave corporation tax. He has not stated how he will do this. 

His tip proposal will give a back-door tax break to tap wage earners by allowing them to reclassify some of their pay as tip income. 

He proposes tariffs of 10% to 20% on foreign goods, even mentioning higher percentages in some of his speeches. He wants to reinstate an August 2020 executive order requiring that the federal government buy “essential” medications from U.S. companies only. Imports from China could bear an additional 60% tariff, and some economists have warned that these moves will only push prices up for regular people. 

LGBTQ+ and Civil Rights

Trump has called for rolling back societal emphasis on diversity and legal protections for LGBTQ+ citizens. He promises, generally, to end “boys in girl’s sport,” a practice he repeats is widespread, though he provides no evidence. He will roll back the Biden administration’s policy of extending Title IX civil rights protections to transgender students. He will also be asking Congress to require that only two genders can be recognized. 

Abortion Ban

During the presidential debate with Kamala Harris on September 10, 2024, Trump said that he would not sign a law to enact a national abortion ban. This is not a second-term priority to him, even as he took credit for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. He insists that was enough, and wants to let the states decide for themselves. He has not explicitly stated that he would veto national abortion restrictions if they reached his desk. It remains unclear if his administration would defend legal challenges seeking to restrict access to abortion pills like the Biden administration has been doing. 

Climate Regulations and Energy 

During his first policy, Trump rolled back hundreds of environmental protections and made America the first nation to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. 

He promises to cut regulations, as he wants to help the American car industry. He will be overturning Biden’s targets encouraging the switch to cleaner, electric cars. He vows to “drill, drill, drill” to increase the production of U.S. fossil fuels. He wants to open the Arctic wilderness up to oil drilling, which he argues will lower energy costs. 

He claims that climate change is a “hoax.”

War in Ukraine and Palestine + National Defense

Trump criticizes the tens of billions of dollars spent by the U.S. to support Ukraine in its war with Russia. He pledged to end the conflict “within 24 hours” through a deal. It has been more than 24 hours since the time of writing this article, by the way. He does not think either side should give up. 

Trump is a supporter of Israel. During his first term, his administration overlooked the building of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank despite international concern. Ahmed Jarad, a Palestinian refugee, has been hoping for 13 months he will one day be able to return to his home in Beit Lahiya, a villa in the north of the Gaza Strip. In an interview with Aljazeera, he states “This is a sad day for Palestinians. Trump will endorse Nettanyahu’s free hand regarding the possibility of the return of settlements to the Gaza Strip and even the displacement of large numbers of Palestinians outside it. We hoped to return to the north and now all our hopes have been shattered.”

Trump wants to back away from foreign conflicts, generally. He also pledged to end the violence in Lebanon, though has still given no detail on how. 

He pledges to expand the military. He remains critical of NATO and top U.S. military brass. He praised authoritarians like Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. 

Regulation and Presidential Power

He wants to strengthen the executive branch by removing obstacles to fossil fuel production, including opening all federal land for exploration. U.S. energy production is already at record highs, though he wants to take it higher. He wants to make it easier to fire federal workers if one classifies thousands of them as being outside civil service protections. This would weaken the government’s power to enforce statutes and rules as it reduces the number of employees working. 

Trump wants to have exclusive power to control federal spending, even after Congress appropriates the money. He argues that the president’s constitutional duty to “faithfully execute the laws” includes discretion on whether to spend the money. This interpretation could set up a court battle with Congress.

He also stated that the Federal Reserve, an independent entity that sets interest rates, should be subject to more presidential power. He has not offered any further details, though this move would change how the U.S. economic and monetary systems work. 

Education

The Trump administration wants to eliminate the federal Department of Education. He wants to use the threat of getting rid of federal funding to pressure K-12 school systems to abolish tenure and adopt merit pay for teachers. He also wants to scrap diversity programs at all levels of education. He states he will pull federal funding “for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”

Regarding higher education, Trump wants to take over-crediting processes for colleges. He states he will collect “billions and billions of dollars” from schools via “taxing, finding, and suing excessively large private university endowments” at those who will not comply. 

He is proposing to redirect the confiscated endowment money into an online “American Academy” which offers college credentials to all Americans without a tuition charge. He has not stated how he will do this. 

Social Security and Medicare

Originally Trump was open to cutting Social Security and Medicare, as stated in March telling CNBC. However, after facing backlash, they have committed to not cutting Social Security or Medicare. He proposed eliminating the tax on Social Security benefits that many seniors pay. 

Experts from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget have warned his policy proposals that these programs could run out of cash. They gathered this information with an analysis projecting Trump’s policy agenda finding it would deplete Social Security’s funds in just six years. 

The CRFB also predicted in October that Trump’s agenda overall – aka ending taxes on tips and overtime, hiking tariffs, and deporting undocumented immigrants – would add approximately $2.3 trillion to Social Security’s deficit and cause the program to be nonexistent by 2031. 

Affordable Care Act and Health Care

Trump calls for repealing the Affordable Care Act and its health insurance marketplaces, though has still not proposed a replacement. In the September debate, he stated he had “concepts of a plan.” Trump has stated that he would put Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former presidential candidate who is a critic of vaccines and pesticides in U.S. agriculture, in charge of creating an alternative. 

Pardon Some January 6th Rioters

January 6th, 2021: We all know where we were when Trump’s support stormed the Capitol building to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump has stated he will be “freeing” some of those convicted. 

There were several deaths due to the violence, which Trump was accused of inciting. He continues to downplay the riot’s weight and stands by the rioters. He believes many of them were “wrongfully imprisoned” though “a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”