Donald Trump has stated that he would not be a tyrant “except for Day 1.” According to his own remarks, he has a lot to accomplish on his first day in the White House.
His list includes resuming mass deportations of migrants, rolling back Biden administration education policies, reshaping the federal government by firing potentially thousands of federal employees he believes are secretly working against him, and pardoning people arrested for their roles in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
“I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill,” he stated of his first day intentions.
When he assumed office in 2017, he had a long list of priorities, including promptly renegotiating trade agreements, deporting migrants, and implementing measures to combat government corruption. Those things did not occur all at once.
Here’s a look at what Trump has promised to do in his second term and if he’ll be able to do it once he takes office:
Make most of his criminal cases disappear, at least the federal ones.
Trump has stated that “within two seconds” of entering office, he will terminate Jack Smith, the special counsel who is prosecuting two federal charges against him. Smith is already considering ways to close the cases because to long-standing Justice Department protocol that states sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
Last year, Smith charged Trump with attempting to change the 2020 presidential election results and illegally storing confidential materials at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
Trump cannot pardon himself for his New York state conviction in a hush money case, but he may use his position as president-elect to set aside or delete his felony conviction and avoid a possible jail sentence.
A case in Georgia in which Trump was charged with election tampering is likely to be the only criminal prosecution still standing. It would most likely be placed on hold until at least 2029, at the end of his presidential term. The Georgia prosecutor handling the case recently gained reelection.
Pardon supporters who attacked the capitol.
More than 1,500 individuals have been charged since a mob of Trump fans organized by the outgoing president invaded the Capitol nearly four years ago.
Trump launched his general election campaign in March, not only attempting to alter the history of the riot, but also portraying the violent siege and unsuccessful attempt to overturn the 2020 election as a cornerstone of his bid to return to the White House. As part of it, he described the rioters as “unbelievable patriots” and promised to assist them “the first day we get into office.”
As president, Trump has the authority to pardon anyone convicted in federal court, the District of Columbia Superior Court, or a military court martial. He can halt the ongoing prosecution of rioters by instructing his attorney general to step aside.
“I am inclined to pardon many of them,” Trump declared on his social media platform in March, revealing his offer. “I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”
Dismantle the ‘deep state’ of government employees
Trump may start the process of stripping tens of thousands of career employees of their civil service protections, making them more readily fired.
He intends to accomplish two things: substantially shrink the federal workforce, which he has long argued is an unneeded drain, and “totally obliterate the deep state” – imagined opponents who he says are hidden in government posts.
Hundreds of politically appointed experts rotate through the government with each administration. There are also tens of thousands of “career” bureaucrats who serve both Democratic and Republican presidents. They are seen as apolitical personnel whose expertise and experience contribute to the smooth operation of the government, particularly during changes.
Trump want the option to turn some of those career professionals into political positions, making them simpler to fire and replace with loyalists. He would attempt to accomplish this by reinstating the 2020 executive order known as “Schedule F.” The order’s purpose was to remove federal workers’ job rights and create a new class of political employees. It might affect approximately 50,000 of the 2.2 million civilian government employees.
When Democratic President Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021, he repealed the executive order. However, Congress failed to adopt legislation safeguarding government employees. The federal government’s top human resources office, the Office of Personnel Management, issued a rule prohibiting workers from being reclassified last spring, meaning Trump may have to spend months, if not years, dismantling it.
Trump has stated that he is particularly concerned with “corrupt bureaucrats who have weaponized our justice system” and “corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus.”.
In addition to the firings, Trump wants to crack down on federal personnel who leak information to reporters. He also intends to force federal employees to pass a new civil service exam.
Impose duties on imported goods, particularly from China.
Throughout his campaign, Trump threatened to put tariffs on imported goods, notably those from China. He said that such import levies would keep manufacturing employment in the United States, reduce the government deficit, and assist down food prices. He also positioned them as key to his national security strategy.
“Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented,” Trump declared during a September rally in Flint, Michigan.
The size of his promised tariffs varies. He advocated at least a 10% overall duty on imported items, a 60% import tax on Chinese goods, and a 25% tariff on all Mexican imports, if not higher.
Trump would most likely not require Congress to implement these duties, as he demonstrated in 2018 when he slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum imports without going through Congress, invoking Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. According to the Congressional Research Service, that statute allows a president the authority to adjust tariffs on imports that may have an impact on US national security, as Trump has claimed.
“We’re being invaded by Mexico,” Trump declared at a rally in North Carolina last month. Speaking of Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump stated: “I’m going to inform her on Day 1 or sooner that if they don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country, I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send into the United States of America.”
Roll down protections for transgender students.
During the campaign, Trump promised to reverse Biden’s efforts to protect transgender students from discrimination in schools on the first day of his administration.
Opposition to transgender rights was crucial to the Trump campaign’s last argument. In the final days of the contest, his campaign aired an ad against Vice President Kamala Harris in which a narrator stated: “Kamala is for they/them. “President Trump is for you.”
In April, the Biden administration issued expanded Title XI protections, making it clear that treating transgender children differently than their classmates constitutes discrimination. Trump responded by stating that he would reverse such changes, promising to do so on the first day of his new government and mentioning that he had the authority to act without Congress.
“We’re going to end it on Day 1,” Trump vowed in May. “Don’t forget, that was an instruction from the president. That was issued as an executive order. And we’re going to alter it on day one.”
It’s unlikely Trump will stop there.
Speaking at a Wisconsin rally in June, Trump claimed “on Day 1” he would “sign a new executive order” that would remove government funding for any school “pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto the lives of our children.”
While it is likely that any of these acts will end up in court, as Biden’s amendment to Title XI did. Trump has significant executive power to carry on his promises.
Drill, drill.
Trump intends to remove climate policies aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
On Day 1, he can use an executive order to scale back environmental regulations, cancel wind projects, derail the Biden administration’s targets to stimulate the switch to electric vehicles, and eliminate standards for businesses to become more environmentally friendly.
He has committed to enhance US fossil fuel production, promising to “drill, drill, drill” when he takes office on Day 1 and attempting to open the Arctic wilderness to oil drilling, which he believes will reduce energy costs.
Settle the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump has repeatedly stated that he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in one day.
When asked to comment to the remark, Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, stated that “the Ukrainian crisis cannot be solved in one day.”
Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News after Trump was proclaimed the election winner that he would now be able to “negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.” She elaborated: “It includes, on Day 1, bringing Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table to end this war.”
Russia attacked Ukraine around three years ago. Trump, who has no hidden affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has slammed the Biden administration for providing funding to Ukraine to fight the war.
At a CNN town hall in May 2023, Trump stated, “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians.” I want them to stop dying. And I’ll get it done within 24 hours.” He stated that this would occur after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin.
Begin widespread deportations of migrants in the United States.
Last month, during his Madison Square Garden event in New York, Trump stated, “On Day One, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out.” I will rescue every city and town that has been attacked and captured, and we will imprison these vicious and murderous criminals before expelling them from our land as soon as possible.”
Trump may command his administration to begin the endeavor as soon as he takes office, but actually deporting the almost 11 million individuals who are estimated to be in the country illegally is much more complicated. This would necessitate a large, trained law enforcement force, big detention facilities, planes to transport people, and governments willing to absorb them.
Trump has stated that he will utilize the Alien Enemies Act. This rarely used 1798 legislation empowers the president to remove anyone who is not an American citizen and comes from a country with which there is a “declared war” or a threatened or attempted “invasion or predatory incursion.”
He has discussed deploying the National Guard, which can be activated on a governor’s orders. Stephen Miller, a prominent Trump adviser, suggested that supportive Republican governors may send soldiers to surrounding states that refuse to join.
When asked about the expense of his idea, he told NBC News, “It’s not a matter of pricing. It isn’t; we truly have no choice. When people are massacred and murdered, and drug lords destroy countries, they will return to those countries because they are not staying here. “There is no price tag.”