Moving forward with policy
Trump’s victory and the Senate majority has many wondering what comes next for the United States. Policy needs to be at the forefront.
With President Trump set to take office again in 2025, there are still many questions surrounding how he plans on running the show this time around.
From immigration to tariffs, Trump has put forward certain ideas that are essentially just rehashed ideas that he and his administration kicked around or ideas that economic experts are finding concerning.
Putting aside Trump’s scandals and court cases, American people need to follow the results of every executive order, every plan of action he puts forward, every bill passed in Congress and every promises he’s made to us.
We need to be open, honest, sincere, frank and transparent about what exactly it is Trump is offering to do for Americans. This is a tedious process, but we have to be vigilante in not only in the application of any plans, bills or laws — but we have to see it through to the very end. This process is tedious, as I mentioned, but we need to hold Trump accountable just the same as we would anyone else. There is no more running away or moving the goalposts; Americans cannot continue to deny any lack of results with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris out of the way.
Let’s start with a comprehensive list of issues, what Trump said he would do and how he is expected to handle it. We are ignoring experts and political opinions for the time being.
Inflation
Donald Trump vowed during his term, “inflation will vanish completely.”
Here is a quick run-down of how he would drive down inflation completely.
- Federal Reserve oversight: Trump would have a say in interest rate policies including (but not limited to) when to cut or raise rates.
- Tariffs: Trump would impose huge taxes on imported goods. China would be imposed with 60% in tariffs and 10-20% would be imposed on all other imported goods. This would be upwards of a trillion in tariffs compared to the three hundred billion in 2018–19.
- Deporting migrants: Millions of migrants could face deportation to free up the labor markets. Trump has promised, “largest deportation operation in the history of our country.”
Immigration & border wall
As previously mentioned, Trump wants to deport millions of migrants, but there aren’t any specifics to how he would accomplish this through law.
Aside from being linked to Project 2025, which is basically a wish list from the Heritage Foundation, there’s no clear indication of what Trump will implement when it comes to the border wall.
These [illegal] immigration issues, according to republicans, have been at the source for cartels smuggling drugs and people as well as violence, which has to be eliminated once and for all.
Gas and oil
Energy independence has been touted as a sign of true American grit. In Detroit on October 18, Trump vowed to “cut [your] energy prices in half within 12 months.”
“Cut them in half within 12 months of taking office. That’s going to bring everything down.”
The last sentence implies gas prices will also come down as a result. The U.S. is one of the top producers of oil, but we’ll have to wait to see how Trump exploits the market for lower prices across the board for Americans with jobs expected to come with the increased production as well.
Rent and mortgage rates
Last month in Arizona, Trump made a bold promise to homeowners, “Today the mortgage rates are at 10%, 11%, 12%, you can’t get the money. We’re going to bring it down very fast, we’re going to bring energy down. We will drive down the rates so you will be able to pay 2% again and we will be able to finance or refinance your homes drastically.”
Although mortgage rates are at a median of 6.88%, Trump said he would accomplish getting it down to 2% by slashing inflation. He did not specify how he would bring it down through policy, however.
Like Harris, Trump also supports the idea of opening up more federal land to build homes on.
Taxes
Although everything so far has been complicated in of itself, taxes are in a different ballpark. Taxes are something Trump has boasted knowing the most about — only second to business — throughout his political career.
Going over his plan will be short & simple on purpose.
According to the Tax Foundation, Trump proposed, “extending the expiring 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changes, bringing back the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT), reducing the corporate tax rate for domestic production, exempting various types of income from the income tax, repealing green energy tax credits, and imposing steep new tariffs.” You can read more about the ideas and proposals here.
Trump has made some statements, has flirted with some ideas and has discussed the possibilities of how to handle taxes on different platforms.
- At Madison Square Garden, he announced to a cheering crowd, “I am announcing a new policy today that I will support a tax credit for family caregivers who take care of a parent or a loved one”
- On Joe Rogan’s podcast, he floated the idea that income taxes could be reduced or completely eliminated due to the revenue made from tariffs
- No taxes on social security
- Eliminating double-taxation on Americans living overseas
- Possibly expanding the child tax credit
Ending the war between Russia and Ukraine
Trump has repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours.”
Taking that as hyperbole, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is at least optimistic for a resolution. He congratulated Trump on X saying he admires Trump’s “commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs.”
Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, has not given Trump a warm welcome back and has no plans on publicly congratulating Trump. The Kremlin are very unhappy with the United States’ position in the war. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin said, “I am not aware of the president’s plans to congratulate Trump on the election.”
“Let’s not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country that is both directly and indirectly involved in the war against our state.”
North Korea’s involvement also further exacerbated things as well.
Assuming Trump will speak with his administration and advisors and eventually with Putin, Kim Jong Un and Zelenskyy, we will see if he is able to broker peace on that front.
Ending the Israel and Palestine conflict
In his first term, Trump and his administration originally had a plan titled “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People”. It was unveiled back in 2020 to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. The plan was delayed for two years with Palestine rejecting it due to not being invited to the initial meeting and other factors laid out in the plan itself.
Relations since then have deteriorated after Hamas (militant group established in Palestine) attacked Israel which has led to a conflict between Israel and Palestine. It is threatening to turn into a regional war which even Putin is attempting to prevent.
To his credit, Trump has been calling for peace. In April, Trump said on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, “Get it over with and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people.”
Trump and his administration will have to think of a new peace plan and avoid a broader conflict with Iran and Lebanon. So he certainly has his work cut out for him. Hamas reacted to his victory saying that he must stop the war.
The next four years will be focused on Trump keeping all promises to Americans.
