By JILL COLVIN (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — A massive deportation operation. A new Muslim ban. Tariffs on all imported goods and “freedom cities” built on federal lands.
Much of the 2024 presidential campaign has been dominated by the countless investigations into former President Donald Trump and the subsequent charges against him. But with less than a year until Election Day, Trump dominates the race for the Republican nomination and has already laid out a broad set of policy goals should he win a second term.
His ideas, and even the issues he focuses on most, are wildly different from President Joe Biden’s proposals. If implemented, Trump’s plans would represent a dramatic government overhaul, possibly more consequential than that of his first term. His presidency, especially the early days, was marked by chaos, infighting and a wave of hastily drafted executive orders that were quickly overturned by the courts.
Some of his current ideas would likely end up in court or be blocked by Congress. But Trump’s campaign and allied groups are putting together policy books with detailed plans.
A look at your schedule:
Trump would try to strip tens of thousands of career employees of their civil service protections. That way, they could be fired while he seeks to “totally destroy the deep state.”
He would attempt to achieve this by reissuing a 2020 executive order known as “Annex F.” That would allow him to reclassify masses of employees, with a particular focus, he said, on “corrupt bureaucrats who have weaponized our justice system” and “corrupt actors in our intelligence and national security apparatus.” Given his anger at the FBI and federal prosecutors pursuing criminal cases against him, Trump would likely seek retaliation against people linked to those prosecutions.
Beyond layoffs, he wants to crack down on government officials who leak information to journalists. He also wants to require federal employees to pass a new civil service test.
Trump has pledged to “immediately stop the invasion of our southern border” and end illegal immigration.
As part of that plan, he says he would immediately order U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to undertake the largest internal deportation operation in U.S. history. It would target people living legally in the United States but harboring “jihadist sympathies” and would revoke the student visas of those who espouse anti-American and anti-Semitic views.
In a bid to secure the US-Mexico border, Trump says he will move thousands of troops currently stationed abroad and transfer federal agents, including those from the DEA and FBI, to immigration enforcement. He also wants to build more border wall.
Trump wants to reimpose his travel ban, which originally targeted seven Muslim-majority countries, and expand it to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the country.” In the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel, he has pledged to implement an “ideological test” for immigrants. Their goal: to ban “dangerous lunatics, haters, fanatics and maniacs,” as well as those who “sympathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists.”
To deter immigrants, he has said he would end birthright citizenship, using an executive order that would introduce a legally untested interpretation of the 14th Amendment. The order would prevent federal agencies from granting automatic citizenship to the children of people who are in the United States illegally. It would require at least one parent to be a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident for their children to be eligible for passports, Social Security numbers and other benefits.
Trump says he will institute a system of tariffs of perhaps 10% on most foreign goods. Sanctions would increase if trading partners manipulated their currencies or engaged in other unfair trade practices.
He will urge Congress to pass a “Trump Reciprocal Trade Act,” giving the president authority to impose a reciprocal tariff on any country that imposes one on the United States.
Much of the agenda is focused on China. Trump has proposed a four-year plan to phase out Chinese imports of essential goods, including electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals. He wants to ban Chinese companies from owning vital American infrastructure in sectors such as energy, technology and agriculture, and says he will force Chinese owners to sell any property “that endangers American national security.”
Trump claims that even before taking office, he will have resolved the war between Russia and Ukraine. That includes, he says, ending the “endless flow of American treasure to Ukraine” and asking European allies to reimburse the United States for the cost of rebuilding the stockpile.
It is unclear whether he would insist that Russia withdraw from Ukraine territory it seized in the war it launched in February 2022.
Trump has said he will support Israel in its war against Hamas and support Israel’s efforts to “destroy” the militant group. He says he will continue to “fundamentally reevaluate” NATO’s purpose and mission.
Trump says he will ask Congress to pass a bill stating that the United States recognizes “only two genders,” determined at birth.
As part of his crackdown on gender-affirming care, he will declare that hospitals and health care providers that offer transition hormones or surgery no longer meet federal health and safety standards and will be barred from receiving federal funds, including U.S. dollars. of Medicaid and Medicare.
I would pressure Congress to ban hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors in all 50 states.
Doctors often guide children toward therapy before medical intervention. At that point, hormonal treatments, such as puberty blockers, are much more common than surgery. They have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are standard treatments endorsed by leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association.
Trump’s goal, he says, is for the United States to have the cheapest energy and electricity of any nation in the world, including China.
Under the slogan “DRILL, BABY, DRILL,” he says he would step up oil drilling on public lands and offer tax breaks to oil, gas and coal producers. It would roll back the Biden administration’s efforts to encourage adoption of electric cars and reverse proposed new pollution limits that would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030.
And again, he says, he will exit the Paris Climate Accords, end subsidies for wind energy, and eliminate regulations imposed and proposed by Biden’s admiration targeting incandescent light bulbs, gas stoves, dishwashers, and showers. .
Trump has pledged to fire the Department of Education, but he also wants to exert enormous influence over local school districts and universities.
I would push the federal government to give funding preference to states and school districts that eliminate teacher tenure, adopt merit pay to reward good teachers, and allow direct election of school principals by the federal government. parental.
He has said he would cut funding for any school that has a vaccine or mask mandate and promote prayer in public schools.
Trump also wants to have a say in school curricula and promises to fight for “patriotic education.” He says that under his administration, schools will “teach students to love their country, not hate it as they are taught now” and will promote “the nuclear family,” including “the roles of mothers and fathers” and the “things that They make men and women different and unique.”
To protect students, he says he will support school districts allowing trained teachers to carry concealed weapons. It would provide federal funding so schools can hire veterans, retired police officers and other gun owners trained as armed school guards.
Trump wants to force homeless people off city streets by building tent cities on large open plots of affordable land. At the same time, he says he will work with states to ban urban camping, giving violators the choice between being arrested or receiving treatment.
He also wants to bring back large mental institutions to re-institutionalize those who are “severely mentally ill” or “dangerously disturbed.”
Trump would push again to send the National Guard to cities like Chicago that are struggling with violence. He would use the federal government’s funding and processing authorities to pressure local governments.
He says he will require local law enforcement agencies that receive grants from the Justice Department to use controversial policing measures such as stop and frisk. As a deterrent, he says local police should be empowered to shoot suspected thieves on sight. “Simply put, if you rob a store, you can expect to be shot when you leave that store,” he said in a recent speech.
Trump has called for the death penalty for drug traffickers and those who traffic women and children. He has also promised a federal takeover of the nation’s capital, calling Washington a “dirty, crime-ridden death trap” unbecoming of the country.
