With Donald Trump as President, Here's What Will Happen to the U.S.
News Desk
Donald John Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States on Tuesday in a stunning culmination of an explosive, populist and polarizing campaign that took relentless aim at the institutions and long-held ideals of American democracy. Now this is what will happen during his presidency.
- Overhaul in immigration policies
Donald Trump unwrapped his much-anticipated immigration policy in a speech in Phoenix, Arizona that drove home the "America first" attitude that forms the backbone of his platform.
Fresh off a meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico, the Republican presidential nominee set the tone with a familiar pledge.
“Number one. Are you ready? Are… you… ready? We will build a great wall along the southern border,” Trump said to thunderous, dragged-out chants and screams of approval.
“And Mexico will pay for the wall, 100 percent. They don’t know it yet but they will," he added.
Shortly after their meeting, Nieto made clear that he told Trump his country would not pay for what the business mogul affectionately called an "impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall".
But how tall? How powerful? How beautiful? The Republican candidate's big ideas can be small on detail, and the wall is no exception.
The US-Mexico border is about 1,900 miles (3100 km) long and traverses all sorts of terrain from empty, dusty desert to the lush and rugged surroundings of the Rio Grande.
Some 650 miles of the border is covered already by a confused and non-continuous series of fences, concrete slabs and other structures.
Mr Trump says his wall will cover 1,000 miles and natural obstacles will take care of the rest.
- Ending Gun-Free Zones On Military Bases
President Trump will have the authority to executive authority to pass an executive order allowing the United States military to carry firearms on duty.
Our domestic military bases and facilities have been the site of numerous terror attacks and mass shootings. Trump can reverse that with the stroke of a pen.
He would also apparently have the authority to end firearm bans on other federal property, but there are so many laws and regulations that I don’t want to make that claim prematurely.
- Fight with ISIL
President-elect Donald Trump has said he will give his generals 30 days after he takes office to come up with a plan to soundly defeat the ISIL.
What will it look like? There's not a lot to go on, since he has been short on specifics. Trump has said he would ramp up the war against the armed group, but avoid getting the United States into a Middle East quagmire.
He has not advocated using large numbers of U.S. ground troops to do the fighting. He also has said he will keep details of the plan secret, something he has faulted the Obama administration for failing to do and ruining the element of surprise.
But Trump has talked enough about the subject to draw some conclusions about how he might change U.S. policy in its war against the ISIL.
He may first look for ways to ramp up the U.S. bombing campaign against the militants in Syria and Iraq. “I’m going to bomb the s--- out of them,” Trump said last year.
- Trump election puts Iran nuclear deal on shaky ground
Donald Trump's election as president raises the prospect the United States will pull out of the nuclear pact it signed last year with Iran, alienating Washington from its allies and potentially freeing Iran to act on its ambitions.
Outgoing President Barack Obama's administration touted the deal, a legacy foreign policy achievement, as a way to suspend Tehran's suspected drive to develop atomic weapons. In return Obama, a Democrat, agreed to a lifting of most sanctions.
The deal, harshly opposed by Republicans in Congress, was reached as a political commitment rather than a treaty ratified by lawmakers, making it vulnerable to a new U.S. president, such as Trump, who might disagree with its terms.
A Republican, Trump ran for the White House opposing the deal but contradictory statements made it unclear how he would act. In an upset over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump won on Tuesday and will succeed Obama on Jan. 20.
A businessman-turned-politician who has never held public office, Trump called the nuclear pact a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated" during his campaign and said it could lead to a "nuclear holocaust." In a speech to the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC in March, Trump declared that his “Number-One priority” would be to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”
He said he would have negotiated a better deal, with longer restrictions, but somewhat paradoxically, he criticized remaining U.S. sanctions that prevent American companies from dealing with Iran.
- "Repeal Obamacare"
The Trump administration will work with Congress to repeal Affordable Care Act with replacement that "returns the historic role in regulating health insurance to the states," according to transition plan released Thursday.
Replacement would include promotion of Health Savings Accounts and option to buy insurance across states lines.
The transition team also says it will act to “protect innocent human life from conception to natural death, including the most defenseless and those Americans with disabilities” and "modernize Medicare, so that it will be ready for the challenges with the coming retirement of the Baby Boom generation – and beyond."
- Restructuring US energy policies including ending the "war on coal"
"make full use" of both renewable and tradition energy sources. "America will unleash an energy revolution that will transform us into a net energy exporter, leading to the creation of millions of new jobs, while protecting the country’s most valuable resources –- our clean air, clean water, and natural habitats,” the website says.
“The Trump administration is firmly committed to conserving our wonderful natural resources and beautiful natural habitats." The transition team also vows to open onshore and offshore leasing for federal land and waters for fossil fuel producers, streamline energy permitting, end “war on coal.”
The site also pledges “top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the Obama administration.”
- Promoting a strong, robust military force
To defend against the "threat posed to our nation and our allies by radical ideologies that direct and inspire extremism."
The administration will push for immediate and sustainable actions to counter the threats posed by radical ideologies; will address the "catastrophic threats posed by nuclear weapons and cyber attacks" and will "ensure our strategic nuclear triad is modernized to ensure it continues to be an effective deterrent, and his Administration will review and minimize our nation’s infrastructure vulnerabilities to cyber threats."
