President-Elect Trump’s Day One: What Will Happen?

Campaign promises are sometimes as ephemeral as a spring breeze. President-elect Trump (I will never get tired of typing that out) has a better record than most on this score; even my far-left proggie buddy admitted during President Trump’s first term that “…he actually is trying to do what he said he’d do.” Donald Trump, no matter what one thinks of him, generally says what he means and means what he says.

The President-elect has made quite a few statements about what he will be doing on “day one,” and they are worth examining; some of them he can do easily, and some will take some time. Let’s examine a few of the claims.

During the second presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump claimed he’d end the war in Ukraine before beginning his presidency.

“I will get it settled before I even become president. When I win, when I’m president-elect, and what I’ll do is I’ll speak to one, I’ll speak to the other, I’ll get them together. That war would’ve never happened,” Trump said, implying he could get Ukraine to enter an uneasy truce with Russia. 

It’s hard to see this happening. Wars engender a lot of hard feelings, and Tsar Vladimir I seems determined to stay the course here; he has even brought in North Korean troops who will now be gaining combat experience, much like German and Soviet “volunteers” in the Spanish Civil War. The Ukraine war is a mess that will take some unraveling, and if the United States can facilitate an end to this, it will likely take months, if not years, to get it done. But then, a second-term President Trump will at least try. President Biden has done, effectively, nothing – except to pour billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars into Ukraine.

Immigration, particularly immigration across the southern border, has been a defining matter of Trump’s campaigns and his presidency. The idea has grown to be a pillar of the Republican Party and one of the driving forces behind Trump’s supporters.

During an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump was asked if he would ever abuse power as retribution against anybody. Trump answered, “Except for day one.”

Now this is an area where an incoming President Trump can take immediate action. The President, as leader of the Executive Branch, has considerable power over border security. He can change priorities, he can move Border Patrol and ICE agents, and he can order the border closed. I’m betting he will. Precisely what actions remain to be seen, but he will act – it will be surprising if he does otherwise.

Which includes: 

During Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, he reiterated his goal of carrying out mass deportations on day one of his presidency.

“On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” Trump said. “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”

This is another area where the Executive has considerable authority, but the various sanctuary jurisdictions will throw up every roadblock they can manage, no matter what is going on in those areas. This fight will take up all of President Trump’s second term and likely the 2029-2033 term of a possible President Vance.

Trump has consistently supported the Jan. 6 rioters, frequently referring to the event as a “day of love.” In 2023, he said, “I am inclined to pardon many of them [rioters]. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”

Trump posted to Truth Social on March 11, elevating pardoning rioters to one of his first acts in office upon reelection and referring to them as “hostages” who are “wrongfully imprisoned.”

Pardon them all. ‘Nuff said.

At the Republican National Convention on July 18, Trump said he would end the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandate and increase car manufacturing in the United States.

“And I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now and saving U.S. customers thousands and thousands per car,” Trump said at the rally.

There is a Constitutional issue here; nowhere in that founding document does it allow the federal government to use the power and force of government to dictate or influence these economic decisions. Note that the President-elect is not stating he will end the production of electric vehicles (EVs,) as EVs may well be a good choice for some people – urban commuters, for example. President Trump is intending to take the federal government’s thumb off the scale, and that’s worth doing – although, honestly, this can wait a few days.

Here’s one of the big ones, though:

Although tariffs have been a huge piece of Trump’s reelection campaign, he made a tariff policy announcement on his final full day of campaigning in North Carolina, saying he would immediately impose tariffs on the U.S.’s largest trading partner: Mexico.

“If they don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country,” he told the Raleigh crowd. “I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send into the United States of America.”

President Trump has always been in favor of wielding tariffs like a club; if the Great White Fleet was Teddy Roosevelt’s “big stick,” tariffs are Trump’s. Forget day one – this is a theme you’ll see throughout his second term.

See Related: Election 2024: A Wake-up Call for the Left?

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President-elect Trump, to listen to him, to reflect on his first term, and compare it to his positions and statements now, has learned a lot from his first time at the Resolute Desk. He is bringing along some people that, during his first term, would have been unthinkable – Robert K. Kennedy Jr., former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and tech mogul Elon Musk. This is going to be a fun administration to watch: It will be consequential, it will be game-changing, and it will be hotly disputed, every step of the way.

Beginning with day one.

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