With Donald Trump being announced as the 47th president of the United States, here’s a rundown of what the president-elect has promised to accomplish on his initial day back in the Oval Office.
Although Trump declared his victory in the 2024 election a bit prematurely, a projected win in the pivotal state of Wisconsin propelled him to the necessary 270 electoral votes to claim success.
In his victory address, Trump conveyed to his supporters his intentions to ‘fix everything about our country’ – yet, with such a task being extensive, here are his plans for the first day.
Last year, addressing an audience in Iowa, Trump outlined strategies to ‘save [the] country from destruction’.
Part of this agenda includes the president-elect’s determination to scrutinize schools that incorporate specific lessons about race, gender, or politics.
“On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity,” he declared, according to NPR.
Trump also mentioned targeting schools promoting ‘any other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children’.
Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election led to the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, resulting in arrests of several Trump supporters.
However, this year, the president-elect informed reporters on election day that his supporters are ‘not violent people’, assuring there would be ‘no violence’ associated with the recent election.
This sentiment reflects Trump’s past assertion that some individuals incarcerated for their role in the insurrection were ‘wrongfully imprisoned’, which explains his intention to pardon them as one of his initial actions upon returning to office.
On his social media channel, Trump expressed: “I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”
Trump has previously voiced his intention to ‘terminate the Green New Deal’, referring to it as the ‘Green New Scam’.
The Green New Deal, proposed by Democrats Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, never became law, but Trump uses the term to broadly describe Joe Biden’s climate and energy policies.
In a September speech, Trump criticized these policies, stating: “To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam. Greatest scam in history, probably.
“We [will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act.”
“I’m going to write it out in an executive order. It’s going to end on Day 1.”
Trump has consistently emphasized that safeguarding the US border is a top priority for his next term, reiterating this stance in the days leading up to the election.
Recently, Trump assured his followers he would initiate the ‘largest deportation program in American history to get the ‘criminals out’ on ‘day one’ of his presidency.
The 47th president aims to address the issue of migrants living in the US without legal authorization, impacting an estimated 11 million individuals.
He stated: “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.”
During an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity last year, Trump mentioned that on his first day back in office, he would assume the role of a ‘dictator’.
Hannity queried whether Trump promised to ‘never abuse power as retribution against anybody’, to which Trump responded: “Except for Day 1.”
“I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling,” he continued. “After that, I’m not a dictator.”
Trump faced two federal cases related to the 2020 election outcome from special counsel Jack Smith, and the future president has no intention of collaborating with him again.
On October 24, Trump told the Hugh Hewitt show he would dismiss Smith ‘within two seconds’.
“He’ll be one of the first things addressed,” he said.
Despite his clear stance on migration, Trump supports granting green cards to non-US citizens who graduate from college.
While speaking on the ‘All In’ podcast this year, Trump stated: “Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years, if you graduate, or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country […]
“Somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can’t even make a deal with the company because they don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day 1.”