WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Donald Trump has promised sweeping action in a second administration.
The former president and now president-elect often skipped over details but through more than a year of policy pronouncements and written statements outlined a wide-ranging agenda that blends traditional conservative approaches to taxes, regulation and cultural issues with a more populist bent on trade and a shift in America's international role.
Trump's agenda also would scale back federal government efforts on civil rights and expand presidential powers.
A look at what Trump has proposed:
Immigration
鈥淏uild the wall!鈥� from his 2016 campaign has become creating 鈥渢he largest mass deportation program in history.鈥� Trump has called for using the National Guard and empowering domestic police forces in the effort. Still, Trump has been scant on details of what the program would look like and how he would ensure that it targeted only people in the U.S. illegally. He鈥檚 pitched 鈥渋deological screening鈥� for would-be entrants, ending birth-right citizenship (which almost certainly would require a constitutional change), and said he鈥檇 reinstitute first-term policies such as 鈥淩emain in Mexico,鈥� limiting migrants on public health grounds and severely limiting or banning entrants from certain majority-Muslim nations. Altogether, the approach would not just crack down on illegal migration, but curtail immigration overall.
Abortion
Trump played down abortion as a second-term priority, even as he took credit for the Supreme Court ending a woman鈥檚 federal right to terminate a pregnancy and returning abortion regulation to state governments. At Trump鈥檚 insistence, the GOP platform, for the first time in decades, did not call for a national ban on abortion. Trump maintains that overturning Roe v. Wade is enough on the federal level.
Still, Trump has not said explicitly that he would veto national abortion restrictions if they reached his desk. And in an example of how the conservative movement might proceed with or without Trump, anti-abortion activists note that the GOP platform still asserts that a fetus should have due process protections under the 14th Amendment鈥檚 equal protection clause. That constitutional argument is a roadmap for conservatives to seek a national abortion ban through federal courts.
Taxes
Trump鈥檚 tax policies broadly tilt toward corporations and wealthier Americans. That鈥檚 mostly due to his promise to extend his 2017 tax overhaul, with a few notable changes that include lowering the corporate income tax rate to 15% from the current 21%. That also involves rolling back Democratic President Joe Biden鈥檚 income tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and scrapping Inflation Reduction Act levies that finance energy measures intended to combat climate change.
Those policies notwithstanding, Trump has put more emphasis on new proposals aimed at working- and middle class Americans: exempting earned tips, Social Security wages and overtime wages from income taxes. It鈥檚 noteworthy, however, that his proposal on tips, depending on how Congress might write it, could give a back-door tax break to top wage earners by allowing them to reclassify some of their pay as tip income 鈥� a prospect that at its most extreme could see hedge-fund managers or top-flight attorneys taking advantage of a policy that Trump frames as being designed for restaurant servers, bartenders and other service workers.
Tariffs and trade
Trump鈥檚 posture on international trade is to distrust world markets as harmful to American interests. He proposes tariffs of 10% to 20% on foreign goods 鈥� and in some speeches has mentioned even higher percentages. He promises to reinstitute an August 2020 executive order requiring that the Food and Drug Administration buy 鈥渆ssential鈥� medications only from U.S. companies. He pledges to block purchases of 鈥渁ny vital infrastructure鈥� in the U.S. by Chinese buyers.
DEI, LGBTQ and civil rights
Trump has called for rolling back societal emphasis on diversity and for legal protections for LGBTQ citizens. Trump has called for ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government institutions, using federal funding as leverage.
On transgender rights, Trump promises generally to end 鈥渂oys in girls鈥� sports,鈥� a practice he insists, without evidence, is widespread. But his policies go well beyond standard applause lines from his rally speeches. Among other ideas, Trump would roll back the Biden administration鈥檚 policy of extending Title IX civil rights protections to transgender students, and he would ask Congress to require that only two genders can be recognized at birth.
Regulation, federal bureaucracy and presidential power
The president-elect seeks to reduce the role of federal bureaucrats and regulations across economic sectors. Trump frames all regulatory cuts as an economic magic wand. He pledges precipitous drops in U.S. households鈥� utility bills by removing obstacles to fossil fuel production, including opening all federal lands for exploration 鈥� even though U.S. energy production is already at record highs. Trump promises to unleash housing construction by cutting regulations 鈥� though most construction rules come from state and local government. He also says he would end 鈥渇rivolous litigation from the environmental extremists.鈥�
The approach would in many ways strengthen executive branch influence. That power would come more directly from the White House.
He would make it easier to fire federal workers by classifying thousands of them as being outside civil service protections. That could weaken the government鈥檚 power to enforce statutes and rules by reducing the number of employees engaging in the work and, potentially, impose a chilling effect on those who remain.
Trump also claims that presidents have exclusive power to control federal spending even after Congress has appropriated money. Trump argues that lawmakers鈥� budget actions 鈥渟et a ceiling鈥� on spending but not a floor 鈥� meaning the president鈥檚 constitutional duty to 鈥渇aithfully execute the laws鈥� includes discretion on whether to spend the money. This interpretation could set up a court battle with Congress.
As a candidate, he also suggested that the Federal Reserve, an independent entity that sets interest rates, should be subject to more presidential power. Though he has not offered details, any such move would represent a momentous change to how the U.S. economic and monetary systems work.
Education
The federal Department of Education would be targeted for elimination in a second Trump administration. That does not mean that Trump wants Washington out of classrooms. He still proposes, among other maneuvers, using federal funding as leverage to pressure K-12 school systems to abolish tenure and adopt merit pay for teachers and to scrap diversity programs at all levels of education. He calls for pulling federal funding 鈥渇or any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.鈥�
In higher education, Trump proposes taking over accreditation processes for colleges, a move he describes as his 鈥渟ecret weapon鈥� against the 鈥淢arxist Maniacs and lunatics鈥� he says control higher education. Trump takes aim at higher education endowments, saying he will collect 鈥渂illions and billions of dollars鈥� from schools via 鈥渢axing, fining and suing excessively large private university endowments鈥� at schools that do not comply with his edicts. That almost certainly would end up in protracted legal fights.
As in other policy areas, Trump isn鈥檛 actually proposing limiting federal power in higher education but strengthening it. He calls for redirecting the confiscated endowment money into an online 鈥淎merican Academy鈥� offering college credentials to all Americans without a tuition charges. 鈥淚t will be strictly non-political, and there will be no wokeness or jihadism allowed鈥攏one of that鈥檚 going to be allowed,鈥� Trump said on Nov. 1, 2023.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
Trump insists he would protect Social Security and Medicare, popular programs geared toward older Americans and among the biggest pieces of the federal spending pie each year. There are questions about how his proposal not to tax tip and overtime wages might affect Social Security and Medicare. If such plans eventually involved only income taxes, the entitlement programs would not be affected. But exempting those wages from payroll taxes would reduce the funding stream for Social Security and Medicare outlays. Trump has talked little about Medicaid but his first administration, in general, defaulted to approving state requests for waivers of various federal rules and it broadly endorsed state-level work requirements for recipients.
Affordable Care Act and Health Care
As he has since 2015, Trump calls for repealing the Affordable Care Act and its subsidized health insurance marketplaces. But he still has not proposed a replacement: In a September debate, he insisted he had the 鈥渃oncepts of a plan.鈥� In the latter stages of the campaign, Trump played up his alliance with former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines and of pesticides used in U.S. agriculture. Trump repeatedly told rally crowds that he would put Kennedy in charge of 鈥渕aking America healthy again."
Climate and energy
Trump, who claims falsely that climate change is a 鈥渉oax,鈥� blasts Biden-era spending on cleaner energy designed to reduce U.S. reliance on fossil fuels. He proposes an energy policy 鈥� and transportation infrastructure spending 鈥� anchored to fossil fuels: roads, bridges and combustion-engine vehicles. 鈥淒rill, baby, drill!鈥� was a regular chant at Trump rallies. Trump says he does not oppose electric vehicles but promises to end all Biden incentives to encourage EV market development. Trump also pledges to roll back Biden-era fuel efficiency standards.
Workers鈥� rights
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance framed their ticket as favoring America鈥檚 workers. But Trump could make it harder for workers to unionize. In discussing auto workers, Trump focused almost exclusively on Biden鈥檚 push toward electric vehicles. When he mentioned unions, it was often to lump 鈥渢he union bosses and CEOs鈥� together as complicit in 鈥渢his disastrous electric car scheme.鈥� In an Oct. 23, 2023, statement, Trump said of United Auto Workers, 鈥淚鈥檓 telling you, you shouldn鈥檛 pay those dues.鈥�
National defense and America鈥檚 role in the world
Trump鈥檚 rhetoric and policy approach in world affairs is more isolationist diplomatically, non-interventionist militarily and protectionist economically than the U.S. has been since World War II. But the details are more complicated. He pledges expansion of the military, promises to protect Pentagon spending from austerity efforts and proposes a new missile defense shield 鈥� an old idea from the Reagan era during the Cold War. Trump insists he can end Russia鈥檚 war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, without explaining how. Trump summarizes his approach through another Reagan phrase: 鈥減eace through strength.鈥� But he remains critical of NATO and top U.S. military brass. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 consider them leaders,鈥� Trump said of Pentagon officials that Americans 鈥渟ee on television.鈥� He repeatedly praised authoritarians like Hungary鈥檚 Viktor Orban and Russia鈥檚 Vladimir Putin.
Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
