Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed
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"Donald Trump" is written on top of the wall at the border between the US and Mexico, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Nov. 6, 2024. (REUTERS)
Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed
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Birds fly near a razor wire fence, used to prevent migrants from crossing into the US, at the US-Mexico border, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on Nov. 6, 2024. (REUTERS)
Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed
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A person rides a bike near the wall at the border between the US and Mexico, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Nov. 6, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 08 November 2024
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Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed
  • Trump’s agenda also would scale back federal government efforts on civil rights and expand presidential powers
  • Altogether, his approach would not just crack down on illegal migration, but curtail immigration overall

WASHINGTON: 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
“Build the wall!” from his 2016 campaign has become creating “the largest mass deportation program in history.” 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 US illegally. He’s pitched “ideological screening” for would-be entrants, ending birth-right citizenship (which almost certainly would require a constitutional change), and said he’d reinstitute first-term policies such as “Remain in Mexico,” 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’s federal right to terminate a pregnancy and returning abortion regulation to state governments. At Trump’s 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. Trump said last month on his social media platform Truth Social that he would veto a federal abortion ban if legislation reached his desk — a statement he made only after avoiding a firm position in his September debate against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
But it’s unclear if his administration would aggressively defend against legal challenges seeking to restrict access to abortion pills, including mifepristone, as the Biden administration has. Anti-abortion advocates continue to wage legal battles over the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug as well as the agency’s relaxed prescribing restrictions. Trump is also unlikely to enforce Biden’s guidance that hospitals must provide abortions for women who are in medical emergencies, even in states with bans.
Taxes
Trump’s tax policies broadly tilt toward corporations and wealthier Americans. That’s 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 percent from the current 21 percent. That also involves rolling back Democratic President Joe Biden’s 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’s 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 — 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’s posture on international trade is to distrust world markets as harmful to American interests. He proposes tariffs of 10 percent to 20 percent on foreign goods — and in some speeches has mentioned even higher percentages. He promises to reinstitute an August 2020 executive order requiring that the federal government buy “essential” medications only from US companies. He pledges to block purchases of “any vital infrastructure” in the US 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 “boys in girls’ sports,” 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’s 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 US households’ utility bills by removing obstacles to fossil fuel production, including opening all federal lands for exploration — even though US energy production is already at record highs. Trump promises to unleash housing construction by cutting regulations — though most construction rules come from state and local government. He also says he would end “frivolous litigation from the environmental extremists.”
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’s 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’ budget actions “set a ceiling” on spending but not a floor — meaning the president’s constitutional duty to “faithfully execute the laws” 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 US 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 “for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”
In higher education, Trump proposes taking over accreditation processes for colleges, a move he describes as his “secret weapon” against the “Marxist Maniacs and lunatics” he says control higher education. Trump takes aim at higher education endowments, saying he will collect “billions and billions of dollars” from schools via “taxing, fining and suing excessively large private university endowments” 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’t actually proposing limiting federal power in higher education but strengthening it. He calls for redirecting the confiscated endowment money into an online “American Academy” offering college credentials to all Americans without a tuition charges. “It will be strictly non-political, and there will be no wokeness or jihadism allowed— none of that’s going to be allowed,” 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 during this campaign, but his first administration reshaped the program by allowing states to introduce 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 “concepts of a plan.” 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 US agriculture. Trump repeatedly told rally crowds that he would put Kennedy in charge of “making America healthy again.”
Climate and energy
Trump, who claims falsely that climate change is a “hoax,” blasts Biden-era spending on cleaner energy designed to reduce US reliance on fossil fuels. He proposes an energy policy – and transportation infrastructure spending – anchored to fossil fuels: roads, bridges and combustion-engine vehicles. “Drill, baby, drill!” 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’ rights
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance framed their ticket as favoring America’s workers. But Trump could make it harder for workers to unionize. In discussing auto workers, Trump focused almost exclusively on Biden’s push toward electric vehicles. When he mentioned unions, it was often to lump “the union bosses and CEOs” together as complicit in “this disastrous electric car scheme.” In an Oct. 23, 2023, statement, Trump said of United Auto Workers, “I’m telling you, you shouldn’t pay those dues.”
National defense and America’s role in the world
Trump’s rhetoric and policy approach in world affairs is more isolationist diplomatically, non-interventionist militarily and protectionist economically than the US 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 — an old idea from the Reagan era during the Cold War. Trump insists he can end Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, without explaining how. Trump summarizes his approach through another Reagan phrase: “peace through strength.” But he remains critical of NATO and top US military brass. “I don’t consider them leaders,” Trump said of Pentagon officials that Americans “see on television.” He repeatedly praised authoritarians like Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
 


South Korea president declares emergency martial law

South Korea president declares emergency martial law
Updated 03 December 2024
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South Korea president declares emergency martial law

South Korea president declares emergency martial law
  • The surprise move comes as the ruling and opposition parties continue to bicker over next year’s budget bill
  • Opposition MPs last week approved a significantly downsized budget plan through a parliamentary committee

SEOUL: South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared emergency martial law, saying the step was necessary to protect the country from “communist forces” amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill.
“To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements... I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a live televised address to the nation.
“With no regard for the livelihoods of the people, the opposition party has paralyzed governance solely for the sake of impeachments, special investigations, and shielding their leader from justice,” he added.
The surprise move comes as Yoon’s People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party continue to bicker over next year’s budget bill. Opposition MPs last week approved a significantly downsized budget plan through a parliamentary committee.
“Our National Assembly has become a haven for criminals, a den of legislative dictatorship that seeks to paralyze the judicial and administrative systems and overturn our liberal democratic order,” Yoon said.
He accused opposition lawmakers of cutting “all key budgets essential to the nation’s core functions, such as combatting drug crimes and maintaining public security... turning the country into a drug haven and a state of public safety chaos.”
Yoon went on to label the opposition, which holds a majority in the 300-member parliament, as “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime” and called his decision “inevitable.”
“I will restore the country to normalcy by getting rid of anti-state forces as soon as possible.”


South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities

South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities
Updated 03 December 2024
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South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities

South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities
  • Yoon made the announcement during a televised briefing
  • Yoon has struggled to push his agenda against an opposition-controlled parliament

SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law,” Tuesday accusing the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government with anti-state activities.
Yoon made the announcement during a televised briefing, vowing to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.” It wasn’t immediately clear how the steps would affect the country’s governance and democracy.
Yoon — whose approval rating has dipped in recent months — has struggled to push his agenda against an opposition-controlled parliament since taking office in 2022.
Yoon’s conservative People Power Party had been locked in an impasse with the liberal opposition Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill. He has also been dismissing calls for independent investigations into scandals involving his wife and top officials, drawing quick, strong rebukes from his political rivals.
The Democratic Party reportedly called an emergency meeting of its lawmakers following Yoon’s announcement.


King Charles welcomes Emir of Qatar as state visit begins

King Charles welcomes Emir of Qatar as state visit begins
Updated 03 December 2024
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King Charles welcomes Emir of Qatar as state visit begins

King Charles welcomes Emir of Qatar as state visit begins
  • The emir and his wife Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al-Thani arrived at Horse Guards Parade
  • Joined by Prince William and Princess of Wales, Catherine

LONDON: King Charles and Keir Starmer welcomed Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for a state visit to Britain on Tuesday.

The emir and his wife Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al-Thani arrived by car at Horse Guards Parade in London with Prince William and his wife Catherine, who was marking her return to formal state visit duties after undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer.

Charles, who is continuing his own treatment for cancer, and the emir inspected the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards while a military band played.

The reception was to be followed by a trip to Westminster where the emir was set to address both chambers of the British Houses of Parliament.

 


Trump says he’ll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend

Trump says he’ll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend
Updated 03 December 2024
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Trump says he’ll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend

Trump says he’ll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend
  • Trump announced that he will be among them in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening
  • “It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France, on Saturday to attend the re-opening of the Magnificent and Historic Notre Dame Cathedral,” he wrote

NEW YORK: President-elect Donald Trump will attend the reopening celebration for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this weekend, his first foreign trip since the election.
The cathedral is set to reopen Saturday after more than five years of reconstruction following a devastating fire in 2019 that engulfed and nearly destroyed the soaring Paris landmark. The ceremonies being held Saturday and Sunday will be high-security affairs, with about 50 heads of state and government expected to attend.
Trump announced that he will be among them in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening.
“It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France, on Saturday to attend the re-opening of the Magnificent and Historic Notre Dame Cathedral, which has been fully restored after a devastating fire five years ago,” he wrote. “President Emmanuel Macron has done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!”
The trip will be Trump’s first abroad since he won November’s presidential election. He traveled to Scotland and Ireland in May 2023, as a candidate, to visit his local golf courses.
Trump was president in 2019 when a massive fire engulfed Notre Dame, collapsing its spire and threatening to destroy one of the world’s greatest architectural treasures, known for its mesmerizing stained glass.
Trump watched the inferno in horror, along with the rest of the world.
“So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” he wrote on what was then named Twitter, offering his advice to the city.
“Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!” he wrote.
French officials appeared to respond shortly after, noting that “All means” were being used to extinguish the flames, “except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.”
Trump also spoke with Macron and Pope Francis at the time to offer his condolences and said he had offered them “the help of our great experts on renovation and construction.”
Trump and Macron have had a complicated relationship.
During Trump’s first term in office, Macron proved to be among the world leaders most adept at managing the American president’s whims as he tried to develop a personal connection built in no small part on flattery.
Macron was the guest of honor at Trump’s first state dinner and Trump traveled to France several times. But the relationship soured as Trump’s term progressed and Macron criticized him for questioning the need for NATO and raising doubts about America’s commitment to the mutual-defense pact.
As he ran for a second term this year, Trump often mocked Macron on the campaign trail, imitating his accent and threatening to impose steep tariffs on wine and champagne bottles shipped to the US if France tried to tax American companies.
After Trump won another term last month, Macron rushed to win favor with the president-elect. He was among the first global leaders to congratulate Trump — even before The Associated Press called the race in his favor — and beat UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the punch in delivering a congratulatory phone call.
“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump,” Macron posted on X early on Nov 6. “Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”
Macron and other European leaders are trying to persuade Trump not to abandon America’s support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s nearly three-year invasion. European leaders hope to convince Trump that a victory by Russia would be viewed as a defeat for the US — and for the incoming president, by extension — hoping to sell him on the need to pursue an end to the war more favorable to Kyiv than he might otherwise seek.
Trump over the weekend announced that he intends to nominate real estate developer Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. The elder Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
The reopening of Notre Dame will be an elaborate, multi-day celebration, beginning Saturday.
Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will preside at a reopening service that afternoon, banging on Notre Dame’s shuttered doors with his staff to reopen them, according to the cathedral’s website.
The archbishop will also symbolically reawaken Notre Dame’s thunderous grand organ. The fire that melted the cathedral’s lead roofing coated the huge instrument in toxic dust. Its 8,000 pipes have been painstakingly disassembled, cleaned and retuned.
Macron will attend and address the VIP guests.
After the service, opera singers Pretty Yende, from South Africa, and Julie Fuchs, from France; Chinese pianist Lang Lang; Paris-born cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Benin-born singer Angelique Kidjo; Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji and others will perform at a concert Saturday evening, according to the show’s broadcaster, France Télévisions.
On Sunday morning, the Paris archbishop will lead an inaugural Mass and consecration of the new altar.
Nearly 170 bishops from France and other countries will join the celebration, along with priests from all 106 parishes in the Paris diocese. The Mass will be followed by a “fraternal buffet” for the needy.
Ile de la Cité, where the cathedral sits in the middle of the River Seine, will be blocked off to tourists for the events. A public viewing area with room for 40,000 spectators will be set up along the Seine’s southern bank.


Police crack encrypted messaging service used by criminals, Europol says

Police crack encrypted messaging service used by criminals, Europol says
Updated 03 December 2024
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Police crack encrypted messaging service used by criminals, Europol says

Police crack encrypted messaging service used by criminals, Europol says
  • The messaging service called MATRIX was discovered on the phone of a criminal
  • “The messages that were intercepted are linked to serious crimes,” Europol said

AMSTERDAM: An encrypted messaging service that was used for international drug and arms trafficking has been taken down by European authorities, Europol said on Tuesday.
The messaging service called MATRIX was discovered on the phone of a criminal convicted for the murder of Dutch celebrity crime reporter Peter R. de Vries in 2021, Europol said.
A large-scale investigation by the Dutch and French authorities managed to intercept the messaging service and monitor activity for three months, leading to the deciphering of more than 2.3 million messages in 33 languages.
“The messages that were intercepted are linked to serious crimes such as international drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and money laundering,” Europol said.
“Authorities were able to monitor the messages from possible criminals, which will now be used to support other investigations.”
The main servers in France and Germany were taken down, with one suspect arrested in France and two in Spain. Homes were also searched in Lithuania, Europol said.