Mass evictions? Political revenge? World peace? A new golden age? As Donald Trump seeks another term in the White House, the country is abuzz with speculation about what life will be like once the former president is back in power.
Here are five of Trump’s symbolic plans for the United States and the world.
Mass deportations
Vice President Kamala Harris’s rival in the November election has vowed to launch the largest deportation campaign of illegal immigrants in US history on his first day in office.
“We will kick them out as soon as possible,” he said, accusing illegal immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country”.
The 78-year-old, best known for his unfinished U.S.-Mexico border wall project, has said he would be happy to “use the military” as part of the effort and open internment camps for people targeted for deportation.
“On the first day of my new term, I will sign an executive order making it clear to federal agencies that, under the correct interpretation of the law, children of illegal aliens will not automatically receive U.S. citizenship in the future,” he said in a campaign video.
He has confirmed that he plans to reinstate a ban on travellers from several Muslim-majority countries to “keep terrorists out of our country.”
‘Drill, baby, drill!’
Trump abandoned the 2015 Paris climate accord during his first term, and his campaign has said he intends to end U.S. participation in it if he is re-elected.
He told supporters at a rally earlier in the summer that he would “stop Biden’s wasteful spending and put a quick end to the Green New Deal scam” — a reference to his successor’s funding of climate change mitigation.
“I will repeal Crooked Joe Biden’s insane electric vehicle order and we will ‘drill, baby, drill,’” Trump said in Wisconsin, using an old Republican slogan.
“Energy costs will go down very quickly,” he said. “In many cases we’ll cut your energy costs in half.”
Crypto-a-go-go
Trump has vowed to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world” and to put tech billionaire and right-wing conspiracy theorist Elon Musk in charge of a sweeping audit of government waste.
Trump also plans to impose tariffs “in excess of 10 percent” on all imports. American companies – and ultimately their customers – pay import duties, not companies exporting goods.
He asserted that the revenue collected would finance “huge tax cuts for the middle class, upper class, lower class, business class.”
After waging a fierce trade war with China during his first term, he also plans to revoke the Asian giant’s “most favoured nation” status granted to boost trade.
The Ambiguity of Abortion
Trump never misses an opportunity to point out that it is partly because of him and his three conservative appointments to the Supreme Court that abortion rights in the United States have been significantly weakened.
But his view on the future of access to reproductive health care is more ambivalent.
Insisting that it should be an issue for individual states, Republicans have refused to pursue a nationwide abortion ban, a commitment that could win them support from the religious right.
He said, “You should listen to your heart on this issue, but remember, you have to win the elections also.”
And he promised: “My administration will be very good for women and their reproductive rights.”
Ukraine war ‘plan’
Trump has said for months that he could end the war in Ukraine within “24 hours,” but he hasn’t explained how.
Critics say his plan would include pressuring Kiev to hand over territory illegally occupied by Russia in 2014 and 2022.
“I have a very precise plan for deterring Ukraine and Russia, and I have a very definite idea for China — maybe not a plan, but an idea,” he said in an interview.
“But I can’t give you those plans, because if I give you those plans, I won’t be able to use them, they’ll be very unsuccessful. You know, part of it is the surprise, right?”
Trump described himself as an unconditional defender of Israel when the war with Hamas broke out. But he has since appeared more critical in his comments about the US ally’s military offensive in Gaza, saying: “I’m not sure I’m happy with the way they’re doing things.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
