Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.
Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election Tuesday, November 5, giving himself a second (albeit nonconsecutive) four-year term in the White House.
Trump has an opportunity to be a great president. But what should his administration do?
Here are some actions Trump could take to get his presidency off to a good start.
1. Build The Wall
The first time that Donald Trump was president, the United States built 455 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Much of the funding to build the wall came from Proclamation 9844, also known as the National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States.
It diverted about $8 billion, primarily from the military budget, to building more barriers along the southern border.
Trump should once again cite the National Emergencies Act to provide funding for more border wall. This time, however, he should do it as soon as he takes office, given that he knows that it’s legal. A full appropriation from Congress ought to follow this immediate expenditure, if Republicans have control over the U.S. House of Representatives in 2025, as they will the U.S. Senate.
2. Deport Criminal Illegal Immigrants
Most people who come to the United States from other countries are trying to make a better life for themselves. But some spread misery. It is disturbing how frequently federal immigration authorities apprehend someone who has committed a serious crime here or in his homeland — and it makes us wonder how many criminal foreigners aren’t getting caught.
Trump has talked about mass deportations. Maybe that will happen and maybe it won’t. But at the top of any list of things to do when it comes to illegal immigrants is removing the ones who undermine our safety.
3. End Secrecy In Immigration Proceedings
It’s easier in this country to find out the details of a case involving a 17-year-old arrested for possessing alcohol than of a case involving a person arrested for entering the country illegally multiple times.
That isn’t right. Illegal immigrants do not deserve more privacy in judicial proceedings than American citizens. And offering the public more information about how the process works might help make it better.
If it requires a change in federal law to accomplish, then a Republican Congress (if that’s what we get next year) ought to pass a law accomplishing it quickly.
One of the chief culprits behind the opioid epidemic is fentanyl, a powerful drug manufactured in China and smuggled into the United States by Mexican cartels.
These drugs are killing people, ruining lives, and straining familial relations.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump said he wanted to send members of the United States Military to the U.S.-Mexico border to combat illegal crossings and fentanyl trafficking.
The Commander-in-Chief has broad authority to deploy the troops. Since the U.S. has a shortage of Border Patrol agents, Trump should capitalize on that power to provide much-needed support at the U.S.-Mexico border.
5. Defund Planned Parenthood
In May 2018, the United States Department of Health and Human Services announced its Protect Life Rule; it prevented Title X family planning funding from going to abortion providers, like Planned Parenthood. Sadly, the Biden administration rescinded this rule in 2021, but Trump could easily bring it back.
Trump could sign an executive order, telling HHS to re-implement the Protect Life rule.
Abortion facilities should never receive money from the federal government, especially since money is fungible. Our government should starve these facilities of funding to drive them out of business — not help their bottom line.
6. Enforce The Comstock Act Against Abortion Pills
The Comstock Act of 1873 prohibits sending abortion-inducing drugs through the mail, and a related federal law prohibits sending them through a “common carrier,” such as one of the private package delivery services.
Yet the Biden Administration has been allowing abortion pills to be sent through the mail, without attempting to change the federal statute.
Abortion pills deal death to unborn babies and leave a mark on the emotions and soul of a pregnant woman who uses them. If the federal government can’t ban abortion because of a lack of political will, then at least it can stop enabling abortions by following existing law.
7. Two Genders
There are only two genders, no matter what liberal politicians say.
The federal government should recognize this reality, meaning it shouldn’t issue Gender X passports for those who identify as non-binary.
Trump should sign an executive order telling all agencies that fall under the executive branch of the federal government that they recognize two genders — male and female — and that those are determined at birth.
It would be a simple way to reject woke gender ideology and to stop the issuance of these Gender X passports and instances of “pregnant people” on the federal Centers for Disease Control web site.
If certain states are bent on pursuing insane policies encouraging gender transitioning, the federal government can’t stop them. But the federal government ought not encourage it, and should discourage it as much as possible.
8. Appoint Constitutionalist Judges At Every Level
The first Trump administration did a good job of identifying and nominating federal judges who believe that the U.S. Constitution means what it says, that it doesn’t mean what it doesn’t say, and that their role is to interpret it and apply it and not make social policy themselves.
Such nominees are needed in force — particularly on the U.S. Supreme Court, if conservative heroes Clarence Thomas (76) and Samuel Alito (74) retire.
Non-heroes Sonia Sotamayor (70) and John Roberts (69) may also hear their federal pensions calling sometime during the next four years.
At stake, among many things, is the Dobbs decision in June 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade and sent abortion policy back to the states. Only five of the nine justices currently on the court voted for Dobbs.
9. End The Federal Government’s War On Religious Freedom
For years a Roman Catholic religious order called the Little Sisters of the Poor has sought to provide a health insurance plan for its employees at nursing homes that respects the sisters’ religious beliefs by not covering artificial contraception, which the Catholic Church teaches is immoral because it separates sexual intercourse from one of its purposes.
But the federal government has persecuted the sisters with totalitarian regulations designed to force them to conform to an ideological approach to medical benefits. It started in the Obama administration, didn’t end during the first Trump administration, and is continuing under current lame-duck President Joe Biden.
Trump can and should immediately end this harassing of religious women who try to serve poor people in the way they believe God wants them to do.
10. Discourage Active Shooter Drills
Active shooter drills, while intended to prepare students for emergencies, often do more harm than good by increasing anxiety, especially in young children. The drills sometimes even include fake blood and firing blanks at students, things that are far more likely to traumatize students and worsen mental health than they are to save any lives.
A 2021 study from the Georgia Institute of Technology said that school active shooter drills resulted in a 42 percent increase in stress and anxiety, a 39 percent increase in depression, and a 23 percent increase in physical health problems for children as young as 5 years old, in addition to high school students, teachers, and parents.
School shootings, as horrible as they are, are extremely rare; fewer than 10 students in kindergarten through 12th grade died in mass shootings annually from 2013 to May 2022, according to a report from Northeastern University.
Yet most American schools conduct active shooter drills, instilling fear of an extremely unlikely event in children.
Trump is no fan of active shooter drills.
“Active shooter drills is a very negative thing,” Trump said in 2018. “I don’t like it. I’d much rather have a hardened school … I think it’s crazy. I think it’s very hard on children.”
Trump should issue an executive order requiring the U.S. Department of Education to formally discourage active shooter drills. Possibly the feds could tie ending active shooter drills to federal funding for schools.
11. Begin A Conversation About Getting Rid of the Federal Income Tax
Trump’s 2024 campaign proposal to end taxation on overtime pay for workers was brilliant, both because it’s a good idea and because it captured the imagination of voters and helped solidify Trump’s positioning as helper of the common man.
It also points to a more fundamental problem with American taxation: The federal income tax is unfair and is a drag on productivity and wealth.
The federal income tax ought to be replaced with a federal sales tax that exempts things poor people need, like food and clothing.
A tax on consumption is better than a tax on income for several reasons. First, it allows people to choose whether to pay taxes on things they buy or save the money instead, thus introducing a more voluntary aspect to taxation. Second, it incentivizes saving, which is a means of incentivizing investment, since money put in the bank or in stocks can be used to expand businesses. Third, it removes all the unproductive time spent each year collecting receipts and studying the inanities of tax law. Fourth, it places the tax burden more squarely on rich people who engage in conspicuous consumption by removing tax shelters. Fifth, it allows a more rational evaluation of government programs — you want federal health insurance for whales? Fine. Here’s how much it would cost in sales tax. Still want it?
Such a fundamental change to our tax system probably can’t be accomplished with a modest majority in Congress and no prior conversation during a campaign. But by talking about it now, perhaps it will become a reality in, say, 2029.
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