On Tuesday, November 5, Donald Trump was elected to serve a second non-consecutive term, the first president to do so since Grover Cleveland in 1892. President Trump won 31 states, including all seven swing states, securing 312 electoral college votes compared to Kamala Harris’ 226. Trump also won the popular vote, being the first republican candidate to win the popular vote since George W. Bush in 2004. According to Investopedia, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses worldwide, the first Trump administration was given credit for many economic accomplishments, including the lowest unemployment rate in the last 50 years and nearly seven million new jobs. Forbes.com said Trump avoided wars by being “the first president in decades who did not commit the nation to new overseas military campaigns.” With “Big Ideas, Bold Ambitions, and Daring Dreams for America’s Future”, the Trump campaign promises big changes from immigration to foreign affairs to school systems.
One major focus of Trump’s campaign was the issue of immigration, specifically illegal immigration. Trump promised he would control illegal immigration at the borders, stop the flow of drugs like fentanyl, and cut down on criminal activity that he has attributed to illegal immigration. BBC.com says that since 2021 when Biden entered office, “there have been more than 10 million encounters [of people who attempted to cross illegally] – about 8 million came over the southwest land border with Mexico.” Trump plans to deport record numbers of illegal immigrants, specifically non-citizens with criminal records. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, “drug overdose deaths rose from 2019 to 2022 with 107,941 drug overdose deaths reported in 2022. Deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily illicitly manufactured fentanyl) continued to rise with 73,838 overdose deaths reported in 2022.” As of July 2024, there are over 430,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions. The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee of Homeland Security reports many instances of illegal immigrants raping, sexually assaulting, and murdering innocent Americans, including young children. Furthermore, there is an ongoing case about 26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra, allegedly killing a 22-year-old nursing student named Laken Riley while she was out for a jog on her college campus. NPR reports that “according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Ibarra, a Venezuelan, unlawfully entered the U.S. near El Paso, Texas, where he was apprehended by Border Patrol agents in 2022. He was later released on parole.” Trump has said that one of his top priorities is keeping Americans safe. Subsequent to the October 7th terror attacks in Israel, Trump, when talking about foreigners who are here legally on visas, said at a “Stop Antisemitism” event, “We will deport the foreign jihad sympathizers, and we will deport them very quickly. And Hamas supporters will be gone… If you hate America, if you want to eliminate Israel, then we don’t want you in our country.” Since the 2023 massacre in Israel, anti-Israel protests have broken out on college campuses all over the country. These protests have been praised by Hamas, calling these protesters “future leaders” as described in the New York Sun.
In the wake of his election victory, many world leaders reached out to President-elect Trump, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Both Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog congratulated Trump on his win. During his first term, Trump enacted many strong pro-Israel policies. The “Abraham Accords” was signed during Trump’s first presidential term. Here, he brokered a peace agreement between Israel and many Arab countries including The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. On the lawn of the White House, these agreements signed in 2020 “brought Israel’s relations with Arab countries out into the open and shifted the paradigm of the Arab-Israeli conflict”, as stated on Britannica.com. Furthermore, Trump brought the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump’s recent election victory was quickly followed by Qatar’s decision to remove Hamas leadership from its country. According to Fox News, Trump “reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wants Israel to win the war quickly.” Trump also claims he will “end the war in Ukraine” before he takes office. Some people are concerned about his position about funding Ukraine’s defense against the ongoing Russian invasion that started in 2022. Peter Dickenson from atlanticcouncil.org says, “Trump may prove more decisive than his predecessor in his approach to the war with Russia,” further describing Biden’s policies as “overly cautious.” This resulted in “delayed weapons deliveries and restrictions on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.” Zelenskyy in a social media post says, “I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach to global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can bring a just peace in Ukraine closer. I am hopeful that we will put it into action together.” Nothing is yet for certain, as Trump does not take office until January, but there are high hopes for him to accomplish positive change in the Russian-Ukraine war.
One controversial position Trump has promoted includes the elimination of the US Department of Education, an enactment of policies he claims will “protect parents’ rights” and stop what he believes is “left-wing indoctrination” in public schools. This means that Trump wants to cut federal funding to schools that are teaching critical race theory, gender ideology, and sexual and political material in classrooms. American public schools get about 14% of their funding from the government, and Trump will have the authority to cut federal funding from colleges or schools that he perceives as violating Federal regulations. Trump’s campaign website said that “his administration will open Civil Rights investigations into any school district that has engaged in race-based discrimination” and promised to go after schools that violate Title IX (which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance). On the other hand, hoping to stop Trump’s ideas from being implemented nationwide, the National Education Association and teachers’ union endorsed Vice President Harris’ campaign, as Education Week describes.
Furthermore, according to NBC News, Trump has indicated that his administration will stop biological males from competing in women’s sports. It is a scientific fact, as stated in an article written by the American College of Sports Medicine, that biological males “are stronger, more powerful, and faster than females of similar age and training status. The sex difference in athletic performance where endurance or muscular power is required is roughly 10-30% depending on the event.” An example of a biological male winning in women’s sports is Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who won an NCAA Division I national championship in swimming. This win sparked widespread controversy about whether it is fair for biological males to compete in women’s sports. Following her win, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, World Aquatics, voted to restrict transgender athletes from competing in elite women’s aquatics competitions. Thomas then sued to overturn this policy. NBC News reports that Thomas lost her legal battle, but her experience made this topic a national campaign issue for women’s sports at all levels.
A lot of people are not happy about Trump’s win, but few doubt the fairness of this election cycle. Biden peacefully welcomed Trump to the White House last week and had a reportedly very cordial two-hour meeting. We will have to see if and how a second Trump administration will enact his campaign promises, and if the American people will ultimately be happy with this election result.
