With only a couple weeks away from the Iowa caucuses and a near 40 percent support from Republican voters, it is likely that Donald Trump will become the Republican nominee for President of the United States. That begs the question: what would he do as President? What would the United States be like under President Trump?
Economy
As an affluent businessman, Trump has extensive knowledge on how to do business and how the economy works, so he is never silent on how the country should handle it. The number one issue he prides himself to tackle is job creation. According to his tax plan, he would cut taxes enough to stimulate the economy without raising debt. Individuals making less than $25,000 would pay no federal income taxes (for married couples it's less than $50,000) and high earners upwards of $150,000 a year would have a 25% tax rate. He would cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent and crack down on tax inversion by offering a one-time discount of a 10 percent tax rate. This has been judged as good for the general economy but would starve the federal government of tax revenue.
Hard to build a wall without money. He often laments the huge amount of debt the U.S. owes to China, and the deficit in general. To create jobs, he would raise tariffs on countries like China and Mexico, making imports more expensive and get domestic companies to hire workers in the U.S. and not outsource. When asked about the minimum wage, he said that it should not be raised and is, in fact, too high to remain competitive with the global market. For trade deals, he describes himself as a great negotiator and declares that America is getting "ripped off" of poorly executed trade deals like NAFTA and the PPT; some people in the treasury department will most likely get fired under his presidency.
Environment
One of President Obama's defining attributes of his presidency is his commitment to fighting climate change.
Foreign policy
Despite his calls to beat China, having respect for President Putin, and anger with Iran along with the nuclear deal he promises to renegotiate once in office, his stances on foreign policy is not new in the political realm. Having called out former President Bush's invasion and destabilization of the Middle East, he thinks it's a waste of the U.S.' time and money to be constantly everywhere. Russia took Ukraine -- bad move -- but that's Europe's problem, according to him. He blames President Obama's weakness that countries like Russia are acting more aggressive, a more strained U.S. relationship with Israel, the growth of ISIS, and the U.S. losing worldwide respect. On ISIS, he claims to have a foolproof plan to take them out quick. However, he will not tell anyone what that entire plan is until he is president, can't let your enemies know your plan he says. It involves cutting off revenue by taking oil fields using boots on the ground, letting ISIS take out President Assad of Syria, and maybe let Russia put some skin in the game to take out ISIS. Nobody will be harder on ISIS than him he says. Most likely, he will have more military presence to take out ISIS but only if other countries are committed, similar to President Obama's plan. He also favors a robust military and would not let any country "bully" the U.S. However, allies of the U.S. might find themselves alone in their regional conflicts and would find themselves negotiating business deals with him instead.
Immigration
The wall -- as Trump puts it -- is a giant, beautiful wall with a magnificent door that allows legal immigration and Mexico will pay for it through the trade deficit they (supposedly) owe the U.S. Having much disdain for illegal immigration, Trump would use great managing techniques in a "humane" way via a deportation force to deport the 11 million people who are undocumented in the U.S. and let the law abiding ones re-enter legally. Trump would even deport the children brought illegally and deport children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents, ending birthright citizenship. President Trump would also impose higher fees to Mexicans traveling to the U.S. via visa, heavily review work visas and green cards, and restrict immigration in general. Trump has said that he loves the Mexican people and that the vast majority of undocumented people are good, hard-working people but his priority, again, in this case, is to protect American jobs. In his eyes, illegal immigrants are a threat to job security and creation. To add more controversy, he added that he would stop all Muslim immigration temporarily, send back all Syrian refugees, monitor Muslim mosques and shut them down if the leaders are radical, and is open to a national registry of all Muslims.
A wall increased border agents, and drone monitoring are several plans on President Trump's to-do list
Domestic issues
With regards to healthcare, Trump would work towards repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) citing it takes a toll on the economy and rising premiums. On the many cases he leans conservative, he is liberal on issues like this and supports universal healthcare. Ironically, the plan he describes to replace Obamacare with sounds like Obamacare with the government helping to pay healthcare for the poorest Americans, allowing them to keep their private plans and doctors, expanding Medicaid and Medicare, and allowing centralized control through the federal government. This plan, too, will be negotiated by him with hospitals across the country. Among his other endeavors will be his dedication to helping veterans, helping fund social security instead of cutting it, but mixed on affirmative action, LGBT rights, and Planned Parenthood. He will most likely move to get rid of "gun-free zones" as he is pro-second amendment and might do more to allow legislation to protect gun rights.
The opposition
Donald Trump as President would solidify all three branches of government as Republican/conservative controlled. Normally, this would mean a party's agenda would be streamlined and face few obstacles in implementing them. President Obama had a Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress and passed the Affordable Care Act. However, he slowly lost that majority as more Republicans were voted in office in response to his plans, as he fell out of favor with the public.
Even though today's Congress is Republican controlled, there is a Congressional election this fall where most of their seats are up for grabs. Whether a President Trump would inherit a strong Republican-controlled Congress depends on the next election. Right now, the House is led by Paul Ryan and the Senate by Mitch McConnell because their party is the majority party but that could change as time passes on a Trump presidency. If President Trump's agenda is unfavorable, people would vote Democrat and he would face a similar situation as Obama did in his second term. This would either make Congress under Democratic control or give the Republican leadership less breathing room. Any legislation Trump would want such as to ban all Muslims is unlikely to gather enough votes from Democrats and Republicans as well. The Republican leadership has few options. Although it is clear that such a ban would never pass having drawn the ire from both men, and even if a ban were to pass into law it can be easily challenged in the Supreme Court, they could try to work with him on some issues or even tame him enough to get some legislation passed that the GOP wants. In the end, Donald Trump is a Republican and they would work with him due to party loyalty. That is, if President Trump would settle down on his rhetoric and plans. If he really gets out of hand, the word impeachment might get thrown around a lot. In the end, a President Trump will have to cut a lot of deals with Congress with both parties or will be a lame duck, unable to accomplish anything.
Speaker Paul Ryan (left) and Mitch McConnell (right) work to lead Congress towards a Republican agenda.
Thoughts
It is unclear how the country or even the world would look if Trump becomes President. However, looking closely at Trump's platform, and what he says, reveals a lot about his motivations, how he seeks to achieve his goals, and how he would govern. He likes to reassure everyone that he is Republican enough, conservative enough, and Christian enough to be the nominee. However, I personally dispute he is a true conservative. What he says is not hard-line conservatism and, yes, some of the things he proposes are extreme right wing ideas. However, he, in general, does not subscribe to a 100 percent conservative ideology. His support for repealing Obamacare is typical Republicanism, but his support for universal healthcare is not.
Trump is a populist, what he says might go against the GOP leadership but remains favorable among Republican voters. His proposals are rooted in what he thinks is best to help ordinary people without regards to politics. That does mean he flip flops on some issues when an opportunity presents itself. He made friends who are Republican and Democrat in Congress, but he once was a Democrat and donated heavily to help the Democratic leadership control Congress, said that Hillary Clinton would make a terrific president and that President Obama was doing a great job running the country. That changed near the end of Obama's first term when his poll numbers dropped.
Trump's campaign and hypothetical presidency takes a more economic approach, always seeking opportunity, deal making, and acting on public opinion. His presidency would anger people on both sides of the political spectrum, most of his promises have a low chance of accomplishing, so why does he want to be President? Maybe out of frustration. Maybe he really wants to help America. Or perhaps for him, the Oval Office is just the last rung in the social ladder he wants to be at the top of. Donald Trump is hard to fit into one category but in the end, he is a businessman that likes to win. An interview with Barbara Walters posed the question what the one word he hoped to define his presidential legacy by. His answer: victory.
