What Does Trump Really Stand For? | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics and Activism

What Does Trump Really Stand For?

The GOP front-runner is known for using plenty of empty talk to support his political views, so it can be difficult for voters to figure out what exactly Trump stands for.

40
What Does Trump Really Stand For?
www.bbc.com

At this point in the presidential race, we're all familiar with the simplistic one-liners that Trump often spouts while he's giving speeches or talking with TV reporters. In public speaking, he tends to be as broad and non-specific as possible when explaining the finer points of his plans for improving America, so the often bigoted one-liners tend to receive the most attention. But what are Donald Trump's actual policies? What does he stand for? These questions are a lot harder to answer than you'd think, because Trump is constantly switching sides on so many of his supposedly central issues.

There are seven total issues presented on the Donald J. Trump For President website, as opposed to the 31 issues shown on Hillary's campaign website and the 34 issues on Bernie's campaign website. While more issues doesn't automatically make you a more savvy political candidate, it's clear that Hillary and Bernie are using their platforms to fit as many eggs as possible into one basket. They are attempting to address more American issues than Trump, at least officially. Unofficially, Trump has spoken on more than seven issues. But the fact remains that Trump's official platform looks increasingly limited when compared to the other presidential hopefuls.

So, what are these seven issues that Trump's campaign website lists? The very first one, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the issue of how to coerce Mexico into paying for the infamous wall. It's not even a plan for building the wall itself, the website focuses solely on how to manipulate our neighbor country into paying us for constructing the thing. This problem of forcing Mexico to pay for the wall is followed on the website by the issues of healthcare reform, U.S.-China trade reform, reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs, tax reform, the Second Amendment and immigration reform.

As we know, Trump's positions and opinions are not confined to these seven issues--they are simply the ones his campaign has branded as the most important to him and his platform. Trump has expressed his stance on many other topics, such as abortion, waterboarding terrorists, his method for dealing with ISIS, visas for high-skilled workers, the refugee crisis in Syria, the Ku Klux Klan, the Iran Nuclear Deal and of course, his proposal for banning Muslims from the United States.

Trump's views on several, if not all, of these issues have either changed completely or switched so rapidly and in such short periods of time that it can be difficult to follow what Trump actually supports and what he does not. For the purpose of this article, we'll focus on his opinions about some of the more high-profile issues.

On the subject of abortion, Trump has made it clear that he feels some sort of "punishment" should occur for the women that receives one, if she were to do it while a ban on abortion were in place. Eighty minutes following the interview where that statement took place, Trump released a statement saying that "the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb." His revolving stance on this issue is made even less clear when we look back on this 1999 interview, where Trump describes himself as completely pro-choice and insists that he would not ban abortion.

Trump's proposed Muslim ban has received more attention than arguably any other part of his campaign. But is he even serious about what he's suggesting? After first saying that, "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," was necessary for the country, he later changed his stance in a way that shows clear bias and self-interest. In a later interview on Fox News, Trump explained that Muslims currently serving in the U.S. military would be safe from persecution, as well as some American Muslims that are already residents, including his alleged "many Muslim friends."

Finally, Trump's stance on Syrian refugees has been the most indecisive of the bunch. He's switched from insisting that the United States has no other choice but to take in refugees from Syria, in a Fox News interview last September, to insisting that the United States can't take in refugees at all. This change of mind occurred in the span of a single day, as he released the latter statement one day after his Fox News interview on the subject.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Student Life

The 5 Painfully True Stages Of Camping Out At The Library

For those long nights that turn into mornings when the struggle is real.

372
woman reading a book while sitting on black leather 3-seat couch
Photo by Seven Shooter on Unsplash

And so it begins.

1. Walk in motivated and ready to rock

Camping out at the library is not for the faint of heart. You need to go in as a warrior. You usually have brought supplies (laptop, chargers, and textbooks) and sustenance (water, snacks, and blanket/sweatpants) since the battle will be for an undetermined length of time. Perhaps it is one assignment or perhaps it's four. You are motivated and prepared; you don’t doubt the assignment(s) will take time, but you know it couldn’t be that long.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

The 14 Stages Of The Last Week Of Class

You need sleep, but also have 13 things due in the span of 4 days.

380
black marker on notebook

December... it's full of finals, due dates, Mariah Carey, and the holidays. It's the worst time of the year, but the best because after finals, you get to not think about classes for a month and catch up on all the sleep you lost throughout the semester. But what's worse than finals week is the last week of classes, when all the due dates you've put off can no longer be put off anymore.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

28 Daily Thoughts of College Students

"I want to thank Google, Wikipedia, and whoever else invented copy and paste. Thank you."

1049
group of people sitting on bench near trees duting daytime

I know every college student has daily thoughts throughout their day. Whether you're walking on campus or attending class, we always have thoughts running a mile a minute through our heads. We may be wondering why we even showed up to class because we'd rather be sleeping, or when the professor announces that we have a test and you have an immediate panic attack.

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

The Great Christmas Movie Debate

"A Christmas Story" is the star on top of the tree.

2319
The Great Christmas Movie Debate
Mental Floss

One staple of the Christmas season is sitting around the television watching a Christmas movie with family and friends. But of the seemingly hundreds of movies, which one is the star on the tree? Some share stories of Santa to children ("Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"), others want to spread the Christmas joy to adults ("It's a Wonderful Life"), and a select few are made to get laughs ("Elf"). All good movies, but merely ornaments on the Christmas tree of the best movies. What tops the tree is a movie that bridges the gap between these three movies, and makes it a great watch for anyone who chooses to watch it. Enter the timeless Christmas classic, "A Christmas Story." Created in 1983, this movie holds the tradition of capturing both young and old eyes for 24 straight hours on its Christmas Day marathon. It gets the most coverage out of all holiday movies, but the sheer amount of times it's on television does not make it the greatest. Why is it,
then? A Christmas Story does not try to tell the tale of a Christmas miracle or use Christmas magic to move the story. What it does do though is tell the real story of Christmas. It is relatable and brings out the unmatched excitement of children on Christmas in everyone who watches. Every one becomes a child again when they watch "A Christmas Story."

Keep Reading...Show less
student thinking about finals in library
StableDiffusion

As this semester wraps up, students can’t help but be stressed about finals. After all, our GPAs depends on these grades! What student isn’t worrying about their finals right now? It’s “goodbye social life, hello library” time from now until the end of finals week.

1. Finals are weeks away, I’m sure I’ll be ready for them when they come.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments