Washington, DC – US President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to be a dictator – but only on “day one” of his upcoming term.
These are the words Trump gave to Fox News in December 2023, during his latest re-election campaign.
Sitting in a town hall with host Sean Hannity, Trump used a question about whether he would abuse the power of the presidency to pursue his long list of first-day priorities.
“I love this guy,” Trump told the audience, gesturing to Hannity. He says, 'You're not going to be a dictator, are you?' I said, 'No, no, no, except the first day. We are closing the border, and we are drilling, drilling, drilling.
Since then, Trump's promises on his first day in office have only gotten bigger, from questions about immigration to overhauling the federal government.
On Monday, Trump took the oath of office, following a surprise political return in the November elections.
The swearing-in ceremony will officially begin his second term as President. And all eyes are on how he will exercise his authority once he returns to the White House.
Trump is expected to sign many mountains during the inauguration of his presidency.
Such moves are common for up-and-coming managers who want to create a brand, even if the rules are stalled by legal or regulatory issues.
But with nearly 60 appointments a day and up to 100 administrations expected, Trump's workload as he re-enters the White House is expected to be very high.
One Republican senator, John Barrasso, has already predicted a “blizzard” of major legislation, designed to “shake with fear”.
Here are some of the one-day promises that Trump has made.
Mass deportation
Immigration — and reducing irregular crossings at the southern border — became one of the top issues in Trump's re-election campaign.
On November 4, just days before he won the presidency, Trump repeated a promise he made several times during the campaign: “On day one, I'm going to put in place the largest deportation program in American history. We're going to take them out. We have to.”
The details of how Trump will do it – and the money – like great works to be in need.
The US government estimates that around 11 million undocumented people live in the country, although Mr Trump said he would “declare a national emergency and use military force”.
Who Trump will target is also unknown. Some supporters have said that all people in the country without legal documents are “criminals”. Some hope Trump will scale back efforts to “mass deportations” of those convicted of crimes like robbery or assault.
'Ban Muslim'
One of his first day promises is to take back his first term in office, where he signed the 2017 executive order which was known as “Banning Muslims“.
It banned the entry of travelers who want to come to the US from several Muslim countries, including Syria, Libya, Yemen and Sudan. The ban faced numerous legislative challenges and was eventually reversed under the leadership of President Joe Biden.
But in his new term, Trump has promised to restore the ban and to “stop immigration, stop immigration and keep terrorists in our country”.
“We will stop the settlement of refugees in terrorist areas like the Gaza Strip, and we will seal our borders and restore the travel ban,” he told Republican aides in Washington, DC, in September.
“Do you remember the curfew?” We didn't take people from other parts of the world because I didn't want people to tear down and burn our shops and kill people.”
Denial of citizens
One of the executive orders Trump is considering for his first day back in the White House is to ban those who are eligible to become US citizens.
This plan has taken a long time. By May 2023, Trump posted a video on his campaign website, outlining his plans.
“On day one of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order explaining to the federal government that, under the correct interpretation of the law, in the future, future children of illegal aliens will not receive US citizenship,” Trump said. he said.
Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, anyone born within the US is a citizen, regardless of the status of their parent.
Ending the Russia-Ukraine war
Trump has repeatedly said that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza could not have happened under his watch.
While a cease-fire agreement to stop Israel's destructive campaign in Gaza was reached just days before Trump's inauguration, the war continues in Ukraine, where Russia has launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Trump has promised to resolve the dispute by the end of his second term. In a CNN town hall in May 2023, Trump said the war would be “over” within “24 hours” of taking office.
Trump has been very careful soon, as his second term approaches. However, on January 13, he announced that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” after taking office.
Trump's team has said it will press Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a deal, raising concerns it could lead to Moscow's approval.
Suppression of tariffs
Some of Trump's visions in his first days in office are rethinking the federal government.
On January 14, Trump he announced that on Inauguration Day, they will create “foreign services” that will “collect all Taxes, Duties, and Revenues from foreign countries”.
Trump has called for a massive tariff program — including up to 60 percent on Chinese goods — to boost domestic manufacturing.
Trump too to threaten up to 25 percent tax in Mexico and Canada if they don't do more to prevent border crossings and drug smuggling.
Economists have criticized this approach, however, saying that such high tariffs could lead to a trade war that could damage the US economy.
Sorry for the naysayers on January 6th
Trump has repeatedly said to them to be arrested for destroying the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as “political prisoners” and “prisoners”.
He also promised to start issuing amnesties within minutes of taking office.
But Trump has not been shy about it since then time – and whether all those accused of rioting would be eligible for amnesty.
“Most of the time, I'm going to do it very quickly,” Trump told the Meet the Press TV show last month, noting that “there may be some differences” in his plans to pardon them.
In addition, on Sunday, Vice President-elect JD Vance put some supporters on the record saying that only peaceful protesters should be pardoned. He also said there are “grey areas” at times.
Downsizing companies
Trump has indicated that he wants to pursue a policy of deregulation when he returns to office.
He criticizes the rules for regulating businesses and losing money to American consumers.
“On day one, I will sign an executive order directing every federal agency to permanently eliminate burdensome regulations that are driving up the cost of goods,” Trump said on the campaign trail in October.
“It's going to be the biggest deregulation in the history of our country, and it's going to happen very quickly,” he added.
At a press conference in December, Trump went further, promising to cut 10 regulations for every new one added.
A new non-government agency he is planning to set up – called the Department of Government Efficiency – has been charged with identifying laws that can be rolled back.
Some of the laws in Trump's campaign deal with the environment.
That includes a one-day promise to reverse President Biden's proposed ban on offshore drilling in 625 million acre-feet (253 million hectares) of coastal waters.
Mr Trump also said he would immediately reverse what Biden called “electric cars”, which impose high emissions restrictions on car manufacturers to combat climate change.
Actions against the 'woke' mentality
Trump's first day pledge included several “culture war” issues that have galvanized his base.
This includes, as Trump said in December, stopping “transgender lunacy”.
The president-elect has promised to ban transgender women from playing women's sports. He also said that he would change to ban the legal treatment of children by both men and women, which he called “baby cutting”.
“On day one, I will end Joe Biden's brutal policies on so-called gender-affirming care,” Trump said in February 2023. campaign video.
“I will sign a new law instructing all government agencies to stop all programs that promote ideas about sexuality and gender reassignment at any age.”
Trump also threatened to immediately cutting state funding from schools and colleges that promote “controversial racial stereotypes, transgenderism, and other racial, sexual, or political inadequacies”.
Retirement in Afghanistan canceled
In the reality television show, The Apprentice, Trump portrayed a tough real estate talker and a ruthless businessman.
His written words, “You're fired,” followed him into politics.
Even on the campaign trail, Trump has repulsed audiences with his plans to deport those he deems incompetent.
And as he contemplates his first day in office, he has told the public that he wants to be accountable for the US troop deficit in Afghanistan in 2021.
Trump made a deal in 2020 with the Taliban to restore the US presence in the country. But after the US military stepped down, the Taliban launched an insurgency that toppled the fragile US-backed government.
The evacuation followed the fall of the capital, Kabul, in which a suicide bomber killed 13 US soldiers and about 170 Afghan civilians.
Mr Trump blamed his successor Biden for the death, although a 2023 report he showed that all these leaders are responsible. But Trump insisted on pointing the finger elsewhere.
“We're going to resign every executive who had a hand in the tragedy of Afghanistan, so they can sit at my desk at noon on Inauguration Day,” he said in Michigan in August. “You know, you have to fire people. You have to fire people when they do a bad job.”