Editor’s note: This article references and hyperlinks to more information about a 1950s deportation policy. The Collegian is not naming the policy because it includes a racial obscenity.
Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States of America begins on Jan. 20, 2025 after winning both the popular vote and electoral college vote against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. According to the Associated Press, Trump beat Harris by nearly 2.5 million popular votes and left Harris with 226 electoral college votes after winning his 312. With the attention of many people following along with the election on Nov. 5, 2024, Trump’s victory became flushed with promises to enforce new policies.
During Trump’s previous presidency in office, he signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on Dec. 22, 2017. Among many of its functions, it had lowered tax rates across most income brackets. However, it also left top earners paying even less in taxes than they had already done so before. These tax cuts were set to expire in 2025 unless they would be extended by future legislation. For Trump’s second term, CBS News outlined his new 2025 proposal of not only continuing this tax cut, but reducing it even further.
Seth Cotlar, a Willamette history professor since 2000, noted that Trump’s previous accomplishment of lowering taxes ultimately became more of a tax break for high earners and the wealthy than towards lower class income makers. “He is a very standard issue Republican. Any Republican president would pursue that sort of tax-cutting program,” Cotlar explained.
Along with taxes, an article by the Washington Post explained that Trump drove his campaign with an additional promise of ending the “inflation nightmare.” During his campaign, Trump called for tariffs on all imports entering the United States, naming them “universal tariffs.” He claims to want to establish tariffs of 10-20% on all imported goods in order to reduce trade deficits. Once these tariffs are put into place, the initial impact would cause the price of food and electronics to increase dramatically. Cotlar pointed out that “inflation doesn’t affect rich people that much. Inflation really hurts middle class people.”
According to a report from PBS News covering Trump’s tariffs, Trump additionally threatened to float a 60% or higher tariff on all Chinese goods in order to escalate the trade war with China. Cotlar expressed that this could be a broader idea of pushing for more consumer items to be made in the United States rather than in other countries. However, this could also dampen the economic relationship the United States previously had with China. The Trump team discussed bringing the production of the defense industrial supply chain, critical medical supplies and energy production goods back to the United States. The Washington Post explained that this could include metals like steel, iron, aluminum, and copper, healthcare equipment such as pharmaceutical materials, energy supplies, and rare earth minerals to make batteries.
Another campaign promise Trump had was to achieve America’s largest deportation operation. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, a 1920s-originated civil rights organization, Trump is attempting to recreate President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1950s deportation policies, which included a massive removal of Mexican immigrants from the United States carried out by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). However, Cotlar expressed that Trump’s policy will likely become an even bigger pursuit than Eisenhower’s.
Trump has additionally vowed in his campaigns that he will attempt to end birthright citizenship of children whose parents violated immigration laws when entering the United States. Cotlar said that when Trump begins placing the orders to take measures toward deportation, they will begin by targeting the “least controversial folks,” such as people living in the US without legal permission who are incarcerated for committing violent crimes. However, if Trump proceeds with further deportation orders, his claims of separating families by means of deportation and other methods of removal would be “incredibly destructive at the local level,” according to Cotlar. “People will probably die. There will be economic disruption.”
Regarding Trump’s proposed policies on state-controlled abortion, Cotlar explained that his upcoming policies reflect the landmark case of the Dobbs decision, where the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not grant a right to abortion, returning authority to regulate abortion to individual states. This decision overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, ending the constitutional right to abortion that had been in place since 1973. Cotlar noted the reversal of Roe v. Wade had been a goal of anti-abortion movements since the 1970s. Some states have taken their ability to control abortions to another level, introducing criminal penalties for those who travel out of state to receive abortions. Cotlar noted that future access to reproductive care will continue to become more difficult.
CBS also reported that Trump has been vocal about the American education system, expressing that he will cut federal spending for any schools that push for ‘“critical race theory’ or transgender matters.” Cotlar mentioned that the University of Iowa closed its women’s and gender studies program in response to state initiatives that were similar to the initiatives Trump has called for. Similarly, the University of Idaho closed its Women’s Center, a university office that has provided students with education programs, financial support, and a food pantry, all while advocating for gender equity.
However, Cotlar believes that it would be less likely for the federal government to determine that a private institution like Willamette is unable to receive any federal funds solely because Willamette has a women’s and gender studies program or an American ethnic studies program. “If we claim to have freedom of expression, how can you then say a university can’t teach some subjects?” Cotlar asked.
The coming months will reveal which of these proposed policies will come into play, how they will be received by both Trump’s critics and supporters, and what impact they may have on the political landscape moving forward. “We will just have to see how the consequences play out. … Who knows what will happen,” Cotlar concluded.
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