For the past four years, our country has seen a death of “common sense”—a notion coined by the 45th and now 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, during his Inaugural Address. However, with the inauguration of President Trump on Jan. 20, the foreseeable future for Americans seems to be headed in the right direction. Statistics from the Council of Foreign Relations (www.cfr.org) depict Trump won not only the Electoral College in a landslide but also the popular vote with more than 77 million votes compared to former-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 74 million votes. Although the popular vote is not the deciding factor in who wins the presidential election, it is still a relevant statistic used to indicate who the American people wanted to win. Furthermore, Trump’s increase in popularity can be seen in his flipping six s states that previously voted against him in the 2020 election.
As for President Trump’s Inaugural Address, it was nothing short of a success. Throughout his speech, President Trump outlined his goals for his presidency, as he aims to revive prosperity, patriotism, and liberty within our nation. President Trump further promised to end the weaponization of the Department of Justice against our citizens and protection of our inalienable rights: saliently, our freedom of speech. According to ABC News (abcnews.com), President Trump asserted, “The Golden Age of America begins right now.” This is a phrase he used during his address to characterize the next four years under his administration.
President Trump brought to light the issues at the Southern and Northern borders, which he plans to address with a series of executive orders. Accordingly, he signed an executive order that same day to begin said process. President Trump reinstated the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which will allow him to deport members of foreign gangs and criminals who illegally entered the country during the Biden administration. In the previous presidency–under the Biden and Harris administration– illegal border crossings were at an all-time high. In a report conducted by the House Committee on Homeland Security Majority (homeland.gov), it said that, “…well over 10.3 million inadmissible aliens have entered the United States since Jan. 20, 2021, an increase of more than 200 percent…” . On the other hand, under President Trump’s administration from 2017-20, border crossings reached an all-time low.
In regard to the economic state of our nation, President Trump clarified his plans to bring down “…record inflation and rapidly bring down costs” and according to ABC News (abcnews.com), that America will “…drill, baby, drill.” The country will resort back to fracking for oil instead of importing foreign oil that has been tariffed. Moreover, America will return to being a manufacturing nation and will “…export American energy all over the world. [America] will be a rich nation again and it is the liquid gold under our feet that will help do it” (abcnews.com). President Trump also asserted that he will end the Green New Deal and revoke the electric vehicle mandate to save America’s auto industry. President Trump stated he “…will very simply put America first,” according to ABC News. Furthermore, America’s auto industry will have precedent over foreign-made vehicles. A reference was made to additional tariffs that he plans to impose on not only vehicles but various other commodities, which will force foreign nations to manufacture their products on American soil and use our workers rather than producing the product in their home country and selling it back to Americans at a high rate.
Another aspect of the federal government that President Trump wishes to improve is free speech. President Trump said, as reported by ABC News, that he will “…immediately [put a] stop [to] all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”. Additionally, President Trump has plans to restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the Constitution.
Concerning the inefficiency of the previous administration, and their abuse of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs within our federal government, President Trump devised a plan to end such ineptitude. A brand-new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was established to ensure “…competence and effectiveness [in] our federal government…,” according to ABC News. President Trump is looking to create a colorblind and merit-based society that does not favor one race over the other due to previous DEI policies.
By the same token, President Trump cracked down on the previous administration’s push to integrate “woke ideas” of gender and sexual orientation into the American people’s daily lives. President Trump will “…end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” reports ABC News. This was further illustrated when President Trump asserted that the official policy of the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes: male and female. President Trump is looking to do away with the previous administration’s obsession with gender and restore “common sense” back to our nation.
Throughout President Trump’s first day in office, he made it a point to sign executive orders in front of the press in an attempt to show transparency. While signing executive orders at the Oval Office, President Trump can be seen taking question after question from news reporters. Whether about what he was currently signing, or related to his plans for the next four years, all questions were welcomed.Most notably, during the conference, President Trump asked a reporter, who went by the name of Peter, how many news conferences did Biden partake in, to which Peter replied “zero.” President Trump elaborated, according to the Rev website (www.rev.com), “and it would be zero for the next infinity. For infinity it would be zero.” President Trump continued to take questions from the media as he signed executive orders and then showed his signature as proof, a kind of transparency that President Trump strives to have throughout his presidency.
Another big part of President Trump’s campaign that helped him win the election was his take on foreign policy, specifically the foreign conflicts that began under the Biden administration: the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Palestine war. President Trump repeated numerous times during his campaign that both wars were completely avoidable. President Trump plans to end both wars in the coming four years, and his impact was seen not even a few days after his election win, as Hamas called for a ceasefire only a day after President Trump was officially elected on Nov. 5, 2024. In an article published by Newsweek on Nov. 6, 2024 (www.newsweek.com), Hamas Political Bureau member and spokesperson, Basem Naim, said, “…Palestinians look forward to an immediate cessation of the aggression against our people.” This took place before President Trump even stepped foot inside the Oval Office as the 47th President of the United States. In regard to the Russia-Ukraine war, President Trump is looking to put it to rest as well and restore peace to the land. Although ceasefire deals are only now in the workings and have yet to be established and publicized, things seem to be moving in the right direction towards peace.
Ultimately, President Trump seems to have had a palpable impact on not only domestic issues but foreign issues as well. His ability to return the country back to a prosperous and safe nation can be illustrated by his previous presidency. His prior experience as a successful businessman before he became a politician illustrates his ability to get the work done right. President Trump has made it clear he is not content with what was accomplished eight years ago. The work that he and his team have already put in is remarkable, making him, without a doubt, the most effective president in my lifetime.
