America's Talking - What to Expect From President Trump on His First Day in Office

Starting point is 00:00:02 Greetings, everyone, and welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, Chief Content Officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire Service. We are recording this on Friday, January 17th. Donald Trump will be inaugurated Monday when he will become the 47th President of the United States, after also serving as the nation's 45th president. Trump is expected to sign a number of executive orders on Monday as well. joining me to discuss this is Casey Harper, Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief for the Center Square. Casey, you are credentialed to cover the inauguration live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

Starting point is 00:00:40 What are you expecting? Yeah, I'm expecting a big crowd, a big Trump speech, him already focusing on his legacy and laying out what he plans to do in his vision for the country. You know, we're seeing an entirely different Trump transition this time around, Dan. In 2016, the nation was still in shock that Trump. Trump had even won. Actually, many of Trump's team was in shock that he had won. And we were seeing disorganization, some chaos already in the ranks that became characteristic of his first term in office. And then, you know, of course, inauguration, the first thing that in Trump's office became

Starting point is 00:01:17 arguing about crowd sizes, right? And so how big was the inauguration crowd? Was it the biggest ever? Or was the, you know, you remember all that. And I think we're in a different, round two is a lot different. We've seen a much more organized Trump world. We see these confirmation hearings are being expedited. We're already having several simultaneous hearings for his nominees. It's a much more efficient operation. And I think we're seeing a new Trump, Trump who survived an assassination and has sort of done some introspection and also has a better team around him and is laser focused on his agenda. Let's talk about his agenda a little bit. We will, of course, be covering the inauguration all the pomp and circumstance at the center square.com.

Starting point is 00:02:01 But just as importantly, maybe even perhaps more importantly, are these executive actions he said he would take on day one. We expect executive orders related to the border and immigration related to energy. He said that he would impose tariffs, a number of different types of tariffs on both allies and adversaries of the United States. He said he might pardon a number of January 6th protesters who have been jailed. Where do you want to start? Well, we can start on the border where he spent a lot of time discussing on the campaign trail.

Starting point is 00:02:36 You're right that there's several things. I mean, there is a question to be asked if when Trump says day one, is that sort of a rhetorical flourish? Because many times when he said day one, it was maybe in an interview. And they were asking about a certain issue. And he said, yeah, I'm going to take care of that on day one. So, you know, just day one sort of metaphorical mean week one? We'll see very soon. It doesn't make too much difference, but what matters to his supporters as he gets it done. But, you know, on immigration, for instance, he has pledged right off the bat on day one to launch the largest deportation program in American history. And I don't think there's much doubt that he's going to do that. He's already nominated Tom Homan. Borders are to handle that issue. He seems very focused on it. He's doing big media interviews. talking about that issue, about how he would do it. And, you know, there's, you know, millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. over, you know, 10 million came in just under the Biden administration,

Starting point is 00:03:33 right? And then hundreds of thousands of those have criminal records. And so he's, you know, hominist suggested they're going to start by deporting those with a criminal record. And then they don't seem they're planning to stop there. So I think, you know, first thing is that deportation program, Dan, there's a lany of other things on the border. I mean, he's talked about bringing about Title 42, which was a COVID-era program that really shut down the border. He scented that a day one, he would start that. You know, that would be a pretty significant border policy that if it worked and they actually did it, could pretty much stop the border right away. I mean, shut down the border right away. Remain in Mexico, the policy that requires asylum seekers, those who

Starting point is 00:04:20 who actually go through the process the right way, apply for asylum to the United States, but they'd have to remain in Mexico until they get their court hearing. He's talked about re-beginning, again, construction of the border wall, and likely undoing a number of policies that were enacted under the Biden administration, including these parole programs that allowed hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, more asylum seekers into the U.S. than previously allowed. How about energy? Trump is complete the exact opposite of President Joe Biden on energy policy.

Starting point is 00:05:00 You vowed to drill, baby drill, for example. We expect anything there? Yeah, I mean, so the energy and economic policies, we definitely have some day one promises from the incoming president. Drill, baby drill is foremost among them. He wants to open up drilling his cabinet nominees before. for the Senate this week who are relevant to that, like Doug Bergam, Interior, or Zeldon, who's, you know, picked to lead the EPA, both, you know, seem amenable to that idea and

Starting point is 00:05:32 are going to back him. And Bergam explicitly said that he wants to be a part of energy dominance, which is kind of a Trump phrase. So, yeah, they're going to open up the drilling. They're also, Trump, you know, on that same topic, Trump has said on day one that he is going to lift the electric vehicle mandate. And so there's been a pretty controversial Biden era mandate that kind of seemed technical but had huge implications. It regulated the emissions from car tailpipes.

Starting point is 00:06:00 And it seemed technical, but the implication was that basically all Americans would have to start, over half of Americans would be transitioning to electric vehicles away from gas vehicles within just a few years. And the problem is that a lot of Americans don't want electric vehicles. They're having trouble selling a lot of these electric vehicles that they've invested in. Even some carmakers are wanting to move away from electric vehicles now because people want gas vehicles. And by the way, I mean, in many states, the infrastructure does not exist to charge your electric vehicle. I mean, it's just not possible. Maybe in, you know, Silicon Valley or in different, you know, places on the East Coast, there are enough charging stations. But you get out in the middle of the country, there's just a lot of the country.

Starting point is 00:06:43 There's nowhere to charge your vehicle. So I think, you know, he's going to have some public support on that. But he has clearly said that he is going to end that electric vehicle forced transition. And also, you know, while we're on the economy, he's talked about his tariffs, Dan, on day one, implementing sweeping tariffs. This is really uncharted territory for a lot of, you know, that has big implications. Trump says it's going to make a lot of money. you know, we really haven't had a tariff war of this scale in America in over 100 years. And so this is going to be uncharted territory.

Starting point is 00:07:18 But he said on day one, he's going to get started on this. So far, he has used these terrorists to help negotiate with other countries. For instance, you know, he got the Mexican president to commit to stricter border security by threatening a tariff. Thank you for joining us today. Casey, listeners can keep up with all things inauguration, all things President Trump's first day, first week in office at the center square.com.

America's Talking - What to Expect From President Trump on His First Day in Office

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