Image: News_DonaldTrump_1: “Donald Trump Signs The Pledge” by Michael Vadon is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
After Donald Trump’s 2024 Presidential Election victory, many Americans are wondering what another four years under Trump will look like. The Quad reached out to representatives of the WCU College Republicans and the WCU College Democrats to ask how Trump will address some of the major issues America faces.
With many Americans concerned about their rights being taken away by the Trump administration, Augustus Fadden, president of the College Republicans, responded first by stating, “President Trump will not be signing any federal legislation with regards to abortion.” While President Trump argued for a national 20-week abortion ban during his first term, in his recent campaign, he has repeatedly argued that this is an issue to be dealt with at the state level.
Fadden says that Trump and his administration will “work to empower people to choose life for their children, such as promoting expanded child tax credits, providing easier access to quality education, the beautification of America to promote healthy living, curtailing crime, etc.”
Regarding LGBTQ+ rights, Fadden says that Trump’s agenda will include “banning transgender surgeries for minors in all 50 states, not allowing people to compete in gendered sports that don’t align with their assigned sex [at birth], reimplement[ing] the ban on transgender military service and not [expanding] transgender treatments within the federal government.” When it comes to the legalization of same-sex marriage, Fadden believes that “there’s no reason to think this will change.”
Daria Benson, secretary for the College Democrats, started her answer by saying that “Trump’s campaign was a beacon for white nationalistic hate, and with a [Republican] majority in both the House and Senate, there aren’t many systems in place to protect the rights of the American people.”
She goes on to say that Trump’s stance on abortion has shifted over the years from wanting a national ban to now giving the choice to the states. Benson argued that Trump “has outlined plans to get rid of the Department of Education, which would impact us right here as a public university that receives federal funding through the Department.” She finished by stating, “Trump is a major propeller of lies and disinformation regarding the LGBTQ+ community,” and that he may roll back “Title IX civil rights protections, put in place under Biden’s administration.”
On the economy, Fadden stated that “President Trump’s policies can be summed up in the phrase ‘Made in America.’” Fadden emphasized that Trump would keep the tariffs he had put in place in his first term, which the Biden Administration had kept, and will add more as well. He explained that this will help “end our economic reliance on China and other foreign nations.” He goes on to say that Trump will “implement ‘Made in America’ tax credits for businesses that [have] onshore production.”
When Benson was asked the same question, she argued that “Trump doesn’t need to fix the economy because Joe Biden’s policies are working.” She went on to say that inflation is around 2%, while unemployment is around 4%. “I was able to get gas for $2.69 the other day and that is not because of anything Trump has done for the economy.” She continued to explain that Trump’s tariff on imports would be detrimental to the country: “A country that imports a whole lot of goods will make consumers prices go up.”
When asked how Trump will help end foreign conflicts, Fadden answered that Trump will “maintain alliances, but also hold them accountable to their contributions in the UN and NATO.” He explained that by increasing military funding, America was able to destroy ISIS and delay Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Now, under a second Trump Administration, the principle of ‘peace through strength’ will flourish, Russia and Ukraine will soon be at the negotiating table with President Trump at the center.” On the topic of the ongoing war in the Middle East, Fadden sees Trump helping end the war between Israel and Hamas. “Hamas, like ISIS, will soon be totally wiped out, and peaceful relations will exist between Israelis and Palestinians under a unified government.”
On the contrary, Benson believes that Trump will make foreign relations worse as a whole. She argues that Trump is an unpopular figure globally and “diplomatic relations under the last Trump admiration suffered, especially when you consider his nationalistic approach of ‘America First.’” Regarding the two major wars going on right now, Benson states that Trump will “likely cut aid for Ukraine, directly helping our enemy, Russia, and as a staunch supporter of Israel, cut aid for Gaza.” She concluded by saying “Foreign relations as a whole will suffer because Trump does not value international relations and is reluctant to engage in diplomacy.”
One of Trump’s most prominent talking points is that of the southern U.S. border and the undocumented migrants crossing it. When asked about Trump’s plan to prevent this, Fadden answered by stating, “We will continue to build the border wall using alliances with border state governments and applying eminent domain at hotspots where Americans currently own the land.”
He went on to say that Trump will “declare war” on the international drug cartels that are entering the country from the south. When discussing how the mass deportation that Trump has called for will be carried out, Fadden said that it will likely be carried out by “a combination of military, federal and local cooperating law enforcement.”
By utilizing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, Fadden said that Trump can “order deportations without needing the approval of anyone else to do so.” Fadden concluded by commenting, “Workplaces will likely be required to use tools such as E-Verify to prove citizenship of their employees. President Trump isn’t playing any games with this.”
When discussing this same topic, Benson argued that any of Trump’s border-crossing prevention methods “will not stop people from coming.” Her reasoning behind this statement is that “immigrants are fleeing unstable governments, adverse effects of the climate crisis and unsafe situations, but they see the promise and hope of America and they come.” She argued that Trump should instead address these issues rather than simply try to close the border on them.
“Trump will not address destabilization in the Global South, denies the evidence of climate change and lacks the compassion to effectively deal with our borders,” Benson said.
She continued by saying that a mass deportation would “cripple our economy,” explaining that “43% of our agricultural workers here in America are undocumented immigrants” and that they “contributed $96 billion to taxes in 2022 alone.” Benson argued that not only would America lose hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of workers, but that it would be very expensive to conduct this deportation as well, saying, “It would also cost taxpayers somewhere between $88 billion to $315 billion to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the US.” She concluded that this amount of spending would not be possible unless America “cuts funding from other essential social services to increase funding for border control and ICE.”
Geoff Soland is a fourth-year History major with minors in Journalism and Museum Studies.