ORIGINAL LINK : https://bbc.moneycode.kr/report/article/51698/
Donald Trump is spending a significant portion of his current election campaign reflecting on his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Behind the scenes, Trump and his team are crafting a plan to prevent a repeat of the mistakes made in 2016.
For American voters curious about what a second Trump term might look like, the former president is revealing all, just 12 months ahead of a potential re-election.
This information is summarized on Trump’s campaign website, can be heard in his rally speeches, and has been documented by those preparing for his potential second term.
This plan, known as “Agenda 47” – a nod to Trump potentially becoming the 47th president if elected – comes as Trump remains a leading contender in the Republican primary and is expected to face off against Democratic President Joe Biden next November.
Eight years ago, when Trump threw his hat into the presidential race, his campaign budget was meager and his staff was a ragtag group of political outsiders and individuals more interested in settling scores than policy.
His campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again,” and he highlighted a few key policies, such as building a border wall and temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country. He also presented himself as an anti-establishment crusader.
After his unexpected victory, he began to implement his broad political vision, but the results were mixed.
The “Muslim ban” policy was repeatedly blocked in court, and the final policy was a watered-down version. His promise to build a border wall was thwarted by both the courts and Congress.
To Trump’s inner circle, the root cause was a lack of preparation and poor staffing decisions.
These were mistakes that would have to be avoided if he were to win the 2024 election.
On January 20, 2017, after his inauguration speech, Trump entered the Oval Office at 6:55 p.m. with Mark Lotter, a member of his transition team.
Lotter told the BBC that he quickly realized the new administration was not prepared to move the “massive Titanic-sized government” during discussions in the office at the time.
As a result, he claims they are now preparing more thoroughly with other veterans of the previous Trump administration and are in the process of formulating a plan.
“We’ve outlined the playbook and how to execute it, and where, positions, and areas within the progressive government organization that could obstruct progress. The last part is the most important.”
Over the past year, the shape of this ‘playbook’ has emerged.
Some of its contents seem more akin to fantasy than reality. The Trump administration plans to invest in flying cars and build ‘freedom cities’ where Americans can live and work on federal land without burdensome regulations.
There are also controversial promises, such as a plan to relocate homeless people to tent camps on the outskirts of U.S. cities “until their issues are addressed.” Some pledges are directly linked to the culture war, such as requiring public school teachers to “accept patriotic values.”
Furthermore, it calls for an even stronger protectionist policy, demanding a “universal basic tariff” on all imports and proposing to raise it further against “unfair” trading nations.
On immigration, it plans to restore the policy of keeping undocumented immigrants in Mexico while they apply for asylum. It also plans to push for an end to the automatic granting of citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants born on U.S. soil.
Meanwhile, it includes a promise to cut “billions of dollars” from U.S. international aid and end the war in Ukraine in the process. According to media reports, it is considering either withdrawing from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or at least reducing U.S. involvement in the Atlantic defense pact.
In a video recorded last March, Trump said, “The biggest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia, it’s inside us, and the terrible people who hate America and claim to represent us are the problem.”
BBC
According to Lotter, the most important aspect of Trump’s ‘2024 agenda’ is increasing energy supply to reduce household costs.
He believes that rising energy prices were at the heart of the inflation that plagued the early part of Biden’s tenure.
“By opening up the floodgates and signaling to the market and energy companies that the government will once again support the industry, energy prices will fall in the long run.”
These policies could be seen as the culmination of Trump’s efforts to reshape the Republican party according to his vision.
The conservatism of George Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney, who ran as Republican presidential candidates in the four elections before Trump’s victory in 2016, has now vanished.
Republican strategist Brian Lanza, who was involved in Trump’s campaign, says, “The Republican party has evolved. There’s no other way to put it. The party now supports a variety of tariffs. Who would have predicted that?”
Lanza says the new Republican party combines conservatism and populism to attract working-class voters, including union workers who have long-standing ties with the Democratic party. At the heart of these agendas are immigration, trade, and a restrained foreign policy backed by American “strength.”
Many of Trump’s pledges require the passage of bills in Congress, where the Senate is currently controlled by Democrats who vehemently oppose Trump’s plans. Other policies, such as the abolition of ‘birthright citizenship,’ could violate the U.S. Constitution and will surely be halted by the courts.
However, there are also pledges that could be implemented if Trump really wants them and if his loyal staff and administration can get the job done. This is where a piece of the puzzle that Trump has been preparing for quite some time comes in.
In October 2020, just before leaving office, Trump created a new classification of federal employees, ‘Schedule F,’ through an executive order. High-level policy decisions, traditionally handled by senior government bureaucrats, fall under the purview of Schedule F employees. This executive order allows the president to fire Schedule F employees and replace them with political appointees of his choosing.
In reality, the president could fire thousands of federal employees and replace them with loyalists.
President Biden immediately scrapped this executive order upon taking office, but Trump has publicly pledged to revive it if he wins the election. He has proudly explained what he can achieve with this executive order in campaign videos and public speeches.
In a video from last January, he said, “We will root out and expel the radicals, fanatics, and Marxists who have infiltrated the Department of Education in the federal government.”
At a rally in South Carolina last year, he said, “We will pass an important reform that allows the President of the United States to fire all federal employees. The ‘deep state’ in the U.S. must be brought down, and it will be.”
Behind Trump’s election organization are many groups aiming to realize Trump’s vision.
Organizations like the Center for Renewing America and the America First Policy Institute, where Lotter works, are primarily composed of senior managers from the former Trump administration. They have been drafting position papers and blueprints to implement the policies Trump plans over the past year.
The Conservative Partnership Institute, where former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows serves as a “senior partner,” recruits, trains, and finds jobs for conservatives who could join the administration of a future Republican president. They have built a database of individuals willing to participate in the dramatic directional shift of the federal bureaucracy that Trump wants.
Some former Trump aides who have since become critics of the ex-president are concerned about these changes.
Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as Meadows’ senior aide and testified against Trump at the January 6 congressional hearing last year, says, “If Trump is re-elected, there will be no good people around him.”
BBC
However, from the perspective of Trump supporters, having a team composed of more appointees and insiders could reduce chaos in Trump’s presidency and enhance policy efficiency.
Lotter expects Trump to detail his plans after taking office.
In Lotter’s imagination, Trump would explain “50 policies, 50 executive orders, 1,500 positions to be filled” and “legislation to regain energy, protect the border, and deal with inflation.”
While these discussions instill hope and optimism among Trump supporters, providing specific policy proposals could also give Democrats ammunition for attacks.
Democratic political consultant and American University adjunct professor Craig Varoga says, “Trump and his policy experts, who are out of touch with reality, are creating opportunities to argue that they are denying the legitimate place of many in American society.”
“They can also say that they are trying to criminalize what many people consider to be a reasonable freedom, such as the right to abortion.”
On the other hand, they say that Trump, who is always capricious, could change his mind and scrap all the policy proposals his advisors have prepared.
However, Lanza believes the chances of this happening are low because this team knows Trump too well.
Lanza says, “These people will earn the president’s trust while working in the administration and will have an internal network to exert influence. Will the plan change over time? Of course, plans are meant to change.”
Lanza dismisses attempts by Democrats to attack Trump’s pledges, explaining that critics said the same thing about Trump’s election pledges in 2016.
He says, “They were shocking and provocative to many, but people still listened to Trump’s core message.”
“What Trump does really well is break the conventional wisdom about voter reactions on controversial issues.”
Image: Sarah Dechert (Visual Journalism Team)
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