President-elect Donald Trump has been reelected as the 47th president of the United States, marking a historic return to the White House just four years after he left. Throughout his campaign, Trump has made countless promises and touted numerous retributions for his first day in office, and while some are achievable, others might not be.
Here’s what he said he would upon returning to the White House.
End war in Ukraine
During the second presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump claimed he’d end the war in Ukraine before beginning his presidency.
“I will get it settled before I even become president. When I win, when I’m president-elect, and what I’ll do is I’ll speak to one, I’ll speak to the other, I’ll get them together. That war would’ve never happened,” Trump said, implying he could get Ukraine to enter an uneasy truce with Russia.
The election came at a time of intensity for the war as Russia has been steadily making gains in the eastern Donbas region. North Korean troops have also been confirmed to be bolstering Russia’s manpower and have already begun fighting Ukrainian forces.
Shut down border
Immigration, particularly immigration across the southern border, has been a defining matter of Trump’s campaigns and his presidency. The idea has grown to be a pillar of the Republican Party and one of the driving forces behind Trump’s supporters.
During an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump was asked if he would ever abuse power as retribution against anybody. Trump answered, “Except for day one.”
When asked what that meant, Trump responded, “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.”
He threatened to close the border in March 2019 through a series of X posts, writing, “If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United State through our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week.”
The border has only been closed twice before, once after former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 and again during former President Ronald Reagan’s administration following the abduction of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1985. The second closure lasted nine days in total. It’s unknown how long Trump would enforce a closed border or if he would negotiate with Mexico to prevent immigration.
Mass deportations
During Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, he reiterated his goal of carrying out mass deportations on day one of his presidency.
“On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” Trump said. “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”
An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live across the nation, and Trump has said he would mobilize law enforcement and the National Guard to find and deport them.
Pardon Jan. 6 rioters
Trump has consistently supported the Jan. 6 rioters, frequently referring to the event as a “day of love.” In 2023, he said, “I am inclined to pardon many of them [rioters]. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”
Trump posted to Truth Social on March 11, elevating pardoning rioters to one of his first acts in office upon reelection and referring to them as “hostages” who are “wrongfully imprisoned.”
He circled back to the matter during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago on July 31 when a journalist asked him directly if he would pardon the rioters who assaulted officers on Jan. 6.
“Oh, absolutely I would. If they’re innocent, I would pardon them,” he said.
The journalist continued to press Trump, stating they were not innocent but actually convicted of crimes, to which he responded, “Well, they were convicted by a very tough system,” providing no clarification on how he would pardon the rioters.
Repeal electric vehicle mandates
At the Republican National Convention on July 18, Trump said he would end the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandate and increase car manufacturing in the United States.
“And I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now and saving U.S. customers thousands and thousands per car,” Trump said at the rally.
End ‘Green New Deal atrocities’
In a campaign ad last year, Trump said, upon reelection, he would end “Green New Deal atrocities on Day 1.”
The Green New Deal has been a point of fixation for Republicans since it was first introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in February 2019. The deal, which aimed to address climate change, was never signed into law but has been used by Trump to refer to President Joe Biden‘s climate and energy policies.
“To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam. Greatest scam in history, probably,” Trump said at the Economic Club of New York in September. “[We will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act.”
During a May rally in New Jersey, Trump promised to halt offshore wind energy projects “on Day 1” if elected, saying, “I’m going to write it out in an executive order. It’s going to end on Day 1.”
He said clean energy wind turbines “kill” whales due to their vibrations, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration later denied.
Impose tariffs
Although tariffs have been a huge piece of Trump’s reelection campaign, he made a tariff policy announcement on his final full day of campaigning in North Carolina, saying he would immediately impose tariffs on the U.S.’s largest trading partner: Mexico.
“If they don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country,” he told the Raleigh crowd. “I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send into the United States of America.”
He added he would go to as high as 100% duties on Mexican goods if the initial tariffs don’t get the message across.
Give green cards to college graduates
In an episode of the All In podcast released in June, Trump said on day one he would automatically give U.S. green cards to noncitizen college students upon their graduation.
“[What] I want to do, and what I will do, is you graduate from a college, I think you should get, automatically as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country. That includes junior colleges, too,” Trump said.
“Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years. If you graduate, or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country,” he continued.
“Somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can’t even make a deal with the company because they don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on day one,” Trump said.
“It’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools,” he added.
Fire the special counsel who indicted him
On Oct. 24, Trump also promised to fire special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two cases against him, “within two seconds.” He has also said he would punish the prosecutors and judges involved in his criminal cases.
“We got immunity at the Supreme Court. It’s so easy. I would fire him within two seconds. He’ll be one of the first things addressed,” Trump said during a call on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
Pardoning himself
Trump has been convicted on 34 felony counts, making him the first former president to become a felon and the first felon to be elected as president. The scenario has raised the question of whether he would pardon himself after assuming the presidency.
A sitting president cannot be prosecuted, creating a challenge for the Justice Department as it determines how to move forward with the two federal criminal cases against Trump.
The Constitution says presidential pardons only extend to federal crimes, not state crimes, so there’s a possibility Trump could pardon himself for the federal charges he’s facing connected to the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol and with his alleged mishandling of classified military intelligence.
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Trump was found guilty of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal in The People of the State of New York vs. Donald J. Trump in May. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 26, but following his reelection, it’s likely his lawyers will ask the judge overseeing the case to delay it indefinitely. However, there’s also a chance the judge will stand firm, as Manhattan prosecutors have stated the false sex scandal records are unrelated to his presidency.
It’s estimated Trump and his lawyers will request that the case be put off sometime this week, but there are no details on what steps his administration will be taking toward the criminal sentencing.
