January 20th, 2025 marks the official inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
Since his landslide victory in November, where the Republicans also won the popular vote, House, and Senate, the world has been abuzz debating what a second Trump term would look like. His 2016 - 2020 presidency, to put it lightly, was a period of immense chaos: he was impeached twice (first president ever!), encouraged the storming of the Capitol (an attack that killed five people), and in the midst of a global pandemic, dismissed the gravity of the situation until it was far too late.
Despite his polarizing presidency and being a convicted criminal (see my previous article about Trump’s trials), the 78-year-old still came out on top of the rat race, and will doubtlessly maximize his last four years in office to support as many conservative agendas as possible.
Trump has already made several ambitious promises, the top three which he describes as:
Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion
Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history
End inflation, and make America affordable again
He also plans to eliminate the Department of Education, prohibit gender-affirming care, reinstate mental institutions, implement 25% tariffs, and dismantle the ‘deep slate’ by stripping tens of thousands of career employees of their civil service protections.
To smoothen his transition into the Oval Office, Trump has begun nominating people to his cabinet. Some figures are quite controversial, such as his pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and alcohol abuse. Other key nominations include Pam Bondi for attorney general (who is currently being questioned for her unconditional loyalty towards Trump), Marco Rubio for secretary of state (who criticized the International Criminal Court’s treatment of Israel), and John Ratcliffe for CIA director (former director of national intelligence).
But perhaps most relevant to us is Trump’s promise to turn Canada into the 51st state. Although this would mean I wouldn’t have to pay international tuition to study there anymore (student debt is brutal, guys), his proposal has been met with vehement opposition by Canadian citizens and politicians alike. 82% of Canadians don’t like the idea and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself stated that the 51st state was “not going to happen”. More brusquely, he also described the chances of Canada being annexed by the United States as equivalent to “a snowball's chance in hell”. His primary concern is over Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, a plan that would jeopardize American-Canadian trading relations and ravage the Canadian economy.
His perspectives are mirrored by other politicians. Last month, while I was at the Legislative Assembly of BC attending Session, I had the opportunity to speak to different MLAs about their thoughts on Trump’s presidency. They unanimously agreed that although the future was unclear, what was certain was that the Trump presidency would be “devastating” to Canada, both politically and economically.
So, what would a 2025 Trump Presidency look like?
If Project 2025, a 900-page-book spearheaded by Trump officials and conservative groups, tells us anything, it is that his presidency will be four years of significant conservative victories focusing on American isolationism, traditional family values, and red MAGA hats.
Comments