The ‘Trump Effect’

Member Group : Jerry Shenk

Based on the phone calls and trips allies and adversaries, both foreign and domestic, have already made to Mar-a-Lago, one might think that Donald Trump has been president since November.

Those various fence-mending efforts and solicitations alone constitute a “Trump effect” that would have been impossible without the experience of his first term, the Biden/Harris administration’s domestic and foreign policy fecklessness, and Trump’s triumph over years of partisan accusations, attacks and lawfare that culminated in decisive electoral and popular vote victories.

Donald Trump has ambitious plans for his second term. He has reportedly prepared one hundred executive orders to be issued immediately that address, among other matters, border security, energy production, and taxes.

Trump:  “We must Secure our Border, Unleash American Energy, and Renew the Trump Tax Cuts, which were the largest in History, but we will make it even better…”

The Republican Congress has plans to include key provisions of Trump’s agenda in a single bill, possibly two.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has said there will be an extension of the Trump era tax cuts. But Trump also wants Congress to eliminate federal taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits.  A September Wall Street Journal survey found that 83 percent of registered voters approve the latter.

In addition, Trump has proposed a reduction of the corporate income tax rate from 21 percent to 15 percent, but only for companies that produce their products in the United States and create job opportunities here.

Trump has promised to begin implementing the mass deportation of illegal aliens beginning on Inauguration Day.

Border Czar-designate Tom Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said, “We want to arrest as many people as we can that are in the country illegally. If you’re here illegally, you’re not off the table. It’s a violation of the law; it’s a crime to enter this country illegally.”

Trump is also committed to completing construction of a wall on our southern border.

Trump has promised to ramp up domestic energy production to lower the cost of energy and other commodities: “We’re going to drill, baby, drill. Energy is coming way down… And when energy comes down, everything else follows.”

But there are many more Biden/Harris administration failures to be addressed.

Economist Stephen Moore, visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation writes:

“Along with extending the Trump tax cut of 2017, [the] erasure of bloated federal spending is critical for economic revival and for reversing the income losses to the middle class under Biden. […]

“This is especially urgent because the curse of inflation is NOT over. Since the Fed started cutting interest rates in October, commodity prices are up nearly 5%, and mortgage rates have again hit 7%, in part because the combination of cheap money and government expansion is a toxic economic brew…”

Moore suggests that government recall “$500 billion of rescissions – money the last Congress appropriated but has not yet been spent. Canceling the green energy subsidies alone could save nearly $100 billion. We could save tens of billions of dollars by ending corporate welfare programs – such as the wheelbarrows full of tax dollars thrown at companies like Intel in the CHIPS Act,” and asks, “Why are we still spending money on COVID-19?”

The new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), overseen by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, is already identifying opportunities to eliminate waste. There are many.

There are foreign policy challenges to face, as well. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, invited by overly-aggressive NATO expansion and weak Biden foreign policy, is entering its fourth year. Trump committed to ending it within “24 hours.” He and Russian president Vladimir Putin may have already spoken. Recently, though, Russia appears to be gaining the upper hand and has reportedly rejected proposals from the Trump team for a ceasefire agreement.

Hamas has held Americans hostage since their October, 2023 attack on Israel, an unthinkable event had Trump been president. The recent cease-fire/hostage release agreement resulting from Trump’s pledge that “all hell will break out” if Hamas fails to release hostages by January 20 stands in stark contrast to Joe Biden’s vacillations between half-hearted condemnations of Hamas, and concurrent “support” for and criticism of Israel.

Ultimately, Donald Trump, his administration and Congress will be measured by how well they meet Trump’s specific goals.

https://www.pottsmerc.com/2025/01/19/jerry-shenk-the-trump-effect/