For the second time in seven years, Donald J. Trump took the oath of office and became president of the United States. His most recent election victory is labeled by his campaign, and media outlets as the “greatest political comeback in history.”
President Trump defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris to become the 47th president in American History. This time he enters the white house with a new vice president, J.D. Vance, a former republican senator from Ohio who years ago was an outspoken critic of President Trump.
In his 2024 campaign Trump promised mass deportations, pro tax changes for the working and middle class such as no tax on tips and to achieve retribution on his political enemies. His choices to fill out his cabinet have come under fire and are in the process of being confirmed by the senate.
One of the Trump campaign’s pillars was inflation. Since February of 2020, consumer prices have increased by 22.5%. Trump used the issue to strengthen his platform, promising that he’d bring prices down.
“Prices will come down, you just watch, they’ll come down fast,” Trump said in an August rally.
The day after Trump’s win, the stock market soared. Dow surged up 3.5%, the S&P went over 2.5%, and Nasdaq’s high reached nearly 3%. A week before his inauguration, shares for the Trump Media & Technology group increased by more than 20%.
Trump has been an outspoken critic of former President Biden’s unprecedented climate change agenda and has verbalized his want to get rid of Biden’s regulations on fossil fuel use, and repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, which promised to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030.
On Jan. 6, Biden passed an executive action to ban offshore drilling in 625 million acres of land across the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts, along with some additional parts of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska. Trump’s desire to drill for more oil is his way of carving a path to curbing inflation.
“We will drill baby drill, and by doing that we will lead to a large-scale decline in prices,” Trump said at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Trump has promised to raise tariffs on China and place them on his North American Free Trade Agreement partners, Canada and Mexico. He announced a 25% tariff on the U.S.’s partners, regarding their role in stopping drugs and migrants from entering the country.
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Trump by citing Mexico’s work of detaining migrants and preventing the flow of drugs across borders.
Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister of Canada on Jan. 6. His former finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, announced her resignation from the position in December of last year, writing in her resignation letter.
“Our country faces a great challenge, the incoming administration in the U.S. is pursuing a policy of economic nationalism. To be effective, a minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister with full confidence, I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence.” Freeland said.
In taking office again, President Trump is tasked with handling an ever-changing geopolitical landscape that includes the almost three-year Ukraine-Russian war, Syria’s new government, and the recently agreed upon Israel-Hamas temporary ceasefire.
Regarding the Ukraine-Russian war President Trump addressed it back in September.
“I will get it settled before I even become president. I know Zelenskyy very well and I know Putin very well.” Trump said.
When the ceasefire deal was announced this past Wednesday, President Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened because of our Historic Victory in November. We will build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the Historic Abraham Accords.” Trump said.
The Abraham Accords, are a declaration by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to recognize Israel as sovereign. They were passed in 2020 under President Trump.
This time, Trump will enter office not as a political stranger, but instead, as a living example of American history. His populist platform caused America to make a decisive decision and has put the GOP in control of the senate and house.
Sebastian Perez-Navarro is the multimedia editor for the Prospector and can be reached at [email protected] or Instagram and X @sebastianpn8, and on linked-in @sebastianperez-navarro.
