President Elect Donald Trump has said he won't be a dictator "except for day one." We take a look at all of the "day one" promises he's made over the course of his campaign and explain how he might get them done. Or not.
For a sense of how many times Donald Trump made these promises, check out the Washington Post's data here.
Transcript
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Archival: [00:00:45] You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody except for day one. Except when he's going crazy.
Archival: [00:00:53] Except for day one. Meaning I want to close the border and I want to drill. That's not a -- That's not that's [00:01:00] not retribution. I got I'm going to be I'm going to be you know he keeps we love this guy. He says you're not going to be a dictator are you? I said no, no, no. Other than day one. We're closing the border and we're drilling, drilling, drilling after that. I'm not a dictator after that.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:20] I'm Hannah
Nick Capodice: [00:01:21] I'm Nick.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:21] And this is Civics 101. President elect Donald Trump has promised to be a dictator for one day. After that, he [00:01:30] says he won't be a dictator anymore. But given the fact that no president elect of the United States has ever vowed to be a dictator, even for one day, I figured that we should make an episode about that. So let's start with what he actually said he would do during his one day dictatorship. I also have to add here, no, you cannot. In the United States, as things stand today, simply be a quote unquote dictator. A dictator has ostensibly absolute authority [00:02:00] over a place and its people. Trump will not have that on day one, because we have a government established by our framers to actively prevent absolute authority for anybody. Dictatorships take time to establish.
Archival: [00:02:16] We're going to close the border. Day one. The border gets closed.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:22] Okay. Closing the border. By which Trump means the US border with Mexico. Nick, how does one close a border? [00:02:30]
Nick Capodice: [00:02:30] I know of two historical instances of the southern border being pretty much entirely locked up. They were, however, short lived.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:38] All right, let's hear it. Okay.
Nick Capodice: [00:02:40] It happened for one day after the assassination of John F Kennedy. The whole southern border was closed. And then I know that Ronald Reagan closed a bunch of what are called, quote, ports of entry. And that was after a DEA agent was kidnaped in Mexico and that only lasted for a few days.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:58] And importantly, Nick, [00:03:00] neither of those closures were challenged in court.
Nick Capodice: [00:03:03] Yeah, they were not. That is true. I also know that during the height of the Covid 19 pandemic, both the Trump and Biden administrations really restricted entry to the US and asylum. It wasn't a closure exactly, but immigration slowed to a trickle. But again, that was during a specific thing, a specific emergency, right?
Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:26] There was an immigrant visa ban at that time, and visa processing [00:03:30] the world over came to a near standstill. And when it comes to the US-Mexico border, officials started, quote unquote, expelling people without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum and suspended asylum hearings for people who had already applied
Archival: [00:03:47] The pandemic era emergency rule known as title 42. The policy has allowed U.S. immigration authorities to quickly expel immigrants and asylum seekers to stop the spread of Covid 19. The rule has blocked nearly [00:04:00] 2 million people from crossing the border since it was enacted during the Trump administration in March 2020.
Nick Capodice: [00:04:07] But again, Hannah, that is all tied to a public health emergency.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:04:11] It is, however, during his first presidency, Trump issued other immigration related proclamations. Do you remember this?
Nick Capodice: [00:04:19] I do. There was the so-called Muslim ban, which was actually even more broad than immigration, right? It restricted travel to the US for people from various Muslim [00:04:30] majority countries.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:04:31] Yeah. The Supreme Court upheld that in Trump v Hawaii, but Biden removed the ban when he took office. Trump does vow to bring it back, by the way.
Archival: [00:04:41] On day one of the Trump presidency, I'm restoring the travel ban, suspending refugee admissions and keeping terrorists the hell out of our country like I had it before.
Nick Capodice: [00:04:54] And then, lest we forget, there was the zero tolerance family separation policy [00:05:00] and the Remain in Mexico policy, which I think had to do with people not being allowed to come into the US while they waited to hear if they were going to get asylum.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:05:10] That was also undone by Biden. Trump also issued a proclamation saying that anyone who did not enter the United States at a port of entry in other words, anyone, including children who crossed the border illegally, would not be allowed to apply for asylum. Now, a circuit court invalidated this. We have a law that [00:05:30] says that any non-citizen who crosses the US border anywhere is allowed to apply for asylum. We also have a long standing treaty obligation to not raffoul anybody refal anybody.
Nick Capodice: [00:05:43] What is refoulement?
Hannah McCarthy: [00:05:44] It means that we do not force someone to go back to their home if they're going to be persecuted there. All right. Last one I want to mention. Trump also issued a proclamation suspending the crossing of non-citizens who did not have health insurance or the ability to pay medical bills. [00:06:00]
Nick Capodice: [00:06:00] I completely forgot about that one. Wasn't that also stopped by a court?
Hannah McCarthy: [00:06:05] Great question. One court said that this was illegal, and then another court said, you know, no, we're going to uphold it. This is permissible.
Nick Capodice: [00:06:15] Wait. But I know that policy did not stick around.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:06:19] It did not turns out that the second court's opinion was moot. We do not need to get into how that happened. But the point here, Nick, is that there was no definitive answer. One [00:06:30] court said no. Another court said yes.
Nick Capodice: [00:06:33] Meaning, if I may, I think that we are not actually sure what a president can or cannot do when it comes to immigration bans and border closures, unless there's an emergency.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:06:45] Which Trump has declared before.
Archival: [00:06:47] So we're going to be signing today and registering national emergency. And [00:07:00] it's a great thing to do because we have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people, and it's unacceptable.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:07:10] The president elect has also vowed to deliver mass deportations of undocumented immigrants on day one and invoke an old law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport suspected members of drug cartels and gangs without giving them a court hearing. He plans to funnel military spending into border security and hire thousands more border [00:07:30] agents. So how does one close a border? I guess we're going to find out. The once and future administration is famously light on the details here. But we do know how Trump has done versions of this in the past.
Nick Capodice: [00:07:43] And like you said, we are not completely sure how far the executive branch is allowed to go when it comes to the border, I can.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:07:50] Tell you that we do know that the Department of Homeland Security and the executive branch alike have broad authority to close ports and suspend entry to [00:08:00] the United States. How broad they are exactly will probably be tested in 2025. All right, moving on to drilling.
Archival: [00:08:08] Drill, baby drill. We're going to start that day one.
Nick Capodice: [00:08:13] All right I got this one. It's shorthand for expanding oil and gas production in the US.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:08:20] This one is interesting because we already are the number one producer of crude oil in the world and have been for about six years. So the expansion part [00:08:30] remains to be seen. You know what that is going to look like. But Trump has made clear that he believes that wind turbines and electric vehicles stand in the way of the oil and gas future he wants. All right.
Nick Capodice: [00:08:43] And I also know that Trump has promised to, quote, repeal the Green New Deal. But the Green New Deal doesn't actually exist.
Archival: [00:08:53] As of now. It looks like the resolution on the Green New Deal has now officially failed to advance [00:09:00] in the Senate. Back over to you.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:09:01] All right, quick primer on that. What do you mean?
Nick Capodice: [00:09:03] Yeah, absolutely. The Green New Deal is proposed climate change policy that says we are going to phase out fossil fuels. We're going to reduce emissions and get to 100% clean, renewable energy. But given that it hasn't actually been passed, I'm pretty sure when Trump says that, he just means he's going to get rid of other environmental policies.
Archival: [00:09:25] They spent trillions of dollars on things having to do with the [00:09:30] Green New scam. It's a scam.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:09:31] Some Republicans have taken that term. Green New Deal, which, like you said, is the name of climate policy. It was proposed by Liberal Democrats in Congress, and they have applied that term to things like greenhouse gas mitigation and lessening dependency on fossil fuels. These are policies that are found in the current Inflation Reduction Act.
Nick Capodice: [00:09:52] And I know the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA has new emission standards for vehicles.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:09:57] They do. Trump promises to eliminate [00:10:00] those on day one. He says that this will save American automakers, who currently have to abide by emission standards and incentives to make electric cars. So vehicle emission standards and wind turbine investment, Trump says, are going away on day one and drilling is going to get bigger. So what else does Trump say will happen on day one? I will get to that after a quick break. We're [00:10:30] back. We're talking about the many things that president elect Donald Trump has said that he will do on day one of his presidency, the only day, he says, during which he will be a quote unquote dictator. So what else is going to happen on day one? Trump has said that he is going to fire special Counsel Jack Smith immediately. Now, he didn't say day one per se, but, well, I'll let you listen.
Archival: [00:10:59] We got [00:11:00] immunity at the Supreme Court. It's so easy. I would fire him within two seconds.
Nick Capodice: [00:11:05] Jack Smith being the Justice Department special counsel who brought two federal cases against Trump.
Archival: [00:11:11] Trump has said he would fire special counsel Jack Smith within two seconds, erasing the two federal prosecutions. He's brought one over, subverting the 2020 election, the other for retaining classified documents.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:11:23] Now, we should mention here word is that Smith is already winding down both of those cases, and Trump [00:11:30] would likely not actually have to fire him to make them go away, at least not while he's in the white House.
Archival: [00:11:35] Jack Smith and his colleagues would look to wind these cases down one way or another.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:11:41] Trump has also identified many people who he considers to be his enemies and who he plans to go after, though he's indicated that that project might be bigger than a day one thing.
Archival: [00:11:53] Revenge does take time. I will say that it does. And sometimes revenge can be justified, though I have to be [00:12:00] honest. You know, sometimes it can.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:12:01] All right, moving on. Because day one promises to be busy. While we're on the subject of retribution, Trump has said he will. Quote unquote, free the January 6th rioters who have been arrested and charged, though probably not all of them, he says. A couple of them, quote unquote, probably got out of control.
Archival: [00:12:18] They've got the gallows set up outside the Capitol building. It's time to start using them.
Archival: [00:12:24] Start making a list with all those names down, and we start hunting them down one by one. [00:12:30] Traitors get guilty.
Nick Capodice: [00:12:34] And to be clear, this one's pretty straightforward because the president has broad constitutional pardon powers, though I will say they do only apply to federal cases and specifically do not apply to impeachments. And we still don't have a firm answer on whether Trump can pardon himself. Right? Right.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:12:54] So in case you missed it, Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York state. [00:13:00] Notably, that is a state case, and Trump is expected to appear in court for sentencing on November 26th. His lawyers are obviously filing a petition to delay sentencing, since he is now white House bound, and the judge in that case, Juan Merchan, might throw away Trump's conviction before that. Really? Yeah. Given the Supreme Court immunity ruling, which we have a whole episode about and Trump's presidential victory, Merchan gave himself until November 12th to decide whether or not to [00:13:30] overturn that conviction.
Nick Capodice: [00:13:32] But one way or another, Trump can't pardon himself in a state case.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:13:36] He cannot. And as far as pardoning himself in the federal cases, you know, as we said, those appear to be going away anyway. So he very well might not have anything to pardon himself for. All right. Back to day one. Trump has said that on day one, he will, quote, return to a foreign policy that puts America's [00:14:00] interests first.
Nick Capodice: [00:14:01] All right. Now, what does that mean? Like, do you have any details on that one?
Hannah McCarthy: [00:14:06] Not in terms of what that actually looks like on day one. But we do know that Trump has said that he will end the war between Russia and Ukraine before he even takes office. So that is foreign policy. Trump is also openly critical of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is an intergovernmental military alliance. Now, last year, Congress passed a law saying that the president [00:14:30] cannot leave NATO without consent from the Senate or a new act of Congress. But that law is a little weak and legal experts are not sure it would even be enforced, and the Senate will have a comfortable Republican majority by the time they have to think about it. All right, moving on. Trump has vowed to find time in that busy day to revoke protections for transgender students.
Nick Capodice: [00:14:54] Yeah, and this is title nine, right?
Hannah McCarthy: [00:14:55] Yes. So the Education amendments of 1972 [00:15:00] have a statute that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, and it applies to any education program or activity that receives federal funding. Last spring, the Department of Education, which Trump promises to dismantle, though we'll explain why that's really not a day. One project some other time. Anyway, the department, working under an executive order from Biden, added sexual orientation and gender identity protections to that statute.
Archival: [00:15:29] Crazy. [00:15:30] What? What would you do on day one?
Archival: [00:15:32] Don't forget that was done as an order from the president that came down as an executive order, and we're going to change it on day one. It's going to be changed. We're going to end it.
Nick Capodice: [00:15:42] And as for whether and how Trump can do this, he pretty much just told us, Hannah, he can issue an executive order regarding the Department of Education, just like Biden did. Yep.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:15:53] Trump has also promised to ban trans women from women's sports.
Archival: [00:15:57] Do you go to the sports leagues? Do you go to [00:16:00] the Olympics? You just ban it.
Archival: [00:16:01] The president bans it. You just don't let it happen.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:16:11] Along these same education sphere lines, Trump promises to cut federal funding to schools that teach what he calls critical race theory, which, you know, we've talked about before on the show. But just as a reminder, is a legal framework taught mostly in law schools and very much not taught to grade school students, much in the same way that we do not [00:16:30] teach grade school students taught law.
Nick Capodice: [00:16:32] But what he means, I imagine, is schools that talk about race, which.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:16:37] Given teaching, you know, the history of the United States, it is unclear how or where he will draw that line. He also plans to cut funding on day one to schools that teach, quote, transgender insanity. In other words, schools that foster conversations about gender and sexual orientation.
Archival: [00:16:55] We will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out [00:17:00] of our schools.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:17:01] Trump also plans to. Day one cut federal funds for schools that have vaccine or mask mandate policies. Now, to be clear, Trump cannot unilaterally cut education funds. He would need Congress to help him do that. And finally, in terms of kids and gender, Trump promises to ban gender affirming surgeries for minors on day one.
Archival: [00:17:22] Here's my plan to stop the chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation of our youth. On day one, I [00:17:30] will revoke Joe Biden's cruel policies on so-called gender affirming care. Ridiculous.
Nick Capodice: [00:17:37] And this banning of gender affirming surgeries. Are we again talking about an executive order?
Hannah McCarthy: [00:17:43] Probably, which could do something, have some effect? But again, ultimately something like that requires multi-departmental coordination and probably requires Congress and will almost certainly be challenged in court.
Nick Capodice: [00:17:57] While we're on the subject of executive orders, [00:18:00] I do know that one of the easiest things a president really can do on day one is to revoke the executive orders of other presidents. Right. So the guest we had on our episode about the executive branch, she called it unwinding, unwinding the actions of former presidents.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:18:19] Yes. I am glad you brought this up. While executive orders can be swift and decisive, they are also only as strong as the sitting president wants them to be. Trump has promised to [00:18:30] revoke Biden's orders on diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal workforce. An order on background checks for gun purchasers and an order on safety and security of artificial intelligence.
Nick Capodice: [00:18:42] Oh. All right, Hannah, what else you got?
Hannah McCarthy: [00:18:46] You want more than that?
Nick Capodice: [00:18:48] Yeah. Fair enough. That's a lot for one day.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:18:51] It's a lot for four years. That said, there are other day ones that have come up here and there eliminating certain commercial fishing regulations, [00:19:00] for example. And of course, this does not account for the many, many other promises to keep. Day one is just the beginning. We have got miles to go. And you know what? That is what we are here for. This is Civics 101.
Nick Capodice: [00:19:18] It is. We will be paying attention. We'll be asking questions. We'll be figuring it out. We will be here, civil or not.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:19:33] This [00:19:30] episode was produced by me. Hannah McCarthy with Nick Capodice. Christina Phillips is our senior producer. Rebecca LaVoy is our executive producer. Music. In this episode by Kushi, Toby Tranter, Matt Large, Magic, Jumbo, bonkers, Beat Club, Dugway, Ballpoint and Dharma Beats. We have gotten a lot of emails in the past week, and we are beyond ready to answer your questions about how this country works. [00:20:00] If you have anything you want to ask us, you can do that at our website, civics101podcast.org, or by emailing us at Civics 101 at nhpr.org. And Civics 101 is in fact a production of NPR, New Hampshire Public Radio.