President-elect trump held his first press conference since he was elected on Wednesday. Regardless of whether you love or hate Donald Trump, the press conference gave us a much better idea of how is going to be moving forward and what his priorities will be when he takes office.
First of all, we know now that Trump will name his Supreme Court nominee within two weeks of taking office. The question of who would be the next Supreme Court justice has been a hot topic since Antonin Scalia’s death in February of last year. Though democratic congress members wanted a liberal leaning judge to be nominated right away, before the presidential election, the nomination most likely would have been shot down in the republican majority congress. So, the nomination has been left for the president-elect. Trump will surely nominate a conservative judge; only time will tell how that effects high-profile topics like abortion.
Second, we learned that Trump’s highest policy priorities are repealing Obamacare (The Affordable Care Act), and building his wall along the Mexican border. In regards to Obamacare, he plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act completely while replacing it simultaneously with a policy that is yet to be disclosed. Trump said that he and Tom Price (Human Health and Services Secretary nominee) would submit a replacement plan to congress soon after he takes office. Whatever his new plan may be, he plans to get the ball rolling very, very soon. As far as the wall, Americans are finally seeing a little bit of reality in Trump’s discussion. While throughout his campaign Trump’s plan for the wall seemed quite vague, it is now obvious he actually has put more thought into it. He plans to start building right away, before any deal with Mexico has been made because he does not want to wait until all of the negotiations have been finished to begin construction. Also, Trump explained that while an amount equal to the cost of the wall will be collected from Mexico by the United States, this will most likely be in the form of taxes over a period of time, and not in a flat payment as he made it seem. Both of these policy initiatives are bold changes to the current administration's approach. Over the next six months, it will be interesting to watch the development of each and see how the American public is affected.
Third, he does not plan to let the media change his plans for US - Russia relations. Even with the bad publicity, he got from Buzzfeed on Tuesday, Trump commented on the fact that regardless of media attention or public opinion, his plans for relationships with Russia will not be affected. For some, this may be concerning as Russia has been painted as a secret enemy to the United States, just behind China. However, a healthy relationship between the US and Russia could prove helpful for both parties both economically and in relation to foreign affairs. Only time will tell how deep the friendship between Trump and Putin actually goes. Will they be the next political bromance?
Whether you love or hate him, Trump gave out some information at Wednesday’s press conference that tells us about not only his goals but also his confidence and his attitude going into the presidency. All we can hope is that he knows what he’s doing.
