Trump's unwavering agenda: Key priorities ahead of inauguration

The two and a half months between the election and the inauguration have allowed Donald Trump to repeatedly reaffirm the priorities he will address once he takes the oath of office on Capitol Hill. In fact, it increasingly seems likely that the president-elect will follow through on his joke of setting up an office on the steps and immediately begin signing executive orders without wasting any time.

Despite the frantic actions of lame-duck Biden in his final days in the White House, Trump is keeping his agenda intact. The outgoing president's moves, which complicate matters for the incoming administration by approving initiatives that result in significant costs for the national budget (debt forgiveness), affect international policy (including the authorization of U.S. missile use in Ukraine and removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism) and border security (such as extending parole to citizens of various nationalities), have not been enough to derail the order in which Trump plans to address the main challenges inherited by the incoming Republican administration.

In fact, the Senate hearings this week for his picks, aimed at defending the merits of his choices and securing the Upper House's approval necessary to take office, have highlighted the strong alignment of his team with him and their eagerness to fulfill the President-elect's campaign promises within their areas of responsibility. For example, Pam Bondi was firm in assuring that she would end the persecution of Christians and pro-lifers by the Justice Department.

In addition to his campaign promises, the last few months have confirmed that Trump will prioritize signing executive orders related to:

1. Border/immigration

Despite efforts by Biden and key Democratic governors to complicate the mass deportations announced by Trump, the president-elect has not wavered in his stance or in his commitment to securing the borders and addressing the issue of more than 10 million illegal immigrants who entered and remain in the country over the past four years due to the outgoing administration's open-door and "catch and release" policies.

2. Pardon for January 6 convicts

On the second anniversary of the events, Trump reiterated his criticism of the "witch hunt" unleashed by the Democrats against him and his supporters after the 2020 elections. He has consistently questioned the condemnations of those arrested for their participation in the January 6 incidents, criticizing the politicization of institutions and emphasizing that he would sign pardons for them as soon as he returns to the White House.

3. Pardon to those condemned for praying in front of abortion clinics

Trump's nominee to head the DOJ confirmed the President-elect's commitment to ending the Biden administration's ideological persecution of Christians, particularly pro-life activists.

Numerous faithful were arrested as terrorists in recent years simply for praying in front of an abortion clinic, facing harsh sentences, often with aggravating circumstances fabricated by the Democratic Executive. Trump pledged to sign their pardons as one of his first acts and in fact, the Justice Department has delayed their imprisonment until after the president-elect's inauguration.

4. Economy/inflation

Biden's recent actions, such as approving millions of dollars for student loan forgiveness, have led to a significant increase in public spending. This has made it even more of a priority for Trump to address one of the key reasons for his return to the White House. Americans of all races, ages and religions have suffered from the extreme inflation caused by Biden's economic policies, along with other negative consequences of his administration, in stark contrast to the strong economic conditions they enjoyed during Trump's term before the COVID-19 pandemic.

5. Energy

In his farewell, Biden lamented that all the progress made by his administration on the green agenda would be undone by the incoming administration, as Trump quickly reiterated. This is a closely related issue, as reducing energy and gasoline prices is crucial to curbing inflation but it warrants its own focus. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly stated that he would sign an executive order directing federal agencies to eliminate all green regulations that burden taxpayers. For instance, he plans to end the electric vehicle mandate.

6. Taxes/credit card interest

One of the standout moments of the campaign came when Kamala Harris was accused of plagiarizing Trump's proposal to eliminate tip taxes. As a result, in addition to presenting a plan to reduce taxes, he pledged to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security as soon as he makes it into the Oval Office.

In addition, he stated that he would sign "a temporary 10% cap on credit card interest rates," a promise that has garnered the interest of even socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, who has expressed a willingness to collaborate with the president-elect in this effort.

7. End of woke indoctrination 

Since winning the election, Trump has emphasized that the cultural battle is one of his top priorities. One of the main battlegrounds in this ideological war is the education system, where parents are increasingly seeing their rights threatened and restricted if they dare to oppose certain agendas. To address this, Trump promised to sign an executive order to withdraw funding from educational institutions that promote the teaching of critical race theory or other "inappropriate" political or sexual ideologies.

8. End trans treatments for minors

One of the most critical and extreme aspects of woke fanaticism is trans ideology. In the name of this ideology, minors are being subjected to irreversible procedures whose consequences will affect them for the rest of their lives, including surgeries that permanently alter their bodies and hormone treatments that permanently change their metabolism. As early as 2023, Trump presented a plan that he vowed to sign on his first day in office, aiming "to repeal Joe Biden's cruel policies on so-called sex-affirming medical treatments" for children.

9. Fighting censorship

One of Trump's major victories, even before taking office, was Meta's announcement that it would eliminate Facebook fact-checkers, replacing them with X-style community notes. The strong defense of free speech has always been a cornerstone of Trump's campaign. He and the Republicans have spent the entire legislative term denouncing the efforts—and successes—of the Democrats to silence those who oppose their narrative. This became particularly evident with those who presented alternative views during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued on various other issues thereafter.

Trump pledged to "prohibit federal agencies from using speech to label national discourse as misinformation or disinformation." As part of his fight against censorship, he also vowed to identify and fire "every bureaucrat" who participated in these processes during Biden's time in office.

10. DOGE

Dismantling the deep state and addressing its consequences is central to the new mandate. To tackle the bloated government and the burden on taxpayers, Donald Trump has put Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of establishing a department focused on identifying and eliminating wasteful spending within the administration.

Both have already begun working and estimate that they could reduce the cost of maintaining the executive branch by $1.9 trillion. To achieve this, they plan to eliminate entire agencies and cut wasteful spending, often linked to Wokism.