‘Dictator’ Trump with ‘no guardrails’ is here, 5 prospects that unnerve many and why

President-elect Donald Trump has a radically different vision for the United States and he has stated it clearly.

Mincing no words, Trump has said he would rule like a dictator on day one of his second term.

Trump has made no secrets that Russia or China are not his biggest priorities. His biggest priority is going after his critics, whom he called “the enemy within” and said that the military should be deployed against them.

Throughout the campaign, Trump and his running mate JD Vance used vulgar and violent language against opponent Kamala Harris and critics. While Trump called Harris “shit”, Vance called her “trash” and said the Republicans would “take out the trash”. Trump called critic Liz Cheney a “traitor”.

Trump has also spoken of a purge at the US military and Department of Defense. While he could not use the defence apparatus to the fullest in his first term because of pushback from some in the administration and some institutional safeguards, no such barriers now exist. By institutional purges, Trump would make sure that he would have only yes-sir in his administration.

As for the institutional safeguards, every institution is now in his pocket. While he has won the presidency, the Republican Party has won the Senate and the House of Representatives, making Congress a rubber stamp body. With three appointees in the Supreme Court, Trump has long had the Supreme Court in his pocket. Harris addressed these concerns in the final days of her campaign but the message fell on deaf ears.

In a post on X, Harris shared an excerpt from an election speech and wrote, “Imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails. If reelected, he will claim unchecked and extreme power.”

In the attached clip, Harris said, “He who has said he wished he had generals like Hitler’s, who calls Americans who disagree with him the enemy from within, you know what that harkens back to? And he says he would use the American military to go after them. Donald Trump has even called for the “termination of the Constitution of the United States of America” and let us be very clear, someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States! Never again! Never again!”

https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1850318075893039321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Here are five things Trump has said he would do with his unchecked authority.

1. Largest deportation programme

Trump has said he would run the largest deportation programme in US history. He has said that he would get all illegal immigrants deported.

Estimates suggest that there are more than 15 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

Throughout the campaign, Trump and his far-right platform took to racist rhetoric and disinformation around illegal immigrants, such as Haitians eating cats and dogs in American streets unchecked. The rhetoric apparently clicked.

2. Free run to authoritarian regimes

Russia is set to be the biggest foreign gainer from Trump’s victory if he follows through on the election promises.

Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours without committed to Ukraine’s victory or ruling out Ukraine’s surrender.

Trump has also declared that he would tell Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” with allies if they would not ramp up military spending as per his liking.

As Trump has promised to scale down US involvement in Nato and cut support to Ukraine, Russia and China are set to make gains internationally. As China has long been working on a bloc of fellow authoritarians Russia, Iran, and North Korea to undermine the Western democracies, Trump may deliver them a victory if he pursues that the isolationist foreign policy that he has promised.

3. Undoing climate change

Like his first term, Trump is expected to withdraw the Untied States from the Paris climate agreement.

As “drill baby, drill” was a slogan of the campaign, Trump is expected to open the floodgates for fossil fuel production and bulldoze the yearslong push for renewable energy while phasing out fossil fuels.

4. Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ agenda

Anti-queer agenda was central to Trump’s election platform.

Throughout the campaign, Trump spoke against trans persons. His supporters also posted abusive content and memes on social media throughout the campaign.

Trump has claimed that schools encourage sex-change surgeries for children and has said to purge trans persons and transgender healthcare for children.

Trump has also indicated at promoting bans for trans persons from sports.

Trump has also mocked gays throughout. Through the campaign, Trump mocked CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who is the most prominent gay journalist in the United States, and called him “Allison Cooper”.

5. Reproductive rights under Trump era

Like every other issue, Trump’s election campaign also rose on falsehoods around abortion.

Throughout the election campaign, Trump falsely claimed that Democrats were permitting abortions even after a child was born — a blatantly false claim.

However, in a break from more hardliner Republicans, Trump has said that he supports abortions in case of rape, incest, and in situations the mother’s life was in danger. He has also said that he would leave the matter of abortions on states and impose a federal ban.

However, Trump can indirectly hammer abortion rights by cutting healthcare funds. Access to abortion bills, which are used in most of the abortions in the United States, is already under assault by conservatives. The atmosphere created by Trump’s victory is set to embolden the movement against abortion rights.

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