Sometimes, I forget to thank the people who make my life so happy in so many ways. Sometimes, I forget to tell them how much I really do appreciate them for being an important part of my life. Today is just another day, nothing special going on. So thank you, all of you, just for being here for me!
2016-11-10
Donald Trump: Where next president stands on key issues
An extraordinary, unpredictable US presidential race has ended with a final twist - a Donald Trump presidency.
With
the long campaign dominated by questions about his character, what he
might do with power has become something of a sideshow.
But he will soon have the chance to shape US domestic and foreign policy. Here is how he stands on key issues.
TAXES
Mr
Trump has promised the biggest tax cuts since the Ronald Reagan era. He
has pledged reductions across-the-board, promising working and middle
income Americans "massive" cuts. His plan includes reducing the number
of tax brackets from seven to three, cutting corporate taxes,
eliminating the estate tax and increasing the standard deduction for
individual filers. According to one analysis,
the top 1% of earners would see their income increase by double-digits,
while the bottom quarter gets a boost of up to 1.9%. But the Center for
a Responsible Budget has also warned his plan would balloon the
national debt. JOB CREATION Mr Trump says he will create 25 million jobs over 10
years, saying too many jobs, especially in manufacturing, are being
lost to other countries. He plans to reduce the US corporate tax rate
to 15% from the current rate of 35%, and suggests that investing in
infrastructure, cutting the trade deficit, lowering taxes and removing
regulations will boost job creation.
IMMIGRATION
This
is his signature issue. Despite critics who call it unaffordable and
unrealistic, the Republican has stood by his call to build an
impenetrable wall along the 2,000-plus-mile US-Mexico border. He has
also called for reductions in legal immigration, ending President Barack
Obama's executive actions deferring deportation proceedings for
undocumented migrants, and more stringent efforts to reduce the number
of these migrants living in the US. The candidate has backed away from
earlier calls for the forced deportation of the more than 11 million
undocumented migrants living on US soil and temporarily closing the US
border to all Muslims - but not dropped them.
REFUGEES
Mr
Trump has been warning that the US policy of admitting refugees from
certain regions - the Middle East or, more generally, Muslim nations -
presents a serious threat to US national security. He has attempted to
bolster his case by citing often debunked internet rumours, such as that
Syrian refugees are largely young, single men. He has called for the US
to suspend resettling refugees until "extreme vetting" procedures can
be implemented, including ideological tests to screen out extremists. He
asserts that nations in the Middle East - which have already received
millions of Syrian and Iraqi refugees - must do more to create safe
zones for those fleeing the violence.
FOREIGN POLICY
Mr Trump has criticised the Iraq War (although his
claims that he opposed it from the start are unfounded) and other US
military action in the Middle East. He has called for closer relations
with Vladimir Putin's Russia and says the US must make allies in Europe
and Asia shoulder a greater share of the expense for their national
defence and emphasises that US foreign policy must always prioritise
American interests.
On the other hand, Mr Trump has also taken a
hard-line stance toward combating IS and has even at times asserted the
US should commit tens of thousands of ground troops to the fight. He
says Nato should do more to combat terrorism in the Middle East,
maintaining that the US foots too much of the bill for the Alliance and
that other allies should spend more on their own protection.
TRADE DEALS
Once upon a time, Republicans were the party of unfettered free trade. Donald Trump
has changed all that. While he says he is not opposed to trade in
principle, any trade deals have to protect US industry. He is firmly
against the Trans-Pacific Partnership and has said that he will re-open
negotiations on already signed pacts, such as the North America Free
Trade Agreement (Nafta), and withdraw if US demands are not met. He has
accused US trading partners like Mexico and China of unfair trade
practices, currency manipulation and intellectual property theft,
threatening to unilaterally impose tariffs and other punitive measures
if they do not implement reforms.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Mr Trump has issued no position statements on
environmental issues on his website. In speeches and debates, however,
he has said he opposes what he views as economically damaging
environmental regulations backed by "political activists with extreme
agendas".
He says he supports clean water and air, but wants to
slash funding to the Environmental Protection Agency. He has also called
man-made climate change "a hoax" and said he would "cancel" the Paris
Agreement and other international efforts to address the issue.
ABORTION
The
Republican said in March that abortions should be illegal and he
supported "some form of punishment" for women who had them. His campaign
quickly backed down from that statement, however, and asserted that the
candidate believed the legality of the procedure should be left up to
individual states, with any criminal penalties being reserved for
abortion providers.
He has said he supports an abortion ban
exception for "rape, incest and the life of the mother". He has called
for defunding Planned Parenthood. As recently as 2000, Mr Trump
supported abortion rights but has said that, like Ronald Reagan, he
changed his views on the matter.
HEALTH
Obamacare is one of the outgoing president's
signature policies - and Mr Trump has vowed to repeal it. His
alternative would give individual states greater control over their
health plans, and allow more competition across state lines. With
Republicans in command of Congress, revoking Obamacare seems a real
possibility. But they could face a backlash from the millions of
Americans losing coverage.
LAW AND ORDER
Violence
and lawlessness is out of control in the US, according to Mr Trump. He
says law enforcement agencies are unable to fight crime because of
runaway "political correctness" and says they should be allowed to get
tough on offenders. He says police profiling is necessary to prevent
terrorist attacks on US soil.
He supports "stop and frisk",
claiming the policy was highly successful in New York, even though many
experts disagree. The practice was ruled unconstitutional and a form of
"indirect racial profiling" by a federal judge in the city.
CHILDCARE
Rejecting
Republican orthodoxy, Mr Trump has called for six weeks of paid
maternity leave, which would amount to what the mother would receive in
unemployment benefit. But this would not apply to fathers. There are no
details though on how this policy would be paid for.
GUN LAWS
He
has blamed some shootings on lax gun laws, saying armed people could
have intervened and saved lives. He frequently accused rival Hillary
Clinton of wanting to eliminate gun rights during the campaign and
promises his supporters that the Second Amendment would be safe.
SUPREME COURT
One
of the most important decisions for the next president is shaping the
future of the Supreme Court. There is currently one vacancy, but with
several justices of retirement age, Mr Trump could have more than one
appointment to make, shifting the court to the right for years to come.
LOBBYISTS
Mr
Trump wants to create restrictions on lobbyists, by first defining who
is a "lobbyist". Currently, anyone spending less than 20% of their time
engaged in lobbying can call themselves an "adviser" or "consultant". Mr
Trump says this is a loophole that must be closed. He also proposes
there be a five-year ban preventing government officials who have recently departed the government from immediately joining lobbying firms.
He
also wants a lifetime lobbying ban on any former administration
officials who have previously worked on behalf of foreign governments.
He has called on Congress to change campaign finance laws to stop anyone
who lobbies for foreign governments from raising funds for US
elections. He has claimed to be "self-funding" his campaign, but has
also employed a former hedge fund manager to solicit campaign funds from
deep-pocket donors.
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