Exactly what a Donald Trump presidency would look like is something that the media rarely grappled with in the run-up to the election. Because issues and governance are boring, amirite? But Mother Jones’ Tim Murphy compiled a list of things Trump had promised to do on his first day in office, and that’s worth revisiting. Here’s a taste:
- "Repeal every single Obama executive order." (He has also pledged more specifically to "eliminate every unconstitutional executive order.")
- "Repeal Obamacare." (On Trump's campaign website, he's less bullish, promising only to "ask Congress" on day one to repeal Obamacare immediately.)
- "End the war on coal."
- "Begin swiftly removing criminal illegal immigrants from this country." (More specifically, Trump has promised to do this in his "first hour" in office, "day one, before the wall, before anything.")
- "Begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall."
There's much, much more, from suspending Syrian refugee resettlement to getting rid of gun-free school zones. And while the idea that it’s all going to happen on Day One—or even that Trump can unilaterally do much of it—is nonsense, there’s plenty of fodder for very realistic nightmares.