After election day, social studies teacher Isaac Cowlin looked around his classroom. Thinking of his students, community, and himself, he anticipates the impact Donald Trump’s second term will have on those he cares about. 

On January 20, 2025, Trump will return to office following his victory in the U.S. presidential election. In Trump’s Agenda 47 Platform and campaign, he has proposed policies on the economy, immigration, education, healthcare, and government.

“Trump’s policies will impact not just the entire country, but the entire world,” Cowlin said. “Knowing Trump’s plans makes me feel for my students; it makes me feel for the people in my community.” 

Trump intends to lower the cost of living in the U.S., partly through cutting taxes. Trump has proposed extending his 2017 tax overhaul, while also exempting tips, overtime, and Social Security from taxes and lowering the corporate income tax rate. Additionally, Trump has proposed rolling back Biden-era tax rate increases and removing the cap on state and local tax deductions.

“If Trump cuts taxes for everyone, people will have more money to spend in their pockets and the ability to purchase will go up,” economics teacher Glen Lewis said. “However, in his first term, he reduced taxes for the wealthy, so the middle class ended up paying more. His tax plan won’t help unless he has a 180-degree change from what he did last time.” 

To reduce the cost of energy, Trump has proposed deregulating the energy industry to increase U.S. energy production. Trump has proposed deregulation policies including rolling back Environmental Protection Agency regulations and federal investments in clean energy from the Inflation Reduction Act.

“The U.S. is actually producing more oil than we ever have in the history of our country, and deregulation won’t necessarily cause our amounts to increase,” Lewis said. “Deregulation doesn’t make it less expensive to drill. I don’t think deregulation will adjust the cost of living in any way.”

Trump has proposed the ‘Trump Reciprocal Trade Act’, intended to lower other countries’ tariff rates on the U.S. by placing identical rates on imports from those countries. Simultaneously, Trump has proposed placing tariff rates of at least 10% on imports from all other countries and up to 60% on China as part of his ‘America First’ trade policy. He also indicated he intends on raising tariffs on goods from direct neighbors Canada and Mexico.

“Tariffs are inflationary, they will decrease the value of the dollar,” Lewis said. “If tariffs are on only nations that have them on us, then maybe that reduces them, and the net effect is that inflation is reduced on our part for those goods, but tariffs across the board will definitely increase inflation.” 

Trump has proposed reinstating policies including ‘Remain in Mexico’, Title 42, and enacting travel bans, which would limit immigration. Trump also wants to establish immigration reform including ending birthright citizenship and further prioritizing merit-based immigration. 

“Trump would prefer if everyone was legal, but I think that’s ironic because he’s made it so difficult to seek help in our country,” junior Violet Mills said. “I don’t understand the stigma about immigrants coming into our country. I feel like Trump has created this fear.” 

Trump intends to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Trump has proposed using federal forces and invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to aid in the process. Additionally, Trump has proposed strengthening border patrol by hiring more border agents and increasing their pay.

“If you get rid of workers, and there aren’t enough workers to do the work, prices go up,” Lewis said. “You have to pay people to attract them to the job, so you have to pay them more, then it costs more to make stuff, and then you have to sell for more. Unfortunately, it seems like most of the things Trump has proposed are inflationary acts.”

According to the New York Times, Social Security is projected to run out of funding by 2033. Medicare and Social Security are funded by federal tax income, therefore Trump’s plans to cut taxes and deport undocumented immigrants, who contribute to tax income, would further lower Social Security and Medicare funding. However, Trump does not plan to cut benefits or raise the retirement age. Previously, Trump has proposed repealing the Affordable Care Act, although it remains unclear if he currently plans to do so.

“I don’t think Trump cares about breaking any promises about Social Security and Medicare,” Cowlin said. “On healthcare specifically, I think this is a policy where I would focus less on the rhetoric of Trump and more on the history of the policy of the Republican Party. The history of the Republican Party has always been to deny coverage.”

Trump supports strengthening and expanding police forces. Trump has proposed using federal funding to hire more officers and encourage policing tactics such as stop and frisk. Additionally, Trump has proposed strengthening legal protections against police officers. 

“Police have already been shown abusing their powers when it comes to things like arresting,” junior Averi Castruita said. “So, I don’t agree with strengthening the police and their legal protections at all.” 

Trump intends to close the Department of Education, leaving education to be controlled by the state government. Trump has proposed that schools end teacher tenure, making teachers easier to fire, and school administrators, such as principals, being elected by parents. 

“There’s probably gonna initiatives sent down from the federal government,” Cowlin said. “These will that subject what were teaching, how were teaching, what we are or are not allowed to say, terms we can or cannot use.”

Trump intends to remove what he referred to as “inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material” from public schools by cutting funding from schools that he perceives as teaching such material. Trump has also proposed enacting policies, such as the 1776 commission from his previous term, which aimed to promote American-favorable education regarding history. 

 “I think that there’s been a lot of different types of horrible aspects in history, so it’s important to know not only the good but also the bad,” social studies teacher Tyler Larraga said. “Only painting a good picture leads to a lot of misinformation and different types of challenges in the future. So, I wouldn’t agree with informing the students of only some information.”

Trump has proposed revoking Biden’s expansions to Title IX, which included LGBTQ+ students in protection against discrimination in federal education programs and expanded protections against sexual assault and harassment. Further, Trump has proposed using Title IX to keep transgender students from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity. 

“I think protections for students are an important component within education,” Larraga said. “If those protections are present then they’re able to thrive within the classroom and their extracurriculars. As teachers, we always have to be there for the students, we always have to let them know that this place is a safe place for all of them.” 

Trump has also proposed policies that would limit federal funding to hospitals that perform gender-affirming care for adolescents. Trump has indicated he is not in favor of enacting a national abortion ban, preferring to leave that decision to the states. However, Trump will likely reinstate a previous policy of his that prohibits healthcare providers in the Title X network from discussing abortion with patients, which would remove millions of dollars of funding from organizations like Planned Parenthood.

“Restricting access to healthcare has made it extremely difficult for women and people who need that healthcare to receive it,” Mills said. “I think that healthcare should be available to everyone and I don’t agree with bans or restrictions on abortion.” 

Trump intends to strengthen the U.S. military and has proposed policies that would increase military funding and resources. In 2019, Trump created a sixth military branch, the Space Force. Trump has proposed creating a combat reserve for the Space Force, the Space National Guard. Additionally, Trump has proposed establishing an “Iron Dome” missile defense shield air defense system. 

“Every president has always been in favor of a massive military budget,” Cowlin said. “What the military has been to the U.S. throughout its existence is an instrument to defend the interests of those who run it.” 

Trump has proposed reinstating Schedule F, an executive order from his previous term that would reclassify thousands of federal employees, who usually retain their jobs during presidential transitions of power, to at-will employees, making them easier to fire. Both Biden and Trump have promised a peaceful transition of power.

“If politicians care more about being pleasant with each other, and students who I see in my classroom every day are asking me for snacks because they don’t have enough to eat, my heart is always gonna be with those students, not those who coddle Trump,” Cowlin said. “I care about the people in my community, the people I see on a day-to-day basis, and I think that Trump and the people who enable him go against the interests of me and the people I care about.”