Based on his own comments and the ongoing planning by his political allies, here’s what a second Trump administration could entail.
In January 2025, Donald Trump may be sworn into office as the 47th President of the United States.
Despite his ongoing legal troubles, plenty of national polling shows the former president being either tied or leading President Joe Biden,
A second term for Biden could mean either more of the same or a flurry of new progressive policies, if Democrats gain control of both chambers of Congress.
Another Trump term, on the other hand, would likely entail a radical reversal from not just the previous four years, but even from Trump’s first term in office.
That becomes clear after examining the former president’s campaign proposals, reading his April interview with TIME, reviewing reporting from The New York Times, and perusing proposals made by the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
Some of these proposals may depend on Republicans gaining control of both the House and Senate, a likely possibility — though not guaranteed — if Trump wins the presidency.
While not exhaustive, here’s just some of what to expect in a second Trump administration.Radically reshaping the federal bureaucracy
Perhaps the most unorthodox — and to some, frightening — aspects of Trump’s planning for a second term involve restructuring the executive branch in a manner that would drastically increase presidential power.
That includes exercising more direct control over the hundreds of thousands of civilian servants who populate federal agencies — many of whom are apolitical, and often remain in their jobs across presidential administrations.
Trump has pledged to bring back «Schedule F,» a classification for civil servants that was created — but never used — in October 2020. Biden later rescinded it after taking office. That classification was designed to skirt the typical job protections afforded to career civil servants.
Trump’s plans also include bringing independent agencies — such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission — under direct presidential control, a departure from decades of precedent. That could also include the Federal Reserve, the country’s central banking system, though that’s less clear.
Lastly, he has pledged to bring back «impoundment,» in which the executive branch refuses to spend money provided by Congress. That’s been illegal since 1974, but Trump is pledging to challenge it.
One of the hallmarks of Trump’s first term was that he was significantly constrained, both by his advisors and aspects of the federal bureaucracy. Taken together, these proposals show how that could change.A murky stance on abortion
In April, Trump declared that he believed abortion should be decided at the state level, seemingly rejecting the idea of enacting nationwide restrictions on the procedure.
«The states are going to say. It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not,» Trump told TIME. «It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.»
But that doesn’t fully address the complexity of the issue — and it’s unclear how far other Republicans may go.
