President-elect Donald Trump said he wouldn’t be a dictator — “except for Day 1.”
He also plans to undertake the largest mass deportation of migrants in U.S. history, reshape the federal government, go after his political enemies and punish journalists.
With a Republican-controlled Congress, Trump can do a lot. The U.S. Supreme Court also significantly expanded presidential powers in July by granting Trump “absolute” immunity from prosecution for actions taken within his core constitutional duties and more limited immunity for other official actions.
So we wanted to know, can he really do that? The Chronicle asked students what questions they had and then researched the answers.
Some were easier than others to answer. For example, Trump has mentioned the idea of running for president a third time more than once. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution states that ”no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” Changing the amendment would have to be ratified by a majority of state legislatures. The last amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1992 and addressed financial compensation for Congress.
But in other cases, the answers to questions were more nuanced.
Can he curtail LGBTQ+ marriage rights?
In 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges recognized legal marriage between same-sex couples under the due process and equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This law protects same-sex marriage and allows them to have the same rights as married couples.
Can a president alone overturn a Supreme Court ruling? No. That power is not up to the president alone; this lies with Congress .
But here are some things to consider:
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the historic case in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade , which was the 1973 decision that protected a woman’s right to an abortion under the 14th Amendment. With the federal protection of abortion gone, the decision to ban abortions became dependent on the state.
Some of the judges who voted to repeal the law were appointed by Trump. They are Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Source: Human Rights Campaign
— Matt Brady
Can he institute a federal abortion ban?
President-elect Donald Trump said he would not sign a federal abortion ban, preferring to leave the decision up to the states.
But in the same election that is returning him to the White House, voters in seven of the 10 states with reproductive rights measures on their ballots enshrined them in their state constitutions.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of 2022, it ended the right to abortion on a federal level.
But there are ways that the Trump Administration could still restrict abortion access at the federal level: by restricting access to abortion pills and prohibiting providers who receive some kinds of federal grant money from referring patients for abortion care.
Source: U.S. Congress
— Jaida Raygor
Can he impose tariffs on all imports from China?
In an interview with the Economic Club of Chicago in October 2024, President-elect Donald Trump said, “To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff.”
Trump has proposed a 60% tariff on all imported goods from China and an up to 20% tariff on all other imported goods.
Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to enact tariffs, but over the years, Congress, through legislation, has given the president greater authority to enact tariffs for national security purposes or to combat unfair trade.
Most of the tariffs that Trump imposed last time he was president in 2018 and 2019 remain in place today.
Source: National Constitution Center
— Cin Castellanos
Can he create a new federal department?
The answer is: not efficiently.
President-elect Donald Trump has proposed to create a new Department of Government Efficiency run by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Musk has already claimed that he could find more than $2 trillion in savings, which amounts to one-third of the federal government's $6.7 trillion in annual spending.
While Trump has the power to create the DOGE, any new government agency must first go through Congress, both for approval and for funding.
That means the department will not actually be a department but rather an outside commission or advisory group.
Source: U.S. Congress
— Hunter Warner
President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to revoke network broadcast licenses, cut funding to NPR and public television, and jail journalists who have attempted to protect the identities of anonymous confidential sources.
He also has sued journalists, media outlets and publishing companies.
The government does not license national networks. However, the Federal Communications Commission does license local TV and radio stations to use the public airwaves.
Trump also has vowed to bring independent agencies like the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission under presidential authority. Some FCC commissioners who were appointed by Trump have even sided with his complaints.
Could Trump actually jail journalists? Probably not. He’d need law enforcement and the judicial system to help him, and no U.S. president has ever tried to jail a journalist. But Trump could certainly stymy watchdog reporting or use the Espionage Act to try to prosecute journalists through his Justice Department.
Martin Baron, who was the executive editor of the Washington Post for over eight years before retiring in 2021, said he believes Trump may try to classify more documents and claim any leaks as a threat to national security. “I believe that they will deny people access to the kinds of documents and even the interviews that have been traditionally available to the press,” Baron said during a recent event at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists
— Samantha Ho
Can he restrict birth control, IUDs and Plan B?
Birth control has seen a spike of interest since Donald Trump was elected. Thousands of women are stocking up and getting IUDs placed before he takes office.
Trump has said that he has no plans to restrict birth control, and all power relating to birth control will be left up to the states. However, in the past his administration has made moves to make birth control harder to get, including two actions in October 2017 on t he Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's health care law also known as Obamacare. These actions allowed some employers to opt out of providing insured birth control on the basis of religion and moral convictions. Title X, a federal program providing reproductive health care, was targeted by Trump in 2019 — barring all providers from mentioning abortion, lest they lose their funding. This caused seven state governments and Planned Parenthood to withdraw from the program. He also cut funding to Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs.
If he takes office, he could possibly make affordable birth control much harder to get through insurance. In the past, the GOP has attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, backed by Trump . If it was completely dismantled, millions could lose access to no-cost birth control. Plans by the Biden administration to increase access to no-cost birth control could also be blocked.
Though Trump has tried to distance himself from it, Project 2025 takes aim at emergency contraception like Plan B, or the “morning-after pill,” by conflating it for an “ abortifacient ” and calling for it not to be considered contraception — removing insurance coverage under Obamacare.
Finally, though the Supreme Court, there is a small possibility that Griswold v. Connecticut could be repealed. This ruling says that the Constitution protects the use of contraceptives by married couples from government restrictions, and was expanded to unmarried couples with Eisenstadt v. Baird . While there are no solid plans to repeal either, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called to reconsider Griswold v. Connecticut following the overturning of Roe v. Wade .
Source: Various news sources
— Trinity Balboa
Can he take away birthright citizenship?
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump renewed his call to end a long-standing constitutional right that that children born to parents without legal status in the U.S. will not be considered citizens . He claimed the parents were “trespassing our soil.”
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution holds that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
Opponents of birthright citizenship — including the Heritage Foundation — claim that this is open to interpretation and could be used to deny citizenship to anyone whose parents are not legally in the country.
Although most constitutional and immigration scholars said that such a change would require a constitutional amendment, which is much harder to achieve than simple legislation, Trump has pledged to issue an executive order, which would face immediate legal changes, likely ending up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Source: Library of Congress
— Elliot Royce
Can he ban critical race theory in elementary and secondary public schools?
Critical race theory recognizes that there is systematic racism in American society. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to go after “ wokeness ” in schools that teach it. He has said it verges on “ psychological abuse .”
Curriculum for elementary and secondary schools is not decided by the federal government but rather by state and local governments on a variety of levels. The president can, however, set national goals for public education through the federal budget, which accounts for 8% of public school funding in the country.
“We are going to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content onto the shoulders of our children,” Trump said at a July campaign event in Minnesota . “And I will keep men out of women’s sports.”
Since 2021, 44 states have taken measures to reduce the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.
Source: Various news sources
— Anastasia McCarthy
Can he hire people without a Senate confirmation process?
It depends on how each pick is classified. There are approximately 1,200 positions across the federal government under the president which require Senate confirmation, including the 15 Cabinet officials chosen to lead executive departments . The other top-level senior positions include agency heads and deputy secretaries. Some members of certain boards and commissions also must be confirmed.
These require a Senate hearing and a majority approval.
President-elect Donald Trump could try to circumvent the Senate confirmation process by using a clause in the Constitution that allows him to make recess appointments when the Senate is not in session. The appointments last through the end of the Senate’s next session.
Political appointments — appointments made by the president, vice president or an agency head — do not require Senate confirmation. Although these individuals aren’t required to go through a Senate approval process, they are still required to go through an approval and hiring process by the Office of Personnel Management.
Source: Center for Presidential Transition
— Talia Sprague
President-elect Donald Trump was elected in spite of 34 felony convictions. Fortunately for Trump, the ongoing trials against him won’t phase him much due to the Justice Department’s policy that a sitting president is safe from indictment.
While it’s true that the Supreme Court ruled that a president can’t be indicted for actions taken while in office, a lot of the charges against Trump had to do with activities outside of his time in the White House. He faces three criminal indictments in two federal cases and a state case and is awaiting sentencing in a fourth state case.
Trump theoretically can pardon himself as president, but that only applies to the federal charges against him, and it’s not clear if they will be thrown out or stalled while he is in office because this is largely unprecedented. Because of continuous trial days and an election victory, Trump is in a good place. It’s likely he won’t face consequences before he’s put into office and won’t face them in office because he will be president.
Source: U.S. Supreme Court
— Adriah Hedrick
Can he get rid of the Department of Education?
President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, something that other Republican presidents and party leaders also have tried to do.
The Department of Education provides funding for public schools, administers federal aid programs and collects data on U.S. education. It is also responsible for ensuring all students equal access to education.
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to create and fund federal departments, so eliminating the Department of Education would require legislation to pass. The department was created by an act of Congress in 1979 and former President Jimmy Carter signed it into law.
While the president could propose budget cuts or policy changes that reduce the Department of Education’s influence, he cannot unilaterally eliminate it. To fully dissolve the department, Congress would need to approve new legislation repealing its founding statute.
Source: National Constitution Center
— Catherine Pineda
Can he revoke green cards?
The short answer is no; the executive branch cannot revoke someone’s green card status. The only branch of government with this authority is the judicial branch.
The executive branch, through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, can petition a judge to revoke someone’s green card status for things like fraudulent marriages or staying too long in another country. But it is ultimately up to a judge to determine whether or not that individual’s green card can be revoked.
The long answer is more complicated. After the Mexican-American War, millions of Mexican-American citizens were deported with no due process between 1929 and 1936. Around 1.2 million of these people were citizens of the United States.
To forcibly remove people living in the United States, Trump has said that he wants to use the Alien Enemies Act, which was last used for the internment of Japanese, Italian and German nationals during World War II.
This means that if the President deems a green card holder’s country of origin to be an enemy of the United States, then he could have the grounds to remove that individual due to national security concerns.
There are currently 12.7 million people living in the U.S. as noncitizen legal permanent residents.
Source: USCIS
— Sebastian Isett
Can he require a national ID?
Some Americans are concerned that the Trump administration could force Americans to carry federally regulated identification that authorities could compel them to produce in order to prove their citizenship.
Since 2005, the Federal Government has mandated that states begin issuing “ Real ID ,” a standardized form of identification meant to “establish a minimum security standard” for state-issued driver's licenses and ID cards; and prohibits certain federal agencies from accepting licenses and identification cards from states that do not meet these standards.
The ACLU has criticized the notion of Real ID, saying “if fully implemented, the law would facilitate the tracking of data on individuals and bring government into the very center of every citizen’s life.”
Trump has not proposed that citizens be forced to carry a National ID but in his first term, his administration continued to support the 2005 mandate that all states comply with the standardized “Real ID.”
Trump has spread misinformation about immigrants lacking permanent legal status being allowed to vote and has supported a federal voter ID law called the SAVE Act , which called for voters to be required to provide proof of citizenship before voting in federal elections. The law did not pass the Senate. Additionally, it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
Sources: Department of Homeland Security
— Nathan Bieneman
Can he limit disability rights in education?
President-elect Donald Trump has said that he would eliminate the Department of Education. But what would that mean for students with disabilities?
The department helps ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to educational opportunities as required under federal law.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act exist independently of the department and guarantee access to public education.
Trump would need congressional approval to eliminate the department and to eliminate funding to the programs that supports students with disabilities.
As of publication time, he has not yet appointed a Cabinet secretary for education, but whomever he picks will be a key factor in deciding how changes to the Department of Education will impact programs that support disabled students.
Disability advocates worry that without a Department of Education, the federal laws would not be properly enforced, meaning students with disabilities could be hurt without the regulators in place who keep watch.
Source: Department of Education
— Emma Jolly
Robert Watkins, associate professor of political science in the School of Communication and Culture, said the Constitution plays a fundamental role in limiting the powers of the presidency by detailing the specific powers and responsibilities of the president as well as ensuring checks and balances with other branches of government.
But what concerns him “is the prospect of a president enabled by a Congress uninterested in checking the power of the president and a Supreme Court that has recently decided that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts,” Watkins said.
Watkins advised students to “stay informed and be ready to make your voice heard.”
Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, a professor in the School of Communication and Culture and the founder of Columbia Votes, said that she aims to provide students with access to information and that she will keep guiding them towards reliable sources.
“Read widely the smart people who are trying to analyze how we got here, and take that seriously,” she said. “But also give yourself a break; don’t get so immersed in how terrible it is that you’re paralyzed.”
Bloyd-Peshkin encouraged students to move forward by standing up for what they care about. “Because to me, the answer to despair is always action,” she said.
Columbia Votes will hold an event on Wednesday, Nov. 20 called “Can he actually do that? Myths and facts about the coming Trump administration.” It will take place at 6:30 p.m. in Room 219 in the 33 E. Ida B. Wells building, and include a panel discussion as well as a Q&A with three political scientists, including Watkins.
Junior dance major Elizabeth Moran said that she is worried about women’s rights, especially when it comes to abortion and the prospect of additional restrictions. “I think that’s pretty scary to me,” Moran said.
Gianna Velardi, a sophomore photojournalism major, also was worried about reproductive healthcare. “I would say my biggest concern is honestly Planned Parenthood stuff and birth control because that’s something that personally affects me,” she said.
Jenny Nellis, a senior user experience and interaction design major, was concerned about transgender rights. “All of my closest friends are trans, so the effect that his presidency is going to have on trans healthcare,” Nellis said, about what he was anxious about.
Joey Martinez, a junior film and television major, had several worries about Trump’s second term. “I think my biggest concern with the Trump presidency is his cult fanbase,” he said. “Not only that, but his outright denial of science in cases of climate change.”
First-year graphic design major Brandon Rodeiguez said that he is anxious about Trump’s promise of mass deportation. “Trump could personally affect me in the immigration side of things,” he said, adding that two of his siblings could be at risk of deportation.
Sophomore film major Delilah Luna was worried about birthright citizenship. “I know there’s been talk about potentially removing that, and that puts my citizenship at risk,” she said. “So my biggest concern is potentially losing my citizenship.”
Copy Edited by Trinity Balboa
Additional reporting from Matt Brady, Samantha Ho, Adriah Hedrick, Cin Castellanos, Hunter Warner, Elliot Royce, Sebastian Isett, Anastasia McCarthy, Talia Sprague, Trinity Balboa, Nathan Bieneman, Jaida Raygor and Catherine Pineda.
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