Donald Trump's campaign team and advisers have said what the Republican will do on the first day of his return to the White House following his 2024 election victory.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump's national press secretary, told Fox News soon after Trump was declared the winner over Kamala Harris that he will now be able to launch "mass deportations" of illegal immigrants, expand oil drilling in the U.S, negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine and impose sanctions on Iran to "stop the chaos in the Middle East."
A similar sentiment—that Trump will tackle border security and take steps to lower inflation on his first day—was echoed by senior Trump adviser Jason Miller during an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America.
Polls had frequently suggested that the race between Trump and Harris was neck and neck, with the forecast models from 538 and veteran pollster Nate Silver suggesting that the vice president was the marginal favorite. Instead, the Republican is on course to win the popular vote, and possibly sweep all seven main battleground states.
Trump previously said he would only act as a dictator if he returned to the White House in January 2025 on "Day One," in order to implement his campaign policies. "I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill," Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity during a town hall event in December 2023. The inauguration is expected to take place on January 20, 2025.
Newsweek has contacted the Trump and Harris campaign team for comment via email.
Speaking to Fox News, Leavitt said Trump's clear victory means he can deliver the campaign policies voters wanted when they backed him.
"The American people delivered a resounding victory for President Trump, and it gives him a mandate to govern as he campaigned, to deliver on the promises that he made," Leavitt said.
'Drill, Baby Drill'
"Which include, on Day 1, launching the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrants that Kamala Harris has allowed into this country. It includes drill, baby drill, and expediting permits for nuclear, for fossil fuels, for an above-all energy approach that's going to bring down the cost of living in this country.
"It includes, on Day 1, bringing Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table to end this war, and returning to the very tough sanctions on the Iranian regime so we can stop the chaos in the Middle East."
Leavitt said that the election results showed American people have been "longing" for the policies of Trump.
"They despise the policies of the Harris-[President Joe] Biden administration that have been implemented over the past four years, and the Harris-Biden administration will go down as the worst, weakest, most corrupt administration in our nation's history, and the American people proved that last night."
Leavitt added that neither Harris nor Biden has called Trump as of Wednesday morning to concede or congratulate him on his victory.
When asked about Trump's first day back in office, Miller told Good Morning America there are a number of things you can do with executive orders to follow through with campaign policies.
"Such as put all of his strong border policies back in place. The previous administration didn't need any acts of Congress to go and break the border, and so all we have to do with regard to the border is put his policies back in place," Miller said. "We can secure it and start making the country much more safe.
"Also we can get a lot of the energy exploration going, which of course that will help with bringing down the cost of things and stop the out-of-control inflation that we've seen,' Miller added.
At time of writing, Trump has 277 Electoral College votes to Harris' 224, according to The Associated Press, with the Republican leading in the three as-yet-uncalled swing states of Arizona, Michigan and Nevada.
In his victory speech in Florida, Trump said his second presidential win and the GOP regaining control of the Senate meant the American people have given the Republican Party an "unprecedented and powerful mandate."
"This is a movement like nobody's ever seen before and, frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time," Trump added.
"There's never been anything like this in this country, and maybe the, and now it's going to reach a new level of importance because we're going to help our country heal."
Update 11/06/2024, 12:45 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and a change of headline.
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more