The 2024 election will impact many political events in the future. With Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office again in early 2025, a radical and dramatic shift in American politics will likely occur.
Donald Trump won all swing states, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, Trump won 50.4% of the popular vote, a key victory in a swing state with 19 electoral college votes and a race decider in many past elections.
In the Senate, Republican challenger Dave McCormick narrowly defeated Bob Casey, flipping one of Pennylsvania’s senate seats to the Republican party. Additionally, the Republican party gained 2 seats in the House of Representatives from the Democrats, giving them the majority in Pennsylvania at 10 of the 17 seats.
The results of this election favor the Republican Party, as in addition to having their presidential candidate win the election, they have a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives. In Trump’s 2016 term, he appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court justices. They tend to lean right, which could allow him to implement his intended policies more easily.
“What you don’t always have, which you have with this election outcome, is that the House and the Senate are also majority controlled by the Republican Party, and then the Supreme Court leans right too,” history teacher Mr. Bob Moyer said. “That level of unity is unusual, and so Trump and his policies might be pushed through more easily.”
One of Trump’s major campaign promises was the mass deportation of illegal immigrants. With an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the US, this would prove to be a difficult task. He said that he would use local police and even possibly the National Guard or military to achieve this. This is not a new claim, as Trump also promised to deport many illegal immigrants in his 2016 campaign.
“Most people would agree that it’s an extreme level of a response,” Mr. Moyer said. “So if there is deportation, the logistics and cost of such a program are both complicated and high.”
He could also put in his “Remain in Mexico” policy, a border policy that forced immigrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico while the US government processed their cases.
He also promised to end birthright citizenship, a Constitutional amendment that states anyone born in the United States is an American citizen. Being an amendment, it can only be removed through an agreement through a national convention made by the states or a two-thirds vote in Congress, followed up by a ¾ vote in the state legislatures.
He has also promised to “Make America Affordable Again” through several different methods, including keeping taxes low, using American energy sources, reducing government spending, and making housing more affordable. He promised to end the “Biden-Harris War on American Energy” by increasing the amount of drilling and fracking done in the US to reduce Americans’ energy costs. He can use an executive order to stop environmental projects and climate goals put in place during Biden’s presidency.
He also promised to add blanket tariffs on all imported goods, ranging from 10% to 20%. However, tariffs could go from 60% to 100% on goods imported from China, which he claims is part of his plan to draw money from opposing countries. He also claimed that this would allow the US government to cut income taxes because of the new stream of income from the tariffs. However, the tariffs could also likely increase the price of goods, which would hurt the average consumer.
“Because of the promised tax cuts as well as the proposed tariffs, I think the amount of money the average American will have in their pocket in the coming years will be unclear,” Alex Foster ‘27 said.
Students can get involved in elections even if they can’t vote yet through debates and discussions regarding different topics to learn more. The election is also an opportunity for media literacy and awareness of biased news to be highlighted. By understanding the results of the election and coming events in an unbiased way, more educated and informed people can influence the future.