“[Donald Trump’s] visions will take back control from the Radical Left maniacs indoctrinating our children, and give our kids the high quality, pro-American education they deserve.”-Trump’s campaign site.

As the country approaches the 2024 Presidential election, many students are ready to cast their ballot for the first time. Former President Donald Trump is running for the third time, here is what Trump serving a second term could mean for Eanes. 

Gun Laws

Trump has stayed true to the standard Republican value of very limited gun control in the U.S., continuously expressing his support of the Second Amendment through his words and his policy.

Previously, Trump took action to make guns more accessible to the American people. In 2017, he approved a law to push back on previous legislation that made it more difficult for people suffering from mental illness to buy guns. He previously stated many times that he advocated for background checks, however, in 2019, he threatened to veto legislation implementing universal background checks when purchasing a gun. 

Although he is a strong supporter of gun rights, the Trump administration did previously enact restrictions. In 2018, Trump placed a ban on bump stocks and also called for “red-flag laws,” which meant that police could remove guns from their owners if found by a court that they posed a threat. These laws could also temporarily prevent people from buying guns.  

In 2018, Trump dismissed implementing gun-free zones and wanted to allow concealed carry weapons for “people of talent” and teachers on school property, stating that he wanted a small percentage of teachers to be armed.

“Look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun-adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to,” Trump tweeted. 

At an NRA (National Rifle Association) event in 2023, he said he wanted to implement a tax credit for teachers who wanted to carry concealed weapons at school and for teachers who wanted gun training. Trump downplayed the role of guns in mass shootings.

“This is not a gun problem, this is a mental health problem, this is a social problem, this is a cultural problem, this is a spiritual problem,” Trump said in response to an elementary school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. “We could fund armed security guards at the entrance [of] every school in America and also arm every willing teacher. We want to arm some of these teachers.”

Similarly, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican Party’s Vice Presidential candidate, expressed that restricting guns will not stop school shootings, and instead, schools should increase security. 

“We have to make the doors lock better,” Vance said during the October vice presidential debate. “We have to make the doors stronger. We’ve got to make the windows stronger. And of course, we’ve got to increase school resource officers. The idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys, it just doesn’t fit with recent experience. So we’ve got to make our schools safer.” 

Education

Trump has proposed that he will eliminate the Department of Education, believing that eliminating the department will prevent children from being exposed to material his administration deems inappropriate. He has expressed his concern that children are being “indoctrinated” by “radical left maniacs.” 

“We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing,” Trump said at a September rally in Wisconsin. 

In an effort to change the credentialing system for educators, he supports eliminating teacher tenure for grade schools and establishing merit pay for educators.

According to his website, “[Trump wants to] create a new credentialing body to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values, and understand that their job is not to indoctrinate children, but to educate them.” 

He advocates cutting the number of administrators in schools, forming an election for school principals voted on by parents, implementing a “Parent Bill of Rights” containing transparency toward the entire school curriculum as well as “a form of universal school choice,” expanding school choices from public schools to private and other schools using public funds in some cases. 

“First, we will cut federal funding for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children,” Trump said. “We are not going to allow it to happen.” 

Previously, Trump implemented and supported several education initiatives. This included expanding school choice, implementing the 1776 Commission, a “pro-American” lesson plan for schools, calling for the passage of the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act, promoting the protection of the First Amendment in schools and others. 

Social Issues 

Donald Trump has spoken out against school curriculums and policies the Biden administration implemented, such as the expansion of the protection of transgender students under Title IX, a law forbidding discrimination based on sex in federally funded education activities and programs. 

Trump plans to implement policies with consequences to any teacher or administrator who suggests to a student the possibility “that they could be trapped in the wrong body” and states that the consequences could include the elimination of federal government funding.

“We will promote positive education about the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers, and celebrating rather than erasing the things that make men and women different and unique,” Trump stated on his website.

Trump has stated that his administration will request that Congress pass a bill declaring that there are only two genders accepted by the federal government, male and female, which are assigned at birth. 

“No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender,” Trump said. 

Additionally, Trump wants to eliminate the teaching of “Critical Race Theory,” an umbrella term founded on the idea that there is a lack of equity in the U.S.A. due to historical racial inequality in both education and the federal government.

Overall, Trump will continue to oppose the teaching of “Critical Race Theory”, and will seek to block transgender-inclusive agendas.

Women’s Health 

Trump previously took credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, claiming that he made the decision “everybody” wanted to happen: each state would have the right to enact its own abortion laws. Despite his policies, which have led to restrictions on abortion rights in many states, he has dismissed the notion of a national abortion ban. 

“I’m not signing a [national abortion] ban, and there’s no reason to sign a ban, because we’ve gotten what everybody wanted,” Trump said in the ABC Presidential debate.

Trump claimed that his “administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights” and that women “will no longer be thinking about abortion” if he is elected President. 

 Trump supports the rights of individual states to make [the decision of abortion] for themselves,” according to his website.