Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.
While he won't be sworn in for a few months, the former (and future) president has a growing to-do list for a second term.
Let's take a look at his policies and what shape they might take in practice.
Bureaucracy
What are his policies?
- Appoint billionaire businessman Elon Musk as the head of a "Department of Government Efficiency"
- Classify thousands of federal workers as being outside civil service protections, making it easier to sack them
How will this look in practice?
Cutting thousands of federal workers could risk weakening the government's ability to enforce statutes and rules.
That's because it would reduce the number of employees engaging in such work and would potentially cause a chilling effect on those who remain.
Climate and fossil fuels
What are his policies?
- "Drill, baby, drill" — that is, scale up fracking projects to extract oil and gas from underground
- End all incentives for EV market development
- Roll back fuel efficiency standards in cars
- Open all federal lands for exploration for fossil fuels
How will this look in practice?
Trump has criticised the Biden administration's spending on cleaner energy measures.
With his energy agenda anchored to fossil fuels, the president-elect is likely to abandon renewable energy targets.
He argues the ramping up of fossil fuels will drive down constituents' energy bills.
Education
What are his policies?
- Shut down the federal Department of Education
- Scrap diversity programs at all levels of education
- Drop tenures for teachers and instead, introduce merit payments
- Pull funding for any school teaching "Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content"
How might he achieve this?
With plans to eliminate the Department of Education, Trump plans to achieve his other policies by using federal funding for schools in a carrot-or-stick approach.
Schools that comply with his policies would receive funding, while those that don't will have it pulled.
He has also said he would tax, fine and sue "excessively large private university endowments" at schools that don't cooperate.
Healthcare
What are his policies?
- Repeal the Affordable Care Act
- Appoint former presidential campaign rival Robert F Kennedy Jr to a key health role, putting him in charge of a number of related government agencies
How might this look in practice?
While Trump's plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act is not new — he's been talking about it since 2015.
The president-elect still has not proposed a replacement but in his debate against Vice-President Kamala Harris in September, he insisted he had "concepts of a plan".
And while Kennedy, a noted vaccine sceptic, has said, 'We're not gonna take vaccines away from anybody", Trump himself has not ruled out vaccine bans.
The president-elect says he would consult with Kennedy and others before making a call.
Kennedy has flagged that he would advise fluoride be removed from public water systems despite health and dental experts maintaining its addition to drinking water is beneficial.
The environmental lawyer has also said there are "entire departments" within the Food and Drug Administration that would "have to go", including its nutrition department.
Housing
What are his policies?
- Ramp up housing construction by cutting regulations
- End "frivolous litigation from the environmental extremists" to open up land supply
How might he achieve this?
Most rules around construction actually come from state and local governments, so his ability to cut regulations may be limited.
Immigration
What are his policies?
- Continue construction on the wall along the US' shared border with Mexico
- Carry out the "largest mass deportation program in history"
- Ideological screening for would-bee entrants
- Has pitched ending birth-right citizenship
- Reinstitute first-term policies, including severely limiting or banning entrants from certain majority-Muslim nations
How might he achieve this?
The president-elect hasn't shared many details about how he plans to enact his deportation plan.
He has floated the idea of deploying the National Guard and has suggested pulling funding for local law enforcement agencies that don't cooperate.
Ending birth-right citizenship would almost certainly require a constitutional change, which is difficult to achieve.
There are some tough hoops to jump through to make amendments, according to the White House website.
"An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or, if two-thirds of the states request one, by a convention called for that purpose. The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, or three-fourths of conventions called in each state for ratification."
Military and international affairs
What are his policies?
- Expand the US military
- Protect Pentagon spending from austerity efforts
- Establish a new missile defence shield, similar to Israel's "Iron Dome"
- Promote "peace through strength"
Taxes
What are his policies?
- No tax on tips or overtime wages
- Lower the corporate income tax rate from 21 per cent to 15 per cent
- Roll back President Joe Biden's tax hikes for top income earners
- Scrap Inflation Reduction Act levies that finance energy measures intended to combat climate change
How will this look in practice?
The president-elect's 'no tax on tips' policy appealed directly to low-income earners who work service roles.
But depending on how the bill is written by Congress, it could also end up creating a back-door tax break for top wage earners.
As Bill Barrow writes for the Associated Press, the bill could allow high-income earners to "reclassify some of their pay as tip income".
Trade
What are his policies?
- Tariffs of 10 to 20 per cent on foreign goods to encourage a resurgence in American manufacturing
- Reinstate an executive order that requires the federal government to only buy essential medications from US companies
- Block purchases of "any vital infrastructure" by Chinese buyers
How will this look in practice?
Democrats say Trump's plan for tariffs on foreign goods will cost the average American family about $US4,000 ($6,043) a year.
How difficult will it be to enact these policies?
It really depends.
In terms of passing federal laws, it will come down to how much power Republicans have in Congress.
To pass legislation, both the House of Representatives and the Senate must approve the same bill by majority votes.
So if Republicans have control of both levels of Congress, Trump would be able to push bills through rather quickly.
So far, we know they've won the majority in the Senate but control over the House of Representatives still hangs in the balance.
But if Democrats end up with control of the House, it'll take a fair bit of compromise to get legislation over the line.
What about the Supreme Court?
Of course, some of Trump's policies could encounter legal challenges.
Statutes and administrative regulation can be subject to judicial reviews, which determine whether they violate or contradict the provisions of existing laws.
And if a law is found to be unconstitutional, the Supreme Court has the authority to strike it down.
Even so, it's likely this won't give Trump much trouble.
There are nine justices on the Supreme Court at any given time and at the moment, six of them are conservative.
Things there aren't likely to change any time soon, either.
Supreme Court justices have a lifetime tenure, which means positions can only open up when one retires, dies, or is impeached.
And when there is an opening, the president is in charge of nominating which judge is appointed.
That means there's a chance in the next four years that Trump could actually extend the court's conservative majority.
Can Trump use veto power to get bills passed?
While US presidents do have some veto power, it doesn't allow them to amend or alter legislation.
As the National Archives explains, "the president only has the ability to accept or reject an entire act passed by Congress".
The president, can, however, influence how bills are written up by threatening to use their veto power.
It's also possible for the veto power to be overridden.
If a president uses their veto to knock back a bill, Congress can still pass the act if two-thirds of both the House and Senate approve.
That prevents the president from blocking legislation that has substantial popularity.
ABC/AP
