Trump stands firm on issues amid appointments
Republican Reince Priebus his White House chief of staff, blending pragmatism with a rabblerousing edge in the first appointments of his administration.
On the issues, however, Trump made it clear he intends to aggressively push a rightwing agenda, pledging to name justices to the Supreme Court who are against abortion and for gun rights.
“The judges will be pro-life,” Trump told CBS. “In terms of the whole gun situation,” he added, “they’re going to be very pro-Second Amendment.”
He will have an opportunity to fill a vacancy on the court left by the death of arch conserva- tive justice Antonin Scalia. President Barack Obama’s attempt to fill the seat was blocked by the Republicancontrolled Senate.
On immigration, Trump reaffirmed his campaign pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico, although he conceded parts of it may be just a fence. He said as many as 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records would be deported or incarcerated.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers,” he said. “We have a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate.”
He left the door open, however, on the fate of the millions of other immigrants in the country illegally.
“After the border is secured and after everything gets normalised, we’re going to make a determination on the people that you’re talking about who are terrific people,” he said.
Immigration, he said, was one of three top legislative priorities he has discussed with House Speaker Paul Ryan, the others being action to undo Obama’s signature health-care reform and a bill to cut taxes and simplify the tax code.
Trump had previously indicated he would keep some aspects of Obamacare, including a ban on insurance companies denying coverage for preexisting conditions.
“It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done,” Trump said when asked if he supports marriage equality. “And I’m – I’m fine with that.”
He also confirmed he would forgo the $400,000 salary that comes with the office of US president. “I’m not going to take the salary. I’m not taking it,” he said. “I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year.”
In a call to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump told the leader he believes they will have “one of the strongest relationships for both countries moving forward,” according to a statement released yesterday.
Trump – who frequently savaged China on the campaign trail and threatened to impose a 45-percent tariff on Chinesemade goods – and Xi “vowed to keep close contact, build good working relations, and meet at an early date to exchange views on issues of mutual interest and the development of bilateral ties”, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.
While Trump has veered on some pledges, his choice of Bannon as top strategist suggests he intends to preserve his populist edge. Bannon, who was campaign chairman in the final months of the Trump campaign, is CEO of the right-wing, conspiracy-mongering Breitbart News website known for withering attacks.
It has railed against everything from Muslim immigrants to women, once telling females facing online harassment to go away and stop “screwing up the internet for men.”
Priebus, meanwhile, is a seasoned political operative and head of the Republican National Committee, with close ties to Ryan, the House speaker.