President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to “stop the transgender lunacy” from the first day of his presidency, as Republicans prepare to control both chambers of Congress and the White House, intensifying their campaign against LGBTQ rights.
“I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools,” Trump said at an event for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona.
He also promised to “keep men out of women’s sports,” stating that “it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
Speaking at the AmericaFest conference in Arizona, a border state he won decisively in the November election, Trump further vowed immediate action against “migrant crime,” pledged to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and reiterated his intent to restore U.S. control over the Panama Canal.
Transgender issues have become a contentious topic in U.S. politics in recent years, with Democratic and Republican states taking sharply divergent approaches on policies related to medical treatments and books discussing these topics in public or school libraries.
Last week, the U.S. Congress approved its annual defense budget, which included a provision to block funding for certain gender-affirming care for the transgender children of service members.
In his speech Sunday, which served as a celebratory reflection on his election victory, Trump laid out ambitious goals for his second term while sharply criticizing the preceding four years under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he defeated in the 2024 election.
“On January 20, the United States will turn the page forever on four long, horrible years of failure, incompetence, national decline, and we will inaugurate a new era of peace, prosperity and national greatness,” Trump declared, referring to his upcoming swearing-in ceremony.
Golden age of America
“I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East, and I will prevent, I promise, World War III,” President-elect Donald Trump declared on Sunday. He added, “The golden age of America is upon us.”
While Trump has not yet publicly detailed his plans to swiftly resolve the war in Ukraine or bring peace to the Middle East, his rhetoric has set high expectations.
Speaking in the assertive tone he has sometimes used even toward U.S. allies, Trump criticized Panamanian authorities for their management of the Panama Canal, claiming they “haven’t treated us fairly.”
Previously, Trump referred to the fees for canal usage as “ridiculous.” On Sunday, he added that if Panama fails to adhere to the principles of the 1970s treaty granting it full control of the canal, “then we will demand” that it be returned to the United States “in full, quickly and without question.”
The Panama Canal, a critical link for U.S. and global trade, facilitates the transit of thousands of ships annually, underscoring its importance to commerce.
Trump also reiterated his strong stance on immigration and drug trafficking, promising to initiate “the largest deportation operation in American history” immediately after taking office. He further pledged to “immediately designate the (drug) cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.”
“This criminal network operating on American soil will be dismantled, deported and destroyed,” Trump asserted.
During his first term in 2019, Trump vowed to apply the terrorist designation to Mexican drug cartels following the killing of nine American citizens from a Mormon community in Mexico. However, he later backed down after an appeal from then-Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Must Read: Donald Trump Seeks Panama Canal Control Calls Fees ‘Ridiculous’ And Warns Of China’s Role
