Since election night, Donald Trump has made some statements that have been considered wild and outrageous. Everyday, it seems there is a new thing he is going to do when he is in office, and people are trying to interpret what he means. These are some of his many claims of what is going on.
What is going on?
There are several claims that President-elect Donald Trump has made that are beginning to concern the United States population. Since November, Trump has spoken on several different issues and topics, each opinion becoming more controversial than the last.
“He is genuinely scaring me. He keeps saying all of this crazy crap, nobody knows if he is being serious or not because he has a habit of running his mouth on things he really shouldn’t,” Illiana Madison, Springfield resident, said.
Regardless of which side of the isle you stand on, Trump’s claims have become more unhinged. There is one question that lies on the general public's mind though, can and will Trump do what he claims to do?
Department of Education removal
One of the main things that Donald Trump has been championing since his election has been the supposed abolishment of the Department Of Education (DOE). The abolishment of DOE is something that was highlighted in the controversial Project 2025 proposal. This has left many people very fearful of the idea that Trump can take away DOE and the impact it has on college students.
“I go to school with a pell grant, this is funded by the Department of Education, I heard he wants to get rid of that. If I don't have that, I can’t go to college,” Madison said.
While it is unclear at this time whether or not student aid will be affected, under Trump’s new plan, the responsibility of the federal DOE will fall back on the states. No one knows for sure how this will affect education and schooling.
One thing is clear in this though, Trump will need to get approval from Congress before he does it. It will need to go through both the House and Senate before it is officially passed into law.
“Gulf of America”
Another recent claim Trump has stated is that he is going to change The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to The Gulf of America (GOA). Trump is not the first person to propose such a name change. In 2012, Mississippi had a bill that would change the name of parts of the Gulf that were touching the state borders. It was swiftly rejected in their congress.
This leaves citizens with the question of can Donald Trump actually rename The Gulf of Mexico? The short answer, technically yes. He can rename it to anything he wants to. But the long answer is more complicated than that.
If Trump were to rename The GOM, it would have to go through an organization called The International Hydrographic Organization, or IHO. The IHO works with every country to maintain uniformity with water landmarks on maps. America can rename the GOM to GOA and it would be legal in America and on all American documents, but if the IHO disagrees, then internationally it is still the GOM.
“He could rename it all he wants, while I personally think it’s a really poor use of his time as president, he can. But it isn’t up to anyone but the International Hydrographic Organization to actually uphold that on maps,” Jacob Patty said.
Claiming on Canada as 51st state
Trump is also claiming that he would like the country Canada to become a part of the United States as the 51st state. Claiming that it would benefit everyone involved in a press conference.
“You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security," Trump said.
Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau said that it is never going to happen.
“I know as a successful negotiator he likes to keep people off balance. The 51st state, it's not going to happen," Trudeau said in a press conference. “Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian, but people are now talking about that rather than the impact that 25 percent tariffs. No American wants to pay 25 percent more for electricity or oil and gas coming in from Canada.”
The simple fact of the matter is that Trump cannot make Canada the 51st state if Canada does not want to. The only way to accomplish this would be war, and at this time, it is unclear if that is something Trump actually wants to do.
A lot of the American citizens equate Trump’s claims to him blowing smoke, but it can be acknowledged that Trump's words can be harmful and may lead to trouble for Americans down the road.
“Sometimes I think Trump likes to talk just to talk. I don’t actually think he believes 98% of the things that come out of his mouth. But those things are really harmful, they not only can be nasty to individuals, but he could end up throwing us into unnecessary war with that,” Marketing Major Hannah Layton said.
While Trump has made a variety of claims before and after his official re-election, whether anything will come to fruition is still up for debate.
