SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A lot was said during President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration speech—ranging from tariffs, drilling, and deportations to executive orders, “the Gulf of America,” and gender identity rights.
Nolan Higdon, a Cal State East Bay professor of communication, joined KRON4 to break down what’s just talk versus what could actually happen under the law—and what stood out to him the most.
“The thing that really stood out to me of promises from Trump that I think he won’t be able to deliver on is this issue of birthright citizenship,” said Higdon. “That’s something that the President of the United States cannot get rid of. It’s protected constitutionally, and I highly doubt the Supreme Court would say ‘the Constitution is unconstitutional.’ I think that’s one where he certainly overstepped.”
“Another one is asylum. That’s also protected here before the law. There is a question about whether or not folks who are seeking asylum can be incarcerated, but it’s very clear that they have a right to be within the United States.”
“There were other big promises, things like the tariffs or purchasing additional states,” Higdon continued. “Those are things that, in theory, could be done, but that’s going to take a lot of work by Congress. You’re going to need a lot of buy-in from Congress. That’s going to take a lot of political capital.
“I think Trump has made a lot of promises, but the way things work in the American government, they’re slow to move and slow to get accomplishments. He really needs to decide what he’s going to prioritize as this new administration takes off.”
Higdon said he believes President Trump is a brilliant communicator. He said Trump has proven himself to be persuasive and politically savvy by speaking in simple language that makes his promises resonate with supporters.
“Even if you don’t like Trump, you have an idea of what sort of policies he’s advocating for or positions he’s taken,” said Higdon. “That’s the genius of Trump. A lot of other politicians who have gone up against him talk in vague ideas about ‘saving democracy’ and things like that, but Trump has concrete policies that he is able to popularize, like things like building walls or deportations, protecting free speech. These are things he’s promised, and he does a really good job communicating that to his supporters.”
When asked if President Trump could fulfill some of his biggest promises by declaring national emergencies—such as at the border or over energy—Higdon said presidents have historically used this strategy.
“Presidents have been able to use things like national emergencies or threats to national security to expand their power, basically to do things that traditionally the Constitution didn’t allow the president to do. It looks like Trump wants to expand the power of the presidency in this second term. It will be up to Congress and the Supreme Court to decide what limits, if any, there are on that expansion of power.”
Regarding Trump’s controversial promise to pardon January 6 Capitol rioters, Higdon said we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out—but noted that pardons and controversy typically go hand-in-hand.
“President Biden thought that by using his power to pardon, he could protect some of the people that he believed Trump was going to target with legal mechanisms for political purposes. Traditionally, pardons have basically always been controversial.
“That’s why it’s probably a good rule of politics that if you’re trying to get to the White House, don’t be too critical of how folks use their pardons, because one day you may be the president, and you may be receiving those criticisms.”
