US president-elect Donald Trump held his first interview following the elections on Sunday. The interview, aired on the programme 60 Minutes, touched upon several controversial issues that he pledged to take care of during his presidential campaign.
Trump’s most controversial statement during the interview came while discussing immigrants. Trump said that he has the full intention to deport about two to three million illegal immigrants. “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, we have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate. But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally.”
During his campaign, Trump said that he is not disclosing any of his plans to defeat Islamic State (IS), and that he would instead leave things to the element of surprise. In the interview, Trump didn’t retract from his previous stance. He refused to announce any strategies on how he is planning to fight the extremist group.
In response to fear from ethnic and minorities following his election win, the president-elect said that he believes the press is what caused this fear, adding that it is horrible that this is happening.
In December, Trump suggested a complete ban on the entrance of Muslims to the US. These statements resulted in an uproar from both Republican and Democratic leaders, describing the suggestion as “unconstitutional”.
During his campaign, Trump suggested building a wall on the borders between the US and Mexico that would be fully financed by Mexico. He said that Mexico is not sending its best people, that they send drugs, crimes, and rapists over the border. In the interview on 60 Minutes, he reiterated that this wall will be built, and it may be half-wall, half-fence.
Trump has not specified a solid plan or strategy regarding the Middle East; however, he said that the US has spent about $6tn in the Middle East and this money could have been used to rebuild the US twice.
Trump won the US elections last week, a win that caught media outlets and polling centres by surprise for they predicted that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton would come out on top. Following the conclusion of elections, several peaceful protestors took to the streets in opposition to Trump’s winning.
