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President-elect Donald Trump, speaking on Sunday, declared his intention to confront what he termed “transgender lunacy” from the first day of his presidency. This pronouncement comes as the Republican Party, set to dominate Congress and the executive branch, continues to advance an agenda that has sparked widespread concern among LGBTQ advocates.
“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,” the president-elect said at an event for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona.
Building on his earlier comments, Trump vowed to enforce a policy that would “keep men out of women’s sports,” declaring that his administration would formally recognize only two genders: male and female. This pronouncement underscores a broader agenda aimed at redefining national approaches to gender and athletics.
At the AmericaFest conference held in one of the critical battleground states instrumental to his November win, Trump outlined plans to address “migrant crime” with tougher policies and reiterated his controversial vow to reestablish U.S. control over the Panama Canal, signaling his administration’s focus on issues of sovereignty and border security.
In recent years, transgender-related policies have intensified partisan divides in the U.S., with Republican- and Democratic-controlled states enacting conflicting laws on issues like gender-affirming healthcare and the permissibility of books addressing transgender topics in schools and libraries.
Last week’s congressional approval of the annual defense budget included a contentious measure aimed at withholding funds for some gender-affirming treatments provided to transgender children of military families, reflecting deeper national divisions on the issue.
In his speech Sunday, which amounted to something of a victory lap, Trump made expansive promises for his second term — and drew a dark picture of the four years preceding it, under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the latter of 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 said, referring to his swearing-in.
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“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.”
“I can proudly proclaim,” he said, “that the golden age of America is upon us.”
The president-elect has yet to explain publicly how he plans to bring peace to Ukraine, nearly three years after Russia invaded it, or to the Middle East.
But in the sort of bellicose language he sometimes used even against US allies in the past, Trump said Sunday that the Panamanians “haven’t treated us fairly” in the operation of the Panama Canal.
He had previously called the fees for using the canal—whose construction began under French oversight and was later finalized by the United States—”ridiculous.” His comment underscores his ongoing critique of economic policies that, in his view, burden global trade disproportionately.
On Sunday, he reiterated that if the 1970s treaty’s principles, which granted Panama full control over the canal, are not adhered to, “then we will demand” that the United States regain control, “in full, quickly and without question.”
The strategic importance of the Central American waterway is evident, with thousands of ships passing through annually, making it indispensable to both U.S. and international commerce. Yet, it is unclear whether Trump’s statements were a mere display of rhetoric or a precursor to more direct actions aimed at Panama’s government.
