Why Donald Trump needs to remember the reasons America voted for him
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As Trump begins his second term in The White House, former communications head Doug Heye tells The News Agents why he needs to remember, this time around, precisely why he won the 2024 election.
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In brief…
- Donald Trump won the US election after making firm promises on how he would deal with the economy and migration concerns in the US.
- Since then, he has spoken at length about plans to take control of Greenland and rename the Gulf of Mexico.
- Doug Heye, a US political expert, says Trump must tackle the key issues that helped him win support from voters, rather than making empty promises about unimportant matters.
There were three main reasons Donald Trump won the 2024 election, experts believe – the economy, migration, and a lack of willingness from many people to vote for Kamala Harris.
Trump has promised to act ruthlessly on both the economy and migration, saying he will lower taxes by introducing tariffs on imports (experts say the opposite will happen, but he remains unmoved on this) and begin deporting 15 million undocumented migrants as soon as he returns to The White House.
And Doug Heye – a Republican strategist has held top communications positions in the US House, Senate and George W. Bush's administration – tells The News Agents Trump needs to remember these pledges when his second term begins.
Invading Greenland, Heye adds, can wait.
"That's not what people were voting on," Heye says.
"I think Trump would be smart to remember what this election was about, and to focus on those two things and not get in his own way – and he has a tendency to do that."
Despite the fact that Trump won in every swing state in November 2024, Heye says none of those wins resulted in a "slam dunk" when the final votes were tallied up. Trump also won the House, Senate and the popular vote – but he did that with just 49.9%, while Harris took 48.4%.
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Why Trump needs to focus on his two key promises
Heye describes Trump's mandate as "an inch deep, but miles and miles wide". He adds that while he may have won support from diverse voters across the US, they did this on the key social issues affecting America – not starting a war in the Panama Canal or renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
"Donald Trump often plays the role of a matador. He waves a red cape, and everybody follows the red cape and then says, 'gosh, what happened?'"
The red cape was waved in a press conference this month, where Trump spoke at length about his suggestions for the future of Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.
As Trump gears up for his second run in The White House, Heye says he hopes to not “fall for that trap” himself again.
And he says Trump needs to be reminded that he secured many of his votes from people who are not hardcore MAGA Republicans and won't be entertained by his train-of-thought approach to politics.
"What the voters said last year was we don't really like either of these candidates, but we're scared of the direction the economy is going, and we don't like the situation at the border," Heye continues.
"I think it gets lost because Donald Trump is Donald Trump, and we have to view everything through that lens, whether we want to or not.”
How should Trump address his migrant promises?
One of Trump's big promises has been the mass deportation of 15 million undocumented migrants – but Heye says people can take an educated guess, from round one of President Trump, how this is likely to play out.
"My expectation is that we'll see Trump do something similar to what he's done in the past," he says.
"He would sign an executive order in front of everybody, hold it up and say, 'Look what I just did' – and it was very shrewd of him to do it in that way."
But after that? Heye says it's highly unlikely entire communities will suddenly disappear from the US landscape, and workforce.
If Trump does want to make an impact with voters concerned with migration he should instead, Heye suggests, focus on the quality, not the quantity, of those removed from the country.
"I would recommend finding some of the real examples, the drug lord who crossed the border illegally and then committed other crimes, the person who did commit crimes after crossing the border here, wherever they came from.
"He could then hold a press conference to say, 'I just got these people out of the country.'
"There's virtually no American who would oppose that, and I think that would help Trump a great deal."
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