Donald Trump's Return Could Change Life for Vermonters
Dec 11, 2024
Donald Trump will return to the White House next month, capping one of the most improbable political comebacks in American history. He reclaims power alongside a Republican-controlled Congress that could give him broad authority to push his "Make America Great Again" agenda. So what does MAGA 2.0 portend for Vermont? A look back at Trump's first term offers some clues. His "Muslim travel ban" turned a library that straddles the Vermont-Canada border into a de facto visitation center for people who were suddenly unable to enter the U.S. His attacks on Planned Parenthood sent Vermont scrambling to backfill the reproductive-health care provider's lost federal funding. His tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico sent prices of some items soaring for local businesses. His Justice Department threatened Burlington over its sanctuary-city status and sued the University of Vermont Medical Center over allegations — denied by the hospital — that a nurse was forced to carry out an abortion against her will. Meanwhile, the Vermont Attorney General's Office joined a four-year, sprawling legal effort to stymie some aspects of Trump's agenda, participating in more than 60 multistate lawsuits. While his trademark unpredictability makes it hard to pin down how exactly he might govern a second time around, Trump's campaign pledges and early postelection moves suggest that his presidency will likely shake up life in the Green Mountain State. A crackdown on undocumented immigrants, for example, could have a noticeable impact in a rural and aging state where imported labor fills key jobs in the agricultural sector and at nursing homes, hospitals and other worksites. His promise to roll back climate regulations and "kill" the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could undermine Vermont's ability to clean up polluted waterways and monitor PFAS chemicals. Vermont schools will face new scrutiny. Trump has blasted policies put into effect by President Joe Biden that are meant to protect transgender students, and he has threatened to curb federal funding to districts that would defy his administration's efforts to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion programs. College and university employees worry about academic freedom. Trump could come after federal grants and student loans, and he has made clear his disapproval of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. Students and faculty are already planning to fight to defend their right to free speech. Trump may seek to further restrict access to reproductive services, even in Vermont, where the right…