Getty ImagesA week after Donald Trump won a second-term in the White House, the contours of his new presidency have started taking shape.The president-elect has announced nearly a dozen appointees, the first steps toward filling out his White House staff and key government departments. He also made comments to the media and on social media that highlight what his priorities will be upon taking office in January, with a special focus on immigration and foreign policy.After a sometimes chaotic start to his first term, Trump is laying the groundwork for his next administration with a more clearly defined plan – and personnel ready to enact it.Here’s a look at what we’ve learned so far.A hard-line immigration team in placeSome of Trump’s newly revealed appointments suggest that the president-elect’s campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented migrants living in the US is no exaggeration.Stephen Miller, who has been Trump’s close adviser and speechwriter since 2015, will likely shape any plans for mass deportations – and pare back both undocumented and legal immigration – as Trump’s choice for White House deputy chief of staff for policy. During Trump’s first term, he was involved in developing some the administration’s strictest immigration policies.Thomas Homan, acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in Trump’s first term, supported the president’s policy of separating undocumented families detained at the US-Mexico border. Now he’s back with an even broader portfolio, as Trump’s “immigration tsar”.“I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen,” Homan said at a conservative conference in July.Critics have warned that Trump’s mass deportation plan could cost upwards of $300b. In an interview with NBC News last week, however, the president-elect said cost was not an issue.“When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here,” he said. “There is no price tag.”China hawks take flightMany conservatives believe that China poses the single greatest threat to continued US global dominance, both economically and militarily. While Trump has been more circumspect, limiting most of his China critiques to the realm of trade, he is filling his foreign policy team with vocal China critics.The president-elect picked Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, a retired Army colonel, as his national security adviser – a key foreign policy post within the White House. Waltz has said the US is in a “cold war” with China and was one of the first members of Congress to call for a US boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.In October, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick for US ambassador to the UN, accused China of “blatant and malicious election interference” amid reports that China-backed hackers attempted to gather information from the former president’s phones.While Trump has yet to officially name his choice for secretary of state, Florida Senator Marco Rubio – another China hawk – appears to be the leading contender for the top diplomatic job. In 2020, Rubio was sanctioned by the Chinese government after he pushed measures to punish the nation for its crackdown on pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.US-China relations were often rocky during Trump’s first term, amidst trade disputes and the Covid pandemic. T …
