Trump’s plan, shared in advance with POLITICO, calls for a competition to design and create up to ten new «Freedom Cities,» built from scratch on federal land. Proposes an investment in the development of vertical takeoff and landing vehicles; the creation of «hives of industry» caused by the cut off of imports from China; and a population increase triggered by “baby bonuses” to encourage parents-to-be to continue childbearing. It’s all, his team says, part of a larger national beautification campaign aimed at inspiring progressive visions of America’s future.
“Past generations of Americans have pursued big dreams and bold projects that once seemed utterly impossible. They traversed an unstable continent and built new cities on the wild frontier. They transformed American life with the interstate highway system, which was magnificent. And they launched a vast network of satellites into orbit around the earth,” Trump said in the video of him.
“But today, our country has lost its audacity. Under my leadership, we will take it back in a big way. If you look back just three years, what we were doing was unthinkable, how good it was, how good it was for our country. Our goal will be a quantum leap in the American standard of living,» Trump said.
Trump campaign advisers acknowledge that the new set of plans is out of the ordinary. But they note that he has made other surprising proposals before, such as buying Greenland from Denmark. They offered analogies to Abraham Lincoln’s campaign for the transcontinental railroad, Teddy Roosevelt’s vision for a national park service, and Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System.
A former celebrity real estate developer and television personality, Trump has a long history of outlining bold new initiatives that are long on pictures and short on detail. The latest offers come with some explanations on how they will be executed.
Trump says he would host a contest for the public to design and then build «Freedom Cities» on a small tract of federal land to «reopen the border, reignite the American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and others, all hardworking families, a new opportunity at home ownership and, indeed, the American Dream.”
Trump’s call for investments in vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, which he says could transform transportation and connect rural and urban America, is part of a «major initiative» aimed at lowering the cost of a new car and Create new methods of transportation. It comes as companies like Boeing and Honda are currently spending billions to develop and test electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles that function like giant drones for humans.
“Just as the United States led the automotive revolution in the last century, I want to make sure that the United States, and not China, leads this revolution in air mobility,” Trump said in the video.
As for «baby bonuses» to encourage the coming baby boom and address America’s slowing birth rate, Trump appears to be (wittingly or unknowingly) borrowing a page from others, like Senator Trump. Cory Booker (DN.J.). During the 2020 campaign, New Jersey Democrat proposed “baby bonuses”, that would set aside funds in a savings account for every child in America.
Trump’s advisers admit that the set of proposals presented on Friday are broad outlines. But they also insist that they are not on the moon either.
While in the White House, Trump proposed some similar ideas, such as his executive order on «Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture,» which called for classical architecture to be the standard for all federal buildings. He was criticized by critics who said that he discouraged modern ideas in design. Ultimately, he was recalled by President Joe Biden. Trump also called for an «American Hero Garden» in an executive order that would feature statues of major figures in American politics, art, science and sports, from Harriet Tubman to Babe Ruth. Biden also revoked that order.
Trump’s «quantum leap» proposals are part of a series of policy videos he has released since launching his campaign for president. Other videos have focused on topics like border security and education.
Earlier this week, Trump filed his trade policy 2024 that would «tax China to build America» and create a system that «rewards domestic production and taxes foreign companies and exporters of American jobs.»
Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, DC on Saturday, and is expected to discuss some of his recent policy proposals.