The United States of Trump – another win for the President-Elect

Trump now controls all branches of national government and has the power to reshape America — and the world, writes US Correspondent Logan Church.

After a week full of major wins for Donald Trump, he had yet another victory today — the Republicans now control all of Congress.

Time for a quick American civics lesson. Just like New Zealand, there are three branches of government — the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

The idea is that there is tension between them all, and that prevents any single person or entity from gaining too much power.

Well, here in America Donald Trump now controls pretty much all of it.

The executive is a given — he won the presidency on election night. Congress, the legislature, was up in the air though. The upper house, the Senate, looked like it would have a Republican majority early on, but the lower house — the House of Representatives — had several races that for the last week were too close to call.

Today, however, it was confirmed that the Republicans would have a majority in the House too.

Therefore Congress, which makes and passes laws, funds the government, and provides oversight over the president, will be controlled by the Republican party. Which is controlled by Trump.

So, what about the judiciary?

Well, during his previous presidency, Trump appointed three Supreme Court Justices to the nation’s top court, creating a conservative majority. This was the same court that recently ruled the president couldn’t be prosecuted for anything he or she does while in office.

Many here are asking what this all means — and it’s a simple answer. That Donald Trump will have little political opposition to anything he wants to do.

Trump has described this overwhelming victory as a clear mandate from the American people to carry out his vision to reshape the country.

During his campaign we got an inkling as to what his plans are. Much tougher immigration policies, mass deportations of illegal migrants, a harder line on growing Chinese influence, and huge tariffs put in place across the board.

It’s not clear whether much of this was just campaign talk or Donald Trump’s actual plans — but if it’s the latter, he now has the way cleared to carry it all out.

The challenge for the new president though is trying to pull this fractured country known as the United States of America together, as it is a nation anything but united right now.

You see that on the streets of New York. Some people believe Trump’s upcoming presidency will herald a new golden era of prosperity for America. Others ask me what’s the quickest way to get a New Zealand Visa.

Regardless of how anyone in the public feels, this country could be about to see a lot of change.

There are multiple levers of power in Washington, and Trump now has his hands on all of them.