As of this writing, it has been seven days since Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. Also as of this writing, President Trump has signed off on fourteen executive orders. For those that are unfamiliar with this, an executive order is an order issued by the President to an executive branch of the government that has the full force of a law. It is no secret that there was a lot of worry among Americans when Trump was elected. However, it seemed that many Americans attempted to ease their worries by assuring themselves that Trump wouldn’t be able to pass many of his ridiculous ideas because Congress wouldn’t allow it. However, it seems we all forgot about executive orders. Trump doesn’t need Congress’s approval in order to sign executive orders, and he has taken full advantage of this in his first week in office. I would like to talk about a few of these orders and how they impact the future of our country.
The most well known executive order that was signed is most likely Trump giving the go ahead to start construction on the wall that will go between us and Mexico. I have already written an article about the implausibility of this inane project, so if you would like to read that you can click here. Since the order was signed, the Mexican President canceled his planned meeting with President Trump and still adamantly refuses the notion that Mexico will pay for the wall. Trump and the U.S. government have since announced that, in order to pay for the wall, they will raise the tax of Mexican imports by 20%. In case you don't understand this, it means that the products that we import from Mexico will rise in price by 20%. So, you can say goodbye to your cheap Coronas and avocados.Another highly publicized order is Trump's immigration ban. He has banned the immigration of refugees and citizens from Syria, as well as six other predominantly Muslim countries. I am not going to delve deep into this as I think that there are essentially only two opinions you can have about this matter. However, I will say that it is ridiculous that we, as a country, are singling out a specific religion and prohibiting them from entering our country. We are known as being a melting pot, so the fact that we are singling out one out of the approximately 4,000 known world religions is wrong. Not to mention that this religion is the second most popular religion in the world. The United States of America have always been involved in foreign relations and have always tried to help other people in need. Yet, now, when there are many refugees who need our help, we refuse to help them because of the religion that they follow. That's just absurd.I have only touched on two of the fourteen executive orders signed by Trump, however, I think they are simply a microcosm of the power and fear that he plans on instilling. I think that it is also worth mentioning that the sales of George Orwell's 1984 has risen by 9,500 percent since Trump's inauguration. For those who haven't read it, 1984 is a book about a dystopian community where the government has over-arching control over its citizens. Obviously this is not a direct correlation, but I think it is worrisome nonetheless. I hope that Trump calms down and decides to listen to the people of America, as it appears that many of these decisions are not appealing to the majority of the country.