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Politics

Has Trump Really Done Anything To Affect Our Lives?

This year has definitely been one for the books, and not in a positive way.

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Has Trump Really Done Anything To Affect Our Lives?
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A lot of things.

He signed 90 executive order in his first 100 days in office.

Here are seven of his (many) deadly sins.

1. Raised concern of nuclear threat with Asia

Anyone with an active Twitter account is probably up to speed with the Donald Trump vs Kim Jong-un virtual battle. President Trump has been publicly slandering the leader of North Korea, and his comments have been met with equal disrespect from Kim. However, this is not a celebrity feud, this is an uncivil exchange between two erratic men with the power of nuclear missiles under their thumbs. In an undiplomatic, unpresidential display of power, Trump has baited Kim by calling him “rocket man", "little rocket man", "madman" and "sick puppy”. As well, Trump has threatened to meet North Korea in “fire and fury”.

2. Travel Ban

On January 27th, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that suspended U.S. entry for 90 days to immigrants from seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, sparking protests and legal battles across the nation. The ban, nicknamed the “Muslim Ban” by those who opposed it, also suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions program, as well as placing an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. While the constitutionality of this order was meticulously inspected and criticized, over 100 people were detained or barred from boarding U.S. bound flights, including U.S. citizens traveling to any of the seven countries facing potential detainment.

3. Climate Change Policy Reversal

President Trump, in an effort to remove Obama era environmental legislation, sought to undo many regulations set up during that time period. Trump began with plans to remove the Clean Power Plant Rule; a plan which sets carbon pollution stands for power plants and would have led the shift away from coal to natural gas and renewable energy. Additionally, Trump plans to open federal lands to fossil fuels, removing Obama-era regulations which govern fossil fuel production on public land.

4. Affordable Care Act Repeal

After threatening to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Trump finally made his promise true on October 12th, 2017. Prior to this decision, roughly 20 million became insured under the ACA, 2.3 million of that being young adults who are allowed to remain under their parents' insurance as a dependent until the age of 26. Since the decision to ax the act, the number of uninsured people has risen by 1.4%, or 3.5 million. Many speculate this increase is due to decreased competition in the insurance market, leading to higher premiums, as well as general consumer confusion over the provisions of this new executive order. Without steps being taken to stabilize this aftershock, the numbers are likely to continue to rise.

5. Bathroom Ban

In what was seen as yet another quick, controversial, and sweeping decision, President Trump rescinded the rules on bathrooms for transgender students, in what is known as the Bathroom Ban. The rules, which protected transgender students by permitting them to use the bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity was rescinded February 22nd, 2017. This move was seen as especially controversial and met with a large amount of backlash as this concerned the safety of children, as well as being a hot social issue on the rise.

6. Net Neutrality

Arguably the most talked about issue this season has been the recent repeal of the Net Neutrality Agreement. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head, Ajit Pai, Republican, and longtime opposer of Net Neutrality, was selected by President Trump at the start of his term. In November, Pai proposed his plan to rid of Net Neutrality, which received Senate approval December 14th. Net Neutrality has been praised for protecting the world wide web from biased organizations and has allowed a multitude of start-up creators to establish themselves on a free and open platform. Thanks to the Internet, young people have had to power to share ideas, and rally together to create an impact on the causes they support; ending Net Neutrality allows biased parties to influence the flow of information, and subsequently shut down the subjectively unfavorable action.

7. Sanctuary Cities

In January of 2017, President Trump gave sanctuary cities a sort of ultimatum: either comply with federal law or face a complete cut of funding. Sanctuary cities are established to aid undocumented immigrants by encouraging them to comply with police without fear of deportation. In order to hold up to their promise of unconditional protection, most sanctuary cities ignore federal law that requires them to detain an individual on suspicion of violating immigration law. The executive order claims many of the undocumented immigrants are criminals or suspected or criminal activity, and therefore pose a threat to the American people. However, the order fails to point out that noncitizens make up only around 5% of federal inmates, with roughly ⅓ of which are serving time for immigration offenses.

This year has definitely been one for the books, and not in a positive way. However, 2018 does not have to be like this!

USA.gov offers a free voting guidance by state, we can make a significant impact on our future. Go vote people!
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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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