What's happened since President Trump took office?

Jessica Stiehm
Editor-In-Chief

President Trump’s inauguration was met with mixed reviews amongst the American public but one thing people on both sides of the political divide can agree on is that he has certainly hit the ground running.

Trump has not even been in office for a month, but has dominated the headlines with an array of plans to make America great again. Most notably would be the ninety-day immigration ban directed at seven counties in the Middle East and its surrounding areas. Additionally, the new president's actions include the implementation of a 120-day ban on all refugees, no matter country of origin. Because the banned countries are predominantly Muslim, critics have accused Trump of blatant Islamophobia, despite the president claiming it an act of extreme vetting to guard against potential terrorists. Refugees coming from Syria were banned indefinitely. Thousands protested.
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In response to this executive action...

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....approximately sixteen state attorney generals are joining together to oppose Trump’s immigration ban. North Carolina’s Attorney General Josh Stein has publicly announced he is taking legal action along with them. About a week prior, U.S. District Judge James Robart effectively suspended the executive order, declaring it unconstitutional. For the time being, the border has been reopened for those from the seven banned countries. On Feb. 9, the federal appeals court lifted the ban with a unanimous ruling. The Trump administration will most likely appeal to the Supreme Court.

Trump made the headlines again when he fired Sally Yates’, then U.S Attorney General, for bringing opposition to his “extreme vetting” acts. Despite the fact that it would have been only a matter of time before she was replaced with Trump’s own pick, the hasty decision strongly echoes instances from the president's former profession on the Apprentice. In addition to Yates’ dismissal, the Immigration and Customs Director Daniel Ragsdale was demoted to Deputy and replaced with Thomas Homan. The combination of events has been dubbed the ‘Monday Night Massacre’ after the infamous ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ of the Nixon era.

Trump has made it his mission to fulfill his campaign promises. Mexico and U.S tensions are high after President Enrique Peña Nieto canceled his trip to the U.S, foreseeing intense disagreements with Trump. Even so, plans to build the infamous “Great Wall” along the border between Mexico and the U.S are already underway. Mexico is still “refusing to pay for it” despite Trump’s claims of a future reimbursement. But there are speculations that the funds the U.S usually designates to Mexico are going towards the project. Increases in the border control are expected.

Sanctuary cities were also proposed to be federally-defunded if they continued to keep their current status. A sanctuary city is a city that has certain policies in place to protect undocumented immigrants. Such as not arresting them for breaking national immigration laws. Additionally, local law enforcement is not required to work with federal immigration employees in a sanctuary city. Documented and undocumented citizens alike maintain access to city services. North Carolina had many sanctuary cities up until 2015 when former Governor Pat McCrory outlawed their existence.

Healthcare is just another tier on the new president’s proverbial to-do list. The Affordable Care Act, synonymous with former President Obama, is the process of being repealed. At the current time, there is still no health care alternative to be available to the countless Americans on the plan. Several Republicans are proposing a modified version of Obamacare, but the details are still very much up in the air.

In the past, Trump has expressed that he is an avid environmentalist. The Keystone Pipeline has been revived to the dismay of many Native American tribes and their supporters. The project is expected to stretch across four states and decrease American dependence on foreign oil. Still, native Sioux continue to argue that the pipeline will dramatically harm the environment, pollute many water sources, and continue to destroy culturally sacred sites.

Access to information has also captured the attention of our president. As soon as he took office, the Trump administration removed all sections designated for Climate Change, Civil Rights, Immigration, LGBT issues, and Health Care from the White House website. The former administration attempted to archive many of the lost files before they passed the torch to Trump’s administration. The National Park Service twitter account was placed under a gag order for reporting negative statements comparing crowd sizes between Obama’s inauguration and Trump’s. They have since apologized and have continued tweeting their usual content. But the shutdown was extended to several other twitter accounts as well. According to Fortune, “Employees at several federal agencies including the Departments of Agriculture have been barred by the Trump administration from making any statements, or providing any documents to the public or journalists.” That also included posting any content on social media. The ban was lifted after a couple days of investigation.

The ‘first 100 days’ of any presidency is important and sets the tone for the next four years of America. With so many changes happening within the first month, the first one hundred days will be instrumental in predicting the outcome of America under Trump. In the words of Donald Trump, ‘let’s make America great again!’