Long story short – assignments, Christmas, exams and work, so that’s why I’ve been gone for a while. Anyway, I don’t know if anyone noticed the big news from yesterday?
THE LOADED DOG IS BACK AFTER 3 DRY WEEKS OF REFURBISHMENTS!
Oh, and it was exactly one year since Trump was inaugurated as the 45th US President. Ya know, that thing. So how was Trump’s first year in office? In my view, not so great, especially compared to previous occupants of the Oval Office.
One of Trump’s first major points of contention was his travel ban, which barred citizens of a number of Muslim-majority countries from stepping on US soil, no exceptions. Firstly, Trump used his ability to issue the ban as an executive order, which is not only arbitrary, but downright clumsy. An executive order can only be carried out so far – one as controversial as the travel ban would inevitably be put down on the basis that it was unconstitutional. Lo and behold, 48 hours after the travel ban came into effect, a county court case was brought forward, placing a temporary restraint on the executive order. There was bipartisan outcry at the executive order, so any chance of sending it through Congress became even more difficult. And the chaos it caused at airports, on the streets with protests, with diplomatic relations. In essence, the claim that Trump would have no clue what he was doing if elected came true.
The next knock down to Trump’s presidency was the debacle that was the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (known as ‘Obamacare’). Weeks of postponement and last minute alterations to the bill consumed any hope Trump had of keeping his campaign promises on healthcare. The bill was so poorly written and presented, that Trump barely got enough votes in Congress from his own party! Eventually, he did get it through Congress and signed into law, but only by an incredibly slim majority.
The biggest elephant in the room I haven’t even discussed yet! The Russian meddling allegations. Oh the irony, especially after the US meddled in numerous Latin American elections in the latter half of the 20th century. Not to say I endorse the act of meddling in foreign elections, but you’ve gotta admit it’s funny that the ‘leader of the free world’ potentially got into that office because Putin wanted a cheap laugh. But, Trump vehemently denies the claims, despite his appraisal for Russia throughout the campaign, and firing the FBI director James Comey (who led the investigation)…and the evidence of the meeting between Trump’s family and friends of Putin, or his accusation of wiretapping against him by Obama and GCHQ to deflect from the ‘witch hunt’ against him. But yeah, no evidence whatsoever that Russia was involved at all.
The list just goes on to be honest: pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Accords (officially the only country out of the agreement since even North Korea and Syria agreed to it), his refusal to condemn white supremacists in Charlottesville; Virginia, weekly threats towards North Korea. And who could forget the beauty that was the “covfefe” tweet, which sparked a huge debate about what Trump meant and epitomised how much the press hinged on Trump’s tweets for updates from the White House, since they couldn’t rely on the blatant lies coming from the President’s press office.
Despite it all, I have to consider the fact that Trump had some success in his first year. He successfully passed a major tax reform bill through Congress, the first significance tax reform since Reagan’s era. But as far as I’m concerned, that’s where it ends!
Now, we’re in the midst of a major federal government shutdown since the president doesn’t have enough support in Congress to pass the next budget. Shutdown’s certainly happened in previous presidencies, but it’s the first time its happened when the Republicans control both the legislative and executive branches! The party is that divided, they can’t even gain enough support amongst themselves to fund the actual government.
Do I have faith that Trump will make better progress in the coming year? Sadly not.
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