Moving past the “We’re building a wall” and “Make America Great Again” slogans, President Donald J. Trump has been able to enforce his political agenda during his first year of office.
Trump has been enforcing his political agenda through executive orders. Executive orders are written orders issued by the president to the federal government which do not require congressional approval. As a result, in the first 200 days of office, Trump has signed 42 executive orders, doubling that of his predecessors.
Trump’s executive orders have sparked controversy on multiple occasions; a few of the controversial orders are the travel ban, border security, and the climate change policy reversal.
The travel ban was enforced in January of 2017 by Trump, who said it was supposed to protect the country from terrorists. The order put an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees, a suspension on the refugee program for 120 days, and a ban on anyone arriving from seven Muslim-majority countries, with a few exceptions. The travel ban stopped refugees from entry into the United States resulting in clogged airports and protests both in the U.S. and overseas.
Since his campaign, Trump has promised to secure the border between Mexico and the U.S.. Trump passed two orders regarding border security, one of which declares the U.S. will build a wall along the border, while the other promised to hire 10,000 more immigration officers. The wall sparked problems with Mexico due to the fact that the Department of Homeland Security cannot pay for it, due to having a small amount of money in comparison with the amount needed— 100 million. As a result, Trump has declared that the Mexican government will pay for the wall despite them saying they will not pay for it.
In October of 2017, Trump enforced his climate change policy reversal which reversed the Clean Power Plan that required states to regulate power plants. However, Trump has stated in the past that he does believe in human-caused climate change, but he enforced the order for American independence and jobs. Regardless, 17 states filed a legal challenge against Trump’s decision to stop climate change regulations.
Moving away from controversial policies, Trump’s tax reform plan gained the approval of many Americans, although others do oppose it. He claims it will lower taxes for the middle class. This will result in an improved economy due to a boost in spending from the middle class.