It's been 100 days since Donald J. Trump took up residence at the White House. It's been a whirlwind of policy, protests and change up around Capitol Hill. So here's a recap of the last 3 months and how things are looking, going forward.
1. Obamacare Repeal Falls Through
Arguably one of Trump's biggest failures so far, his attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act was a fiasco all its own. The American Healthcare Act, lovingly dubbed "Ryancare" or "Trumpcare", was disliked by just about everyone except Paul Ryan. The bill eliminated the much-hated healthcare mandate but kept the requirement for insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. It shifted healthcare subsidies away from lower-income Americans to wealthier people, while also cutting the federally-funded Medicaid expansion. Ultimately, many predictions forecast the AHCA as costing more than Obamacare did. The bill was such a failure, the House Freedom Caucus- a group comprised primarily of Tea-Party conservatives- sided with Democrats against it.
2. Gorsuch Confirmed To SCOTUS
This was a major win for Trump. After promising to find a Supreme Court nominee in the mold of the late Antonin Scalia, President Trump chose the constitutional-originalist Neil Gorsuch. However, this choice came with a unique set of problems. Democrats, having lost the election and their court nominee, were prepared to filibuster the Gorsuch confirmation vote. With few Democrats willing to vote in favor of the SCOTUS pick, Republicans chose to "go nuclear" and lower the number of votes required to confirm a Supreme Court Justice to a simple majority. Many predict this nuclear decision will come back to haunt the Republicans but for now, the court is conservative again.
3. The Women's March on Washington
In light of Trump's Inauguration, millions of women around the country organized to protest the incoming administration. Concerns over the Supreme Court pick, funding for Planned Parenthood, and Trump's comments on women boiled over during the Inauguration. The Women's March was only the first of many protests and marches that would happen over the next 3 months including the March for Science, Day Without Immigrants, Not My President's Day, and Day Without Women. Social movements are strong in a world where Trump is president.
4. Trump's Cabinet Picks
Trump has had a rough time with his cabinet appointments. Controversy arose with his choices for Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. The nomination for Department of Education actually resulted in Vice President Mike Pence using his executive power to break the Senate's tie on Betsy Devos' confirmation vote. Trump still has failed to nominate people to all the open seats in his cabinet, having only filled 21 seats of his total 61 nominations for 553 different positions. Many of these appointed positions require Senate approval so there is concern over how long the White House will be operating at half capacity, given the lack of nominations and the debates that arise with each pick.
5. The Travel Ban
There is no way anyone could talk about Trump's first 100 days without talking about immigration, specifically the Travel Ban. The original executive order- signed January 27th, one week into his term as President- banned all travel to and from 7 Middle-Eastern countries previously identified by the Obama administration. Trump enacted the ban as part of his policies to tighten American borders and reduce terrorist threats to the United States. The ban resulted in national protests and criticism over its' seeming targeting of Muslim refugees and immigrants. The order was eventually struck down by two different federal judges and Trump came out with a new order for immigration restrictions.
It's only been 100 days and we still have another 1359 days in Trump's first term (he's really hoping to get in 2). It'll be interesting to see where the road goes but until then,
Good Luck America.
