Donald Trump has been in office for a week now and already we can see the dramatic ways in which the next four years are going to change. How much damage can one man do in a week? Let’s take a step back and look at just a few of the weeks highlights.
Throughout Trump’s campaign, he always talked about how we were going to build a wall on the US-Mexico border and make Mexico pay for it. First of all, there never was, nor there will be, a ‘we’ associated with a wall. Secondly, you can’t just force another country to pay for something that doesn’t benefit them in any way shape or form. And, finally, the simple fact of Trump trying to push payment onto Mexico, I don’t think anyone thought a wall was even possible. But after just a few days in office, Trump, directed the Department of Homeland security to begin construction on a wall on the US-Mexico border. Mexico’s President, Pena Nieto, responded by saying they would not pay for a wall. When asked about payment, Trump responded by saying that “there would be payment”. How, Mr. Trump? I surely hope that you don’t plan on using US funds to pay for a $25-billion-dollar wall, because that would just be foolish, right? Also, let’s not forget the fact that building a wall creates enemies, not allies.
The executive order that Trump signed that ordered defunding International Planned Parenthood should have made every woman around the world absolutely terrified. Our dear President, surrounded by 6 other white men, signed a piece of paper that basically said he can now tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. This executive order put back into action the Global Gag Rule, which blocks federal funding from international organizations that both provide abortion and are able to discuss abortion services. Let’s just get one thing clear: abortions aren’t going to stop just because you cut funding for them. That just makes the abortions unsafe and cruel.
Last Friday, on the night of his election, Trump signed an executive order “ease the burden of Obamacare”. He said his entire campaign that his number one priority was the repeal the Affordable Care Act, a health care law that gives insurance to 20 million Americans. The future health of some 20 million Americans is in the hands of the same man who wants to take away all their benefits. Without Obamacare, one man might not be able to afford his chemotherapy medication. Without Obamacare, one woman might not be able to afford the medication she needs to get through the day. Repealing Obamacare is one thing, but repealing it without a replacement is somewhat of an idiotic thing to do.
Remember the constant thread of articles, photos, and videos your friends posted of the protests in support of Standing Rock? For months, people protested the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) because it would ruin a reservation’s water supply as well as sacred sites there. After months of protests and violence, Obama was finally able to block the construction of it. Until Trump came along and revived the plans. We need to stop the DAPL. We need to care about our earth and the people that inhabit it. Stand with Standing Rock.
This was only a small list of the things Trump has already done in the past week. There are many more, and surely many more frightful things to come within the next four years. Four years. Think about that. This is just a taste of what we’re going to encounter with him as our President. So yeah, start preparing for The Hunger Games, my friends.
