A faculty led panel on the Trump administration last Wednesday night left the audience with a lot to think about regarding President Trump’s cabinet appointments and executive orders.
The panel, hosted by Pi Sigma Alpha and the Department of Politics and International Affairs, aimed at addressing the decisions and policies in the first 100 days of Trump’s term.
Overall, the theme of the panel frequently gravitated towards the effects of the White House on the president and his cabinet — not the other way around.
“He is viewing things in a different way than he viewed them before,” said professor Kathy Smith in regards to Trump’s adjustment to the presidency.
Due to the infancy of Trump’s administration, much of what was discussed was based on Trump’s actions in the first 18 days in office. Namely, the flurry of executive orders coming out of the Oval Office, and his cabinet appointments.
The discussion began with a focus on grounding current events in historical context. The panel agreed in noting that Trump’s cabinet appointment process has been slow. This they attributed largely to a lack of concrete preparation before the inauguration, as well as the cabinet choices he has made.
According to Dr. Sara Dahill Brown, Trump’s cabinet choices are one point at which he diverges considerably from other administrations. Roughly half of Trump’s cabinet members, both nominated and confirmed, have experience in governance.
This is a stark contrast from President Obama’s cabinet, which was made up almost entirely of members that were either policy experts with PhDs or had substantial experience in governance.
“We’re looking at a much less academic, much less professionalized cabinet, that hasn’t spent nearly as much time in government as previous cabinets,” said Dahill Brown.
The effects of this lack of expertise in the cabinet could be serious at first. Running a large government agency with an enormous budget and little inside understanding will be a challenge for many of these new cabinet members.
Additionally, Dahill Brown was concerned about the effects that President Trump’s cabinet choices will have on the middle class.
“Less often policy reflects their preferences,” said Dahill Brown in regards to the working class, citing a study on public opinion trends. “But, more often it reflects the preferences of the folks who are in the top one percent.”
The panel also addressed President Trump’s use of executive orders in his first weeks. Though most presidents use the executive order frequently at the beginning of their terms, Trump has written executive orders with broader scope and language than normal.
“These executive orders go big, and they’re not necessarily as carefully worded as many executive orders often are,” said Dahill Brown. “So the legality of them is unclear, because they’re not drafted by experts.”
The travel ban from majority Muslim nations that Trump signed, in particular, was one executive order that was cited by Smith as hastily written and not fully thought through by Trump and his cabinet. It has since created a raucous reaction from the public.
Lizzie Lordi is a sophomore who attended the panel. She wanted to come to the panel in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the new administration. The travel ban was at the forefront of issues that mattered to her.
“I do not agree with a lot of his policies, especially the Muslim ban.” said Lordi, who identifies as a Democrat. “I am very nervous, because we don’t know what to expect.”
Other issues that mattered to Lordi were immigration and women’s health issues. Her concern, much like with the travel ban, is the use of executive orders to these policy issues in the same manner as the travel ban.
The panel was originally scheduled to take place at the end of President Trump’s first 100 days. Conflicts with finals week, however, had instead forced them to pick a very early date in Trump’s term.
As a result, faculty members wanted to be clear with their disclaimers before making speculation.
To illustrate this, Dr. Smith read aloud a quote from Nate Silver, Editor in Chief of FiveThirtyEight. “I worry that we, the community of Trump watchers, may be making too many extrapolations from this small sample of data.”
