Written by Bhanodai Pippala and Morayo Ogunbayo
Here are the top eight highlights of Trump's presidency so far.
1. Resignation of Michael Flynn
Michael Flynn originally served as President Donald Trump's first National Security Adviser. In that capacity, Flynn would be the chief adviser to President Trump on national security issues, such as on ISIS, North Korea and Syria. Flynn resigned as National Security Advisor in February 2017 after revealing that he had not disclosed communications with Russian foreign officials. He spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislayk in December 2016, most likely to discuss measures moving forward after then-President Barack Obama issued sanctions in response to Russia's interference in the Presidential election.
2. Addition of Steve Bannon to the National Security Council
The National Security Council is a group within the executive branch that advises the president on foreign and security affairs of the nation. Traditionally, the National Security Council has been characterized as a non-political body. However, the notion has been challenged with the inclusion of Steve Bannon to the council. Bannon is considered to be a political figure with minimal foreign policy experience. This has caused critics to voice concerns that the body is becoming politicized and that can hurt its integrity.
3. Firing of acting Attorney General Sally Yates
Sally Yates served as acting Attorney General while Jeff Sessions was being confirmed in the Senate. One of the most polarizing actions by Trump was issuing an executive order that limited immigration from a list of Muslim-majority nations. After some groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union sought a Court challenge, Sally Yates refused to defend the immigration executive order in the Supreme Court. As a result, Trump has fired Sally Yates in order to have an Attorney General that would defend the Order.
4. Blocking mainstream media sources from White House press briefings
In late February 2017, several major news outlets such as The New York Times, CNN, The Los Angeles Time, and Politico were barred from attending a briefing with Press Secretary Sean Spicer. The Trump administration responded that the ban was due to the outlets posing unfair questions about alleged relationships with Russia. As a result, several other outlets were allowed into the press room such as Breitbart and Gateway Pundit. Earlier in the month, President Trump claimed in a tweet that the media is an "enemy of the people".
5. Refusal to attend the White House Corespondents Dinner
Donald Trump announced in late February 2017 that he would not attend the annual White Correspondents' Association Dinner. The absence symbolizes the increasing contention between the media and the president. The last president to miss the dinner was Ronald Reagan who was recovering from an assassination attempt.
6. "Global Gag Order"
Just days after the inauguration, President Trump reinstated a "Global Gag Order" which bans U.S. funding to organizations that support, perform or even discuss abortion. The order was first brought on by Reagan, later rescinded by Clinton and reinstated by Bush, only to be repealed again by Obama. The reinstatement of this bill is harmful to not only women but people all around the globe. The United States is the largest funder of global family-planning in the world, and the order is a large blow to family planning as a whole. The new wording of the bill also states that the "rule will now apply to any of the government's global health assistance," not just abortions.
7. Gag order on federal agencies that oppose his agenda
Within the first few days of our newest administration, the Commander-in-Chief released a gag order which called on numerous federal agencies to not discuss their departments’ affairs with the public. Divisions affected by this included the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency. The one thing these three departments all shared is all of their websites held information that was in direct contrast to things the new POTUS had stated. These contrasts included the legitimization of climate change, and opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline — all things the POTUS disagreed with heavily. The most troubling details of the gag order show that the new administration may develop a habit of discarding facts that don’t line up with their ideologies and overall agenda.
8. Ban on entrance from majority-Muslim countries
On January 29, 2017, the administration released Executive Order 13769, which was created with the purpose of banning entry from citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen for a period of 90 days. Executive Order 13769 is often referred to as a Muslim ban due to the demographics of these countries, and the administration’s promise to “prioritize Christian refugees” in these areas. This was later revoked after being deemed unconstitutional, but a new version was released on March 6, 2017, and it is still unconstitutional. Though he brought the list of countries down to six and does not include green card or visa holders in the order, the order still show Islamophobia in the administration by directly targeting Muslims.
