Trump’s First Days Are a Major Cause for Concern

Andrea Hunt, Arts and Entertainment Editor

In just 20 days, the Trump administration has done what many Americans and citizens of the world feared and worse.

His first orders of business consisted of the following:

  1. Trump is banning money from going toward international non-government organizations, such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Yes, we knew he wanted to do away with abortion, but defunding Planned Parenthood means that women and families will not be able to receive affordable care and contraceptives. This also means that PP can no longer provide the abortion alternatives and contraceptives for women in developing countries who would otherwise die from childbirth. Overpopulation is rampant people! Defunding PP is not only immoral but it will also wreak havoc on the environment.

  1. As though no protests were carried out, Trump has reopened the Dakota Access and Keystone XL Pipelines.

This not only puts the people surrounding the DAPL in danger, but also the world at large. I assume we will be hearing a lot more stories about oil spills and contaminated drinking water. Obviously, Americans do not have a voice anymore.

  1. Scientists have been banned from discussing research.

In an attempt to distract the world from what has been scientifically proven and referred to as climate change, the Trump administration has tried to silence scientists from any communication. This ban includes the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Transportation and the National Park Service. Many people have refused this censorship and are protesting. And we are left to wonder, is this even legal? Along with this attack on free speech, the media has had its fair share of attacks as well. The Trump administration loves to claim that the media is producing fake news; meanwhile, the administration is churning out “alternative facts.” Yes, some journalists have gone rogue and some news sources have lost credibility, but now the Pentagon is not even credible. The First Amendment freedoms of press and speech have been called into question. The Trump administration tells us to not trust the media, but because of its imposed censorship of science, now we can’t even trust their administration.

  1. Though Mexico has said several times that they will not pay for the illogical wall, Trump still has his hopes up.

Just in case Mexico does not pay for this wall (which will never happen), the Trump administration has come up with a way for the Americans to pay for it. This means that any items imported from Mexico to the U.S. will have a 20% tax increase, pulling more money out of our pockets to build something we don’t want. Trump can’t hate Hispanics too much though, because he just returned from his vacation to Florida—only two and a half weeks into his presidency. I know Trump; it must be such hard work to rip a country apart, you really needed that hard-earned vacation.

  1. The Muslim ban, while temporarily postponed as it was deemed unconstitutional, still has a huge effect on our country.

Trump chose the seven majority Muslim countries because of their supposed “ties” with ISIS and the attackers of 9/11, while he omitted the countries that have the strongest real ties to terrorism— peculiar, right? It gets even sketchier: the countries he omitted are those with which his business has close ties to. Trump says he is protecting the country, but is just revealing his blatant xenophobia and only protecting his business. What Trump does not realize is the division between the West and the Middle East is putting an “X” on our backs, tempting the terrorists even more. But Trump was not the only one involved; Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was calling the shots. Trump has done one nice thing: he has promoted Bannon to president. The White House is not to be trusted anymore; it does not stand for the Constitution with multiple people acting as president. We originally thought the country was turning into a dictatorship, but we had no idea it would be an oligarchy.

 

All the worries and anxieties of a Trump presidency are quickly and surely becoming true. If this is what can happen in just 20 days, we better take cover for the next 1,445.