Trump aims to fulfill campaign promises

THE 45TH PRESIDENT — Last Friday Donald Trump was sworn into the office of the presidency, along with Vice President Pence on Capitol Hill. (Reuters)

On Friday, Donald Trump officially became president of the United States. His term began with somewhat of a rocky start, as his press secretary, Sean Spicer, spoke to the press about a controversy surrounding the estimated attendance of the inauguration and a comparison between two pictures of the crowd. Spicer also blasted the media for “demoralizing” coverage of the Trump campaign and inauguration.

Late Friday night, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released a memo stating that the Federal Housing Administration, or FHA, reduction of mortgage premiums had been “suspended indefinitely.” The move has been called a “terrible thing to do to American homeowners” by Sen. Chuck Schumer, because it will cease the decrease in mortgage premiums that was supposed to take place on Jan. 27.

Trump issued an executive order aimed at rolling back Obamacare on Friday night as well, although this order is more of a political statement than a change in policy. One of Trumps key campaign promises was to repeal Obamacare, although no plan has been presented by the Republicans. The full repeal of Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, would take at least one year, probably more, due to the gridlock in Congress surrounding the issue and the complexity of the original documents. Until a solid plan is present by the Republicans, no change is likely to occur for the millions of Americans currently enrolled through the various healthcare exchanges.

The new administration was very busy Friday night, as they also issued an executive order halting all new and pending regulations in executive branch departments to give the administration time to look over the rules and decide which to keep and which to remove. Another one of Trump’s campaign promises was to slash the red tape regulations that plagues small businesses in America and make it hard for new businesses to come into existence. The massive amount of regulation in America today has hindered the growth and development of new businesses, and hopefully the Trump administration will be sympathetic to their pleas.

On Saturday Trump delivered a speech to the CIA at their headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Highlighting the lack of space in the CIA’s auditorium and the “hundreds” of people who could not attend as a result, Trump spoke to the recent animosity between him and the agency. Trump stated his support for the agency and told them he would back them more than anyone else had in the past and that they may not even want all of his backing. Hopefully the negative sentiments held about President Trump leave the CIA with Director Brennan’s departure. In closing, Trump praised his nominee for director of the CIA, now confirmed, Mike Pompeo, for his military service and can-do attitude.

On Sunday Trump announced that he would begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly know as NAFTA, with Canada and Mexico. By letting Americans know his intentions to fulfill yet another campaign promise less than 72 hours after he took office, Trump is likely attempting to build up the political capital he needs to affect the change he wants to impose on the Federal government.

Monday morning President Trump issued yet another executive order to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive trade deal involving nearly 15 percent of the world’s economy. This move secures another promise made on the campaign trail and stays in line with Trump’s belief in free trade, rather than unfair trade agreement that he attributes the mass exodus of American manufacturing to. One can only hope that Trump’s deal making skills, the ones he touted so much on the campaign trail, are legit.

In yet another controversial move, President Trump announced that he was considering moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move praised by Jewish groups and Israeli Prime Minster Netanyahu.

If the first few days are any indication of what is to come from the Trump presidency, the next four years will be quite eventful. By already fulfilling several campaign promises, Trump is securing his favor with his constituency and attempting to build up political capital. It remains to be seen whether or not he will be able to enact the change that more than fifty million Americans hoped for when they cast their vote last November.

With just under four years to go, one can only guess what the Federal government will look like when Trump leaves or is reinstated into office.