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In his first 100 days, Trump has not only signed more executive orders, but has also taken the most amount of golf outings of the last three presidents. He even admitted this week that he thought the job of president "would be easier.”
Trump’s maverick, slash and burn approach to domestic and international politics has raised the eyebrows of environmentalists, the media, human and civil rights organizations, workers groups, and indeed the international community. Trump currently sits with one of the lowest popularity ratings of any president after the 100 day mark, with a number of campaign promises broken or hanging in limbo.
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Immigration
The “great border wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border, a marquee promise of his election campaign remains unbuilt. Meanwhile, Mexico refuses to pay for it, which Trump said they would, and he can not even get the U.S. Congress to budget it in a spending bill.
His administration has stepped up attacks on immigrants through deportations and overturning policies that had protected immigrants and their families. "Sanctuary cities” across the country are also in the administration's crosshairs, as their compassion and resistance are antithetical to the administration's anti-immigrant policy agenda.
“These one hundred days have been a dizzying violation of our human rights and our human dignity as Black Immigrants. But I am part of the resistance, and we will not allow this new administration to continue to attack immigrant families,” said Gilda Blanco, a Seattle-based organizer, in a report by We Belong Together to mark Trump’s 100 days.
Donald Kerwin, executive director of the Center for Migration Studies, told NPR, “What they're trying to do are very splashy, draconian enforcement efforts that are really meant to tell people: nobody is safe, and nobody should come that's not documented.”
Draining the Swamp
Taking the money and corporate interests out of Washington, or “draining the swamp,” was one of Trump’s previous rallying cries, but yet again this appears to have all but fallen on deaf ears. Many are seriously questioning the transparency and conflicts of interest in his administration, from his ongoing business ties, his failure to release his tax returns, his corporate donations and propping up friends and family in key government positions.
“Trump has filled his administration with the same major donors and Wall Street executives he claimed he would fight if elected,” Public Citizen said in a press release as part of its joint report with Every Voice, “Broken Promises: How Trump is Profiting Off the Presidency and Empowering Lobbyists and Big Donors.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Executive Director Noah Bookbinder commented: “President Trump promised to ‘drain the swamp,’ but instead the first 100 days of his administration have illustrated the catastrophic consequences when a president fails to prioritize ethics when entering public service. This failure of leadership resounds through the administration and the government as a whole, and ultimately harms our democracy and the interests of the American people.”
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Foreign Policy and Warmongering
Trump offered to many the prospect of a more isolationist foreign policy compared to defeated hawkish Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton who had a history of supporting foreign intervention.
However, since coming to office, Trump has not only continued the interventionist and imperialist actions of previous administrations, but he has pushed it even further with many anxiously hoping that he will not provoke nuclear conflict with North Korea.
Amid accusations that the Assad’s Syrian regime used chemical weapons on its own citizens, Trump ordered the launch of missiles into the country and has ramped up airstrikes on Yemen and played an increasing game of brinkmanship by escalating tensions with North Korea.
“Far from an isolationist, as many of his supporters believed him to be, Trump has quickly proven that he remains intent to continue long-standing US military engagement in the Middle East,” assistant professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar, Abdullah Al-Arian told Al Jazeera.
As tensions boil between North Korea and the U.S, WomenCrossDMZ, a global women's peace movement, called “on the Trump administration to initiative a peace process with North Korea, South Korea and China to ratchet down the rapidly escalating military tensions that could engulf the entire region in nuclear war.”
Peace Action Executive Director Jon Rainwater said in a statement. “Yet again, the Trump administration appears to be threatening a preemptive war against North Korea. The mere threat of such an attack has already ratcheted up tensions in the Korean Peninsula. Following through on the threat could lead to all out war and give the invasion of Iraq a run for its money as one of the most catastrophic foreign policy decisions in U.S. history.”
Trade and the Economy
Under his platform critical of economic globalization, in one of his first moves in the oval officeTrump withdrew the U.S. from what would have been the world’s biggest trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. He has also threatened to scrap the NAFTA deal with Mexico and Canada.
While all this has been justified in the push to resurrect a number of domestic industries and bring back jobs to U.S soil, his yet to be approved tax overhaul would give more to corporations and the 1 percent of the population, calling into question his previous promises of helping workers who have traditionally been left out in the cold as a result of globalization and greedy businesses.
“In his first 100 days in office, President Trump has continued to talk about creating 'jobs where Americans prosper and grow.' However, his actions during that time tell a different story," said Celine McNicholas from the Economic Policy Institute. "If the president were serious about improving the lives of working men and women, he could strengthen overtime rules, work to increase the minimum wage, and support workers' rights to bargain collectively. Instead, he has steadily undermined the laws and institutions that protect working people and advance their interests.”
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Environment and Science
While the last few years have seen important political strides toward tackling major environmental threats such as climate change, Trump has quickly unravelled key domestic and international environmental regulations. He has targeted science and research with budget cuts, filled his administration with climate change deniers and seems intent on reviving the U.S’s dirty fossil fuel industries in his plan for creating more jobs.
His administration has also gone to attacking the very heart of science itself, prompting a backlash from environmentalists and ordinary concerned citizens from across the world, leading to a series of nationally organized marches, which have also propped up across the globe.
“There is no question, President Trump is a disaster for our environment and public health. His actions will make our air and water dirtier; ensure we experience the worst effects of climate change even more swiftly; and will put at risk our oceans and national parks,” said Maggie Alt, from Environment America.
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