Trump has been back in office for almost two weeks now and has made many drastic decisions.
When Trump was re-elected, he said he would fix the country and make it great again, leading to him signing hundreds of executive orders within the first week of his presidency. These executive orders range from all sorts of issues including trying to end Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, ending birthright citizenship and stopping federal grants and loans.
With all these executive orders being passed within just a few weeks, it’s hard for Americans to grasp what is happening, and this signals an interesting next four years.
The first concern should be with DEI initiatives. DEI initiatives are put in place to allow minority groups to have equal opportunities as the majority people. While not every DEI program is created equal, it still doesn’t make getting rid of them a good idea. DEI programs are put in place to try and even the field where if implemented correctly, can lead to better job opportunities and diversity within the job field. Completely ending these programs abruptly, especially when they have already been in place, will lead to even more issues down the line.
Federal grants and loans were paused for about six hours until a federal judge stopped Trump’s administration. Stopping all federal loans and grants without any warning will affect the lives of millions. Most college students rely on grants and loans to go to school. Even outside of college, thousands of programs from every state rely on these grants and loans to function. If this order would have stayed in place, it could potentially cripple the livelihoods of millions of Americans.
Most of the executive orders signed by Trump seem more political, some orders have already caused great harm in many communities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been sent out to capture immigrants leading to thousands of illegal immigrants being detained across the country, even here in Murray.
While an argument that illegal immigration should be punished can be made, a vast majority of these illegal immigrants are just trying to provide for their families. Many of these immigrants still pay taxes by working jobs that only really contest people without high school diplomas. Returning these immigrants to their homes in this manner is not only inhumane, but deporting laborers won’t accomplish Trump’s goal of reducing expenses for the American people.
The biggest concern for these executive orders isn’t even what they are about but, instead, showing that the president will be almost entirely uncontested by any of the other branches. The presidency is now able to create almost any law they want and the only way these executive orders have been contested with lawsuits.
The lack of contesting from the other federal branches is by far the scariest part. Without having any protections put in place for Trump, he will be allowed to continue imposing these executive orders, and they will only get worse and worse.
The combination of all these things together happening at the same time, all within the same few weeks, is terrifying. All these orders have caused concern and panic among many Americans, and it’s only been two weeks.
These issues need to be addressed and it needs to happen quickly. Without a proper way to contest the president and his administration, we leave him the ability to do whatever he wants. The concerns brought upon within the first few weeks shouldn’t be dismayed by the people, but instead, it should be a message that our government has issues that need to be addressed.
