Bradley Fitzgerald
Staff Writer
Guess who’s back?
One month since Trump’s inauguration, I would be remiss to say the news isn’t constantly blaring in my ears. Donald Trump had wasted no time, enacting multiple executive orders within just hours of being inaugurated. He did so in a packed auditorium while being cheered on and throwing pens into a large crowd (because of course). This may come off as a surprise, but I am actually in favor of this. Instead of slowly enacting changes over a period of time, I think newly elected officials should immediately enact the changes they promised during their campaigns. Americans should get exactly what they voted for.
Now what were those changes? Well, it’s safe today, they weren’t small. Elon Musk and the newly created Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) have certainly created a stir in the news. While the federal government certainly has funds going to the wrong places, I don’t quite see what cutting small amounts of it is going to really change. It seems Elon is trimming around the edges, and not actually facing the problem head on. The other problem I have is with who he has working for him. The idea of allowing inexperienced young people working for Elon Musk to have access to things such as Americans private banking information is not very comforting.
The sweeping pardons of the January 6 rioters were something I expected to occur, just not to the degree that it did. I expected a majority of those who participated to be released, and those who committed serious offenses to stay incarcerated. But the fact that all of them have been released shows that Trump is not messing around this time. Trump also withdrew the U.S. from both the Paris Climate Accord and W.H.O. However, I’m not surprised; the United States covers a large percentage of the funds for these associations, and I can’t imagine Trump finds either of them important in his eyes.
Birthright Citizenship may be a thing of the past, which I find very strange. If it does stay in effect, it will change the fundamental definition of what it means to be American. Perhaps Trump wishes those who are not born of American citizens to not receive benefits, thus cutting government spending. Why this needed to change, I do not know.
The renaming of The Gulf of Mexico and buying Greenland, to be completely honest, I find hilarious. Are we going to have to find every globe ever made and erase the word “Mexico” in The Gulf of Mexico and write “America”? The idea of buying Greenland sounds cool, but what are we going to do with it? It is very cold, and if it is for defense purposes, don’t we already have Alaska and Hawaii. Also, it doesn’t sound like Greenland is for sale; Trump did write The Art of the Deal, perhaps he knows some kind of reverse psychology.
The tariffs that have been imposed on Canada and Mexico are dumb in my opinion. The taxes from these tariffs will most definitely end up on the consumer. Global trade is supposed to help us because certain countries specialize in products, and because of that it makes all our lives better. Enforcing them hurts Americans, which is strange considering Trump ran on lowering costs for Americans.
Efforts to remove DEI have also been implemented by the new Trump administration. Those who held roles in DEI are expected to be laid off or fired. Anything related to DEI has been removed from government offices. The problem I have with this is that, according to an article by Mother Jones, things such as plaques reading “be kind to everyone”, were removed along with them. I hope this was an accident and is not insinuating anything malevolent.
The ICE raids have started up again, and they have large aspirations. Many local officials are not cooperating with ICE, but they cannot stop them from doing their job. Removing immigrants who have committed crimes makes sense to me, it’s just sad that many who have not committed crimes will likely be deported as well.
I believe this is just another swing of the pendulum. Political parties rise and fall out of power, and time goes on. Americans elect one party, the party takes things too far, and eventually Americans get sick of it and give the other party a try. Hopefully Trump’s actions will better the country, for our sake.