The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

Column: Trump fails to deliver during first 100 days

Alex+Frandsen%2C+Editorial+Columnist
Alex Frandsen, Editorial Columnist

Well team, we made it. This Saturday will be President Donald J. Trump’s 100th day in office. Pat yourself on the back, because making it this far while preserving your mental well-being is no minor accomplishment. Between the constant tweeting and controversy, with all the bomb-exploding and diplomatic emergencies, it’s felt more like 100 years than 100 days.

So take a deep breath. We haven’t been consumed in a nuclear fireball just yet, and that’s cause for celebration. But it’s also cause for reflection, as the first 100 days is an oft-used benchmark for how a president is faring in their new digs. Trump himself seemed to realize this, as he rolled out a 100-day action plan at the end of his campaign that promised to “Make America Great Again.” (Of course, he tweeted just a few days ago that 100 days was a “ridiculous standard,” but hey Donald, you made your bed. Now you have to lie in it.)

Let’s start with the successes. Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, who was confirmed by Congress with a little help from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Gorsuch swings the court back to a conservative equilibrium, and while I may not like it, that’s definitely a tally in the win column for the president. Trump also sent a slew of missiles to destroy a Syrian airbase in the wake of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical attack, which, if blowing up airstrips that are thousands of miles away is your thing, could be considered an achievement.

And that’s… kind of it. Despite Trump’s claims that his first 100 days would be the most productive in history, that’s simply not true. He’s signed 28 bills, which sounds mildly impressive, except for the fact that none of them meet the status of being a “major bill,” according to The Washington Post. He kept busy signing executive orders, 24 to be exact, but many of those were standard procedure for a president of a new party assuming office. And the most high profile of those orders, the infamous immigration ban, has been knocked down in court—not once, but twice—by federal judges.

Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was perhaps his biggest promise, and that has failed bigly. Despite Republicans holding majorities in both the Senate and the House, and despite some not-so-veiled threats, Trump hasn’t been able to push his health care bill through. Instead, he’s shifted his plan to banking on Obamacare imploding, which would then ostensibly allow him to ride in and save the day.

Of course, we can’t evaluate his time in office without addressing his favorite phrase of the campaign: Drain the swamp. Here, too, Trump has failed to deliver. Instead, he’s done quite the opposite, and imported some of the swampiest alligators known to man. He brought in Rex Tillerson—former head of Exxon Mobil—to be Secretary of State, and tapped former Goldman Sachs banker Steve Mnuchin to be the Secretary of Treasury. The swamp is alive and well, and probably breeding new species of wildlife that we’ve never seen before.

If you need more proof that Trump’s first 100 days have failed to look out for the everyday man, he also slashed programs meant to make college more affordable for lower-income students. Pell Grant funding was cut by nearly $4 billion, and he’s proposed that we get rid of the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program entirely, which helps out students in dire need of financial aid. And these moves are just a portion of the destruction he’s levying on the Department of Education, which he wants to downsize by $9 billion total.

One hundred days isn’t a complete survey of a presidency’s impact, of course, but it’s still a snapshot of who our nation’s leader is. And if these first 100 have shown us anything, it’s what we already knew. Trump speaks loudly and carries a bludgeon, swinging wildly and without foresight. He’s proven himself to be a con man who is more concerned with maintaining his personality cult than actually governing effectively.

If his term is a rollercoaster, we’ve barely crested the first rise. There are loops, drops and God knows what else in our future. But hey, still pat yourself on the back. Only around 1,280 more days to go.

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