We still don’t exactly know what President Trump meant by “covfefe” when he posted that infamous tweet over the summer, but perhaps he meant that he was making some moves; because he has. For better or for worse, the Trump administration has managed to make some pretty large changes while we’ve been busy languishing over Trump’s many headline-making statements. In fact, former president-hopeful and secretary of housing and urban development Ben Carson, told the Washington Examiner that “[he’s] glad that Trump is drawing all the fire so [he] can get stuff done.” So, what has been done?
Well, as of Oct. 13, Trump had signed 49 executive orders, despite his criticisms of Obama “going around signing executive orders.” In fact, he is on course to have signed more orders than any other president within the same timespan. If that number shocks you then you might want to start doing a little research. So far, according to Business Insider, Trump has signed executive actions to:
- Review any designations made since 1996 for national monuments that are larger than 100,000 acres. This means that previously protected areas may lose that security.
- Rename some federal buildings such as a courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, which will now be called the “Fred D. Thompson Federal Building and United States Courthouse”.
- Create a “Wounded Officers Recovery Act,” which will allow capitol police officers who have been injured in the line of duty to receive money for medical expenses.
- Create celebratory days, weeks and months such as Small-Business Week, National Charter School Week and Greek Independence Day.
- Remove climate change protections, stating that global warming is a “hoax.”
- Revoke Obama’s executive order that required federal government contracts over $500,000 to be given to companies that had previously violated labor laws. Now, companies do not need to disclose their violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
- Delegate presidential powers to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson regarding the National Defense Authorization Act.
Trump has also made promises to dismantle the Affordable Care Act created under the Obama administration and crackdown on immigration. While a bill intended to replace the Affordable Care Act which was created by the Trump administration never garnered enough support to even make it to the Senate floor, Trump has remained adamant that the change will come. However, changes have been made on the crackdown on immigration given Trump’s travel bans and stricter application process. Additionally, according to NPR, the Department of Homeland Security is looking for more detention centers as arrests increase, with the daily average of centers across America standing at 38,000.
Yet, somehow executive orders and changes like these aren’t being spoken about as often as Trump’s comments about NFL players, bizarre Tweet storms, objectification of women and horrible spray tan. While these topics may all be worthy of conversation, other changes like the ones mentioned should not be allowed to fall behind a well-constructed smoke screen because sooner or later things happening in Washington will begin to seriously affect us. So, shake your head in disbelief as Trump takes credit for the release of the JFK assassination documents, even though they were scheduled to be released anyway. Wince when he makes fun of a disabled reporter. Scratch your head when he announces that we’ve pulled out of the Paris climate change deal. But, never lose sight of the bigger picture. Stay woke, people.
