As of January 20th, 2017, former President Barack Obama left the white house and Donald J. Trump took over. The inauguration took many hours at the U.S. Capital on a cold, chilling morning as the Obama’s sent their last goodbyes to America and introduced the Trumps to their new home. A lot of anti-Trump protests broke out during and after the inauguration, the Women’s March happening a day after that took place all over the globe with at least half a million to a million reported at Washington and millions attended in other major capitals. And as the news reports, this inauguration had fewer amounts of attendees than Obama’s 2009 inauguration. Yet, at the same time a lot of President Trump’s supporters are very pleased with him, especially with all of the new executive orders he’s been signing right away since he first sat in the oval office. It’s been a four weeks since the day our country moved onto the next president and many citizens already want to impeach him, but many want him to stay as well. “I am supportive of our new president. I like that he’s doing what he said he would and actually is making a difference since his election,” said Tyler Parent, a senior at New Richmond High School. Agreeing with him, Brooke Keilen said she also was supportive of Trump and, “I just believe he’s going to make some good changes to the country and some things need to be resolved.” Junior Darrian Garrett had a neutral answer and explained that, “I support him because our country decided to pick him and we should support him with that.” So far, Trump has been true to his words when he was in the midst of campaigning. He’s signed at least 20 policies so far since January 20th, and he is indeed making the difference his supporters wanted. One policy he’s signed four days after his inauguration is the advancement of the oil pipelines to be continued, something that the Democrats (Obama) stopped. The Dakota Access Pipeline being one of them, which had major protests over the last half of 2016. Many protesters believe this pipeline will become a negative effect on the environment, but Trump gave the okay. Another policy he has given the okay to is the “Mexico City” abortion policy, which he signed three days after he took office. This policy blocks the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding foreign non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortions. It had previously been established by Ronald Reagan when he was in charge, but has been discontinued by Democratic presidents over time. Soon, abortion might be banned from all 50 states depending on what exactly goes through and what the state's regulations are. “I feel this is quite sad. As a women, I feel that it is my choice in what I do with my baby. In fact it is my right,” explained Brynn O’Shaughnessy, a very pro-choice and anti-Trump woman at New Richmond High. “By making it [abortion] illegal, it is essentially saying that I am able to do whatever I want with my body, as long as too many people don’t disagree with it. Besides, it’s violating women’s rights, and history shows by banning it, it actually increases its occurrence.” Many republicans don’t agree with her, they believe that abortion is not the mother’s choice and that the mother should put the child up for adoption instead. “I think there should be a time limit and after 2-3 months they [abortions] shouldn’t be allowed,” answered Chad Miller after he said he was against abortion. Which is what some states have for certain regulations. Currently, there are 41 states who determine what state of pregnancy is legal. “It is not my right, nor anyone else’s, to tell others what they can and can’t do with their body,” O’Shaughnessy argued angrily. O’Shaughnessy also made an appearance at the Women’s March that was mentioned earlier in the article. “The Women’s March was very empowering,” she [O’Shaughnessy] smiled, “It brought together the citizens of this nation who know that what makes America great is our diversity, acceptance, and understanding.” She told about how she attended the march in St. Paul, Minnesota and there were around 100,000 people total, and she also continued to explain that the message Americans won’t stand for the “racist, sexist, and xenophobic rhetoric of Trump’s administration.” Although many women, and men who walked to support, thought the idea was amazing and empowering, a lot of Trump’s supporters disagreed and were angry about the peaceful protest. Many supporters online complained that it was stupid and nothing would be done about it in the long run. Speaking of something stupid and wouldn’t do anything in the long run, a lot of anti-Trump protesters don’t like his executive order on increasing border security measures. As in, planning, designing, and constructing the wall that he wants along the U.S-Mexico border that will prevent illegal immigrants coming in, and constructing and operating detention facilities near the border to make adjudicate asylum claims. President Trump wants to hire 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents and 10,000 additional immigration officers at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Trump has stated that he wants American taxpayers to help pay for the wall until Mexico reimburses us, which is highly unrealistic and is unlikely to happen. This wall is estimated to cost about $25 billion to $40 billion, and this has also caused Mexico to alienate our country due to this executive order. More countries who aren’t happy with America are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. These seven countries are currently on a travel ban that suspends immigrants and nonimmigrants from entry into the United States for 90 days. As in, if the traveler lived in the United states, visited their home, and then tried to return to their home in the US then they would not be allowed to do so. People all over the country are calling this the Muslim Ban, and many are angered about this unconstitutional concept. It goes against what America has been meant for since it was first received the famous Statue of Liberty that sits in New York greeting newcomers to our prosperous land. A Federal Judge recently denied this Muslim Ban, and they are awaiting court for what will happen to the country’s immigration and refugee policy since some people noticed how wrong this truly is. “Wrong.” A famous Trump line that simplified just how wrong his cabinet pick was. Let’s start on his pick for Secretary of State, which is the head of the State Department and responsible for foreign affairs. ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson is that he has a close friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Putin awarded Tillerson in 2013 with the Order of Friendship -the highest honor any non-citizen can receive in Russia. Tillerson has also been “openly critical of U.S. sanctions against Russia.” This unnerves many due to the assumption that Russia interfered with the 2016 election. President Trump also picked Senator Jefferson Sessions for Attorney General, which is the head of the United States Department of Justice. This a frightening problem for many due to his troubling racial slurs in the past. He was too racist to be a judge in the 1980’s, once joking about the KKK and marijuana, and now Trump wants him on his team. Fast food CEO Andy Puzder is also on Trump’s wanted team and he wants Puzder for Secretary of Labor, a position that controls labor. Apparently, many people think this man, who owns Hardee’s and Carl’s Junior, will use this control in the worst way possible. He opposes an increase on minimum wage, he wants to replace minimum wage workers with machines, and he’s also allegedly to be sexist. Another problematic choice Trump made is his pick for Secretary of Education, a republican woman with no experience in education. Betsy DeVos was confirmed on February 7th, and many teachers, families, and students are worried about this pick and what will happen to public education. DeVos is mostly focused on private schools and charter schools, completely neglecting the public schools and proved in her questioning last month, she has little experience with them. Democrats raised their concerns with President Trump’s pick, but she ended up winning with a tie breaker of 51-50 when Vice President Pence cleared it up. Even Keilen thought his picks were “iffy” by saying, “I think he could have picked more experienced people, but it’s his choice and hopefully they work out.” So, what will happen in the next four years? Keilen inferred, “I think a lot of people aren’t happy with him right now, but I think they should give him a chance and hopefully the years will be good.” Parent also agreed, “I have no clue what to expect, but I hope he continues to do what he would and I hope he isn’t reckless with his decisions.” Even though a lot of anti-Trump protesters are also hoping for the best for the country, we will just have to wait and see what else goes on until the next election in 2020. Staff writer, Emily Larkin
