By Reagan Pearson, Staff Writer
When citizens headed to the polls to vote on Nov. 6, 2016, one thing was certain — whether Trump or Hillary, 2017 was going to be a long, interesting year.
Trump has now completed his first year as president and it could best be described as a mixed bag. For every good or even great thing he would do, there was usually a fiery tweet or bone-headed decision to follow it.
So to truly get a grasp on Trump’s first year in office, let’s take a look at his major decisions and moves, as well as the changes made throughout the country — those that were good, those that were bad and those that were straight up ugly.
The Good
Contrary to popular belief, Trump’s first year wasn’t just one big disaster. In fact, he did plenty of good for the country. In my opinion, one of if not the best thing Trump did in his first year was declare the opioid epidemic a health emergency.
Opioid addiction has become an increasingly serious issue over the past few years. Although opioids are painkillers prescribed by doctors, they have become popular drugs to abuse and have become a gateway to heroin. Trump declaring the addiction crisis a health emergency is a huge step in the right direction by raising awareness and helping those addicted.
Another big decision Trump made that helped the country was the move to pull the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) –a free trade agreement between 12 countries before the U.S. left.
The deal basically slashed tariffs between the nations involved and made trade cheaper and easier; however, while this deal did help many smaller countries in the Pacific, it was at America’s expense as those countries could obtain American goods on the cheap.
The deal also favored big businesses in America and cost many Americans their jobs. The worst part of the deal, however, was Investor-State Dispute Settlement (IDS) — a deal that would completely undermine U.S. sovereignty and allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws without even stepping foot in a courtroom. Pulling the country out of the deal will not only help the middle class, but our economy by boosting our economic independence.
The economy also did great during Trump’s first year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 20,000 points for the first time and is still hitting record highs as the unemployment rate continues to fall, even at 4 percent.
Arguably, my most controversial opinion would be this one: I believe Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to the city of Jerusalem was a good thing. Keep in mind that this is coming from a Christian, so I do have a slight bias that shifts toward the Israeli people, but with Israel being the promised land, I do believe that the Hebrews have the God-given right to that land — as corny as it may sound.
Religion aside, I think the move was a good idea because Trump finally fulfilled the promise that other U.S. presidents have made for decades. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Congress all said they would move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and none of them ever delivered. Trump moving the embassy was long overdue and a huge statement that hopefully many other countries will follow.
Trump did plenty of good within the past year. His first year in office wasn’t just one giant trainwreck, but every rose has its thorns.
The Bad
In my opinion, Trump repealing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was originally a good idea. I know how awful that may sound, but hear me out.
The original plan was to repeal DACA and then replace the program with a similar system to protect undocumented immigrants who have been raised in America. An executive order from 2012 should not be the only safety net in place to protect a million Americans. It had to be replaced with a permanent solution and, for a while, Trump was headed in the right direction.
Sadly, Congress just can’t get along and is still arguing over the issue today (it even resulted in a government shutdown). You could argue that this was more the fault of Congress than the president, but no matter the catalyst, a government shutdown will always be a blight on a president’s legacy.
Trump’s feud with Kim Jong Un was also a disaster. I don’t have a problem with a president showing force or standing up to a dictator, but I do have a problem when he constantly insults said dictator for no reason — in front of the UN and on Twitter (oh, we’ll get to that later). These insults only end up increasing tensions with a trigger-happy megalomaniac.
This feud wasn’t about Trump defending himself or the U.S. from North Korean nuclear threats, it was more like two 5-year-olds fighting over who has bigger toys. Trump lowering to Kim’s level was pointless and dangerous.
Trump pulling the United States out of the Paris Agreement was also one of his biggest flaws — he always goes all in. Trump argued that the agreement hurt American business and the economy, and rather than just renegotiating the deal, he said “screw it” and pulled the U.S. out of the agreement completely.
The United States is now the only country in the world that is not in the Paris Agreement, and it only hurts foreign nations’ opinions of us. More importantly, it hurts the environment.
If anything hurts our foreign relations more than Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement, it’s probably the elephant in the room — his Twitter account. To be fair, in this day and age the president needs to have a social media account to announce future plans, keep up with events going on in the country and in the world and to relay messages to the American people every now and then.
Trump, however, tweets more like your angry Republican uncle and less like a world leader. His tweets make America look like a joke. For every good and sensible thing Trump tweets, there are about 10 horrible tweets to follow.
The majority of the president’s Twitter does not include his plans to fix the country or his attempts to communicate with the American people. Instead, he chooses to bash his political opponents and other world leaders, thus making himself, the GOP and the nation as a whole look like an absolute joke.
Within this past year, Trump’s also done plenty of bad — more than I could put into words — but there were two events in his first year that were downright awful and a violation of basic human and American rights.
The Ugly
Net Neutrality — need I say more? It blows my mind that something a majority of both Republicans and Democrats agree is a bad idea actually happened. Repealing net neutrality is just plain wrong. To tax the internet and slow down the future of entertainment and television is absolutely insane.
The fact that an overwhelming majority of the population supports net neutrality is what makes allowing it to be repealed such an awful move during Trump’s first year.
In my opinion however, the absolute worst thing Trump did in his first year was attempting to ban transgender citizens from the armed forces. This was morally wrong. There was absolutely no basis behind his decision.
Trump’s reason for banning transgender people was that he believes military money that is primarily used for creating weapons, or for healing wounded soldiers, should not be used to help people who plan to undergo gender confirmation surgery.
I actually agree that military money should not be used for something as personal as a gender confirmation surgery; however, instead of negotiating a policy that ensured military money could not be used for this, Trump chose not to compromise — just like the Paris Agreement — and tried to ban transgender citizens from the armed forces all together. Banning people from serving their country to protect those they love is disgusting and a violation of basic human rights.
Trump’s first year has been a mixed bag of great, good, bad and awful. Overall, his first year was a pretty big “Meh” in my opinion: nothing too special with some minor events, both good and bad.
All we can do in 2018 is hope for a better year for Trump’s administration and decide whether we think the future looks bright — or realize we still have three years left with an unpredictable president.
Junior Reagan Pearson can be reached at [email protected].
