Trump Triumphant
What has Trump accomplished so far in his presidency? Here are five of his most major achievements.
April 21, 2017
With the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency almost over, most of the media is still railing about everything he has done or is doing. Even though there is a lot of debate over some of his presidential actions, there is no denying that there are some good changes he’s made. Here are five of Trump’s successes or fulfilled campaign promises so far in his presidency.
The appointment of Neil Gorsuch
One of Trump’s campaign promises was to nominate a Supreme Court justice to replace the vacancy left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and he did. Within the first month of his presidency, Trump appointed Judge Neil Gorsuch to be the next Supreme Court justice after a fierce battle in the Senate.
Withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
The highlight of Trump’s campaign and his presidency so far has been his “America First” foreign policy, and he has shown this through many actions, one of the most notable being that he has withdrawn the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This is a would-be trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. The partnership is a huge deal—these countries together constitute 40% of the world’s economic output, according to BBC. If the TPP were to go ahead, these nations would have much easier trade with fewer tariffs and closer ties; but many have denounced it as favoring large corporations but not workers. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the would-be group of nations in favor of the American working class—a move that supports the American people.
Cut down on federal regulations
Trump, true to his word, signed an executive order early on in his presidency that said that for every new federal regulation, two previous ones must be cut. This is a big step towards cutting down on legislation and letting businesses grow as they should.
Supporting American manufacturers and employers
One of Trump’s many ideas is to “Buy American, Hire American,” which he has supported throughout his campaign and his presidency. Recently, he took a huge step forward in supporting American-manufactured goods and American workers. Trump signed an executive order that targets the long-debated H1-B visa, according to the Chicago Tribune. The H1-B visa allows highly skilled immigrants to get a job in the United States, but Trump has bashed it for allowing companies to hire lower-paid immigrants and displacing American workers. The executive order also mandates that companies must use more American-manufactured goods, which supports American manufacturers.
American national security
Trump outlined his ideas for the federal budget. The proposed budget puts national security first and foremost, with the Pentagon’s budget seeing a 10% increase. According to NBC, the budget reserves $52 billion for the military and $2 billion for defense, and also gives Homeland Security a $2.8 billion increase (reserving plenty of money for the border wall with Mexico); the budget also gives Veterans Affairs a $4.4 billion dollar increase. Although the budget makes deep cuts to the EPA and other similar agencies, many agree that the proposed budget is a huge step forward for the United States’s military might and influence.
These are just a few of actions Trump has taken that can be seen as successes. Remember though that there is a lot of debate over many of these actions and there are arguments against them. However, these are undeniably some of his most major accomplishments as president so far.