{"id":9058,"date":"2017-04-27T04:31:45","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T04:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=9058"},"modified":"2017-04-28T04:34:37","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T04:34:37","slug":"one-way-trump-went-big-league-in-his-first-100-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/one-way-trump-went-big-league-in-his-first-100-days\/","title":{"rendered":"One way Trump went big league in his first 100 days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Major<\/a>, Pennsylvania State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Since FDR, a president\u2019s first 100 days<\/a> offer an important \u2013 if arbitrary<\/a> \u2013 measure for evaluating success. While it is unlikely any executive will again match the productivity of Roosevelt, most scholars of the presidency agree that this period still matters<\/a> for advancing an administration\u2019s agenda. \"The<\/p>\n

It has been an unruly 100 days since President Donald Trump took the oath of office. His administration has been plagued with scandals<\/a>, protests<\/a> and a critical media with a renewed sense of purpose<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a scholar of the presidency and the press<\/a>, I\u2019ve found the beginning of the Trump administration morbidly fascinating.<\/p>\n

Despite his boasts<\/a>, Trump\u2019s legislative agenda appears to be stalled. As we approach day 100, many will point critically to the dearth of bills coming across Trump\u2019s desk. However, focusing solely on legislation overlooks a thriving aspect of the Trump presidency: the use of unilateral powers like executive orders, memoranda and proclamations.<\/p>\n

Trump goes it alone<\/h2>\n

Trump hit the ground running with a flurry of unilateral activity. This burst of direct actions may seem surprising in light of Trump\u2019s past statements. In 2012, he took to Twitter<\/a> to criticize President Obama for \u201cconstantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority.\u201d According to the American Presidency Project<\/a>, Trump has surpassed his power-grabbing predecessor in unilateral actions, and in less time.<\/p>\n

Trump is clearly making a concerted effort to fulfill his campaign promises. In areas where he can act alone, Trump has made gestures \u2013 some symbolic, others more substantive \u2013 toward 14 of the 18 pledges outlined in his Contract with the American Voter<\/a>. With a stroke of the pen, Trump attempted to reduce the number of people working<\/a> for the government, \u201cdrain the swamp<\/a>\u201d and advance pipeline<\/a> projects.<\/p>\n

Repealing the last eight years<\/h2>\n

Many of Trump\u2019s initial direct actions, as presidential scholar Julia Azari<\/a> tells us, highlight \u201cthe major symbolic differences between the new administration and the previous one.\u201d This means Trump has spent time repealing the unilateral actions of his predecessor, a common move for an administration taking the keys to the White House from the opposing party.<\/p>\n

Trump has rescinded<\/a> some of Obama\u2019s most heralded executive orders, such as the order on Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces<\/a>. Under the Trump administration, federal contractors no longer are required to disclose whether they have violated workplace laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act. As the Detroit Free Press<\/a> put it, \u201cThe law no longer requires companies to be transparent about employee pay, women and minorities have no way of knowing whether their wages are fair, and \u2026 the government has undercut progress in closing the gender wage gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like all Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan, Trump signed a memorandum<\/a> reinstating the Mexico City Policy. Opponents refer to it as the \u201cglobal gag rule\u201d because it prohibits funding any international health organization that mentions abortion as part of family planning. According to Ann M. Starrs<\/a>, president of the Guttmacher Institute, Trump\u2019s robust reinstatement of this policy puts nearly US$10 billion in foreign aid at risk. Trump\u2019s action signals a major blow<\/a> to the international health community, as the U.S. is the leading funder of global health programs. More concerning, says Starrs, \u201cmillions of women in low-resource settings may now be unable to obtain the care they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a nod to the coal industry, Trump signed an order rolling back Obama\u2019s Clean Power Plan, \u201cturning denials of climate change into national policy.<\/a>\u201d The directive also imperils the Paris Agreement on climate, as the Clean Power Plan was Obama\u2019s primary means of achieving the goals of the accord. <\/p>\n

Immigration and the wall<\/h2>\n

Many of Trump\u2019s most contentious direct actions deal with immigration, deportation and border security, issues that were central to his campaign and have evoked public outrage and legal reprimands. <\/p>\n

Deriding the federal government for failing to discharge the \u201cbasic sovereign responsibility\u201d of stopping undocumented immigrants from entering the U.S., Trump ordered<\/a> the construction of a wall \u201cto secure the nation\u2019s southern border.\u201d Trump also called on authorities to \u201crepatriate illegal aliens swiftly, consistently and humanely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump issued another order<\/a> threatening to pull funding from \u201csanctuary cities\u201d that do not cooperate with immigration authorities. San Francisco<\/a> sued, and a federal judge has barred its enforcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s most infamous order<\/a> to date is the immigration ban on a handful of Muslim majority countries. The hastily issued<\/a> order prompted mass confusion, fear and a thunderous civic and legal backlash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump and the political system<\/h2>\n

Presidents and their unilateral powers operate in a system of checks and balances<\/a>. While the majority of unilateral actions go unchallenged, the political system does sometimes push back. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s immigration ban orders were quashed by the courts. Many of his unilateral actions will eventually require<\/a> acts of Congress<\/a>. Moreover, Trump will soon have to put down his pen and work with Congress to fund the government, or his 100th day in office<\/a> will mark the start of a government shutdown.<\/p>\n

A recent study of Trump\u2019s direct actions by the Los Angeles Times<\/a> found that \u201cfewer than half actually made a substantive change in federal policy.\u201d The orders\u2019 effectiveness is also in question. For example, despite Trump\u2019s hiring freeze<\/a>, the federal government added 6,000 new hires during January and February. The freeze was lifted<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

Though many of Trump\u2019s unilateral directives are symbolic, political scientist Andrew Rudalevige<\/a> argues that \u201cany presidential signal to the bureaucracy needs to be taken seriously.\u201d For example, despite the ineffectiveness of the Obamacare directive, \u201cthe order makes clear the direction of action the president expects.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton<\/a>, quoting Maya Angelou, stated that when someone shows you who they are, believe them. Since taking office 100 days ago, Trump has made it abundantly clear the type of president he is through his unilateral directives. We should believe him.<\/p>\n

Mark Major<\/a>, Senior Lecturer, Pennsylvania State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Major, Pennsylvania State University Since FDR, a president\u2019s first 100 days offer an important \u2013 if arbitrary \u2013 measure for evaluating success. While it is unlikely any executive will again match the productivity of Roosevelt, most scholars of the presidency agree that this period still matters for advancing an administration\u2019s agenda. It has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":9059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9060,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9058\/revisions\/9060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}