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State of the Union Under Donald Trump Presidency: Problems, Policies and Prospects

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State of the Union Under Donald Trump Presidency: Problems, Policies and Prospects Journal of Law and Judicial System Volume 2, Issue 1, 2019, PP 14-25 ISSN 2637-5893 (Online) State of the Union under Donald Trump Presidency: Problems, Policies and Prospects Komanduri S. Murty1, Tenora J. Simonez2 1,2 Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Fort Valley State University, 1005 State University, Fort Valley, Georgia *Corresponding Author: Komanduri S. Murty, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Fort Valley State University, Georgia. ABSTRACT On November 8, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump emerged as an unconventional, anti-establishment candidate and Washington outsider. On the campaign trail, he identified four major problems: economy, health care, immigration, and foreign policy under President Obama that he owed to fix if elected. He declared that our economy is choked by NAFTA, TPP, outsourcing and tax hikes. He called Obama care disastrous. He claimed our immigration policy was without borders and illegal immigration is out of control; and, as for our foreign policy, all nations around the world are laughing at us. He promised through his „Contract with America,‟ with a list of 18 policy measures, to turn the issues around in his first 100days and “make America great again.” This paper examines the problems, policies and prospects based on his presidential undertakings in the first month-and-a-half in the White House. Keywords: State of the Union, Trump Presidency, American Health Care Act, Affordable Care Act, Travel Ban, Executive Orders, protests, Russian connection. INTRODUCTION Sanders set their sights squarely on what mattered most to voters: a political economy in Donald Trump‟s victory as the 45th president of which elected officials strongly promoted a the United States attracted a variety of reactions broad-based prosperity that included them. from at home and abroad. Conservatives and Trump supporters were happy; liberals reacted That may be the case. But, anti-Trump with fear, frustration and anger; and, optimists protesters let their feelings be known via said that he deserves a chance (Hoilman 2016). protests and marches in several major cities like Some attributed his victory to a lack of enthusiasm Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Oakland, Portland, for Hillary Clinton, the Electoral College, low voter Seattle, Washington, D.C.; and at college campuses turnout, and Russian propaganda (Krieg 2016). in California, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania Others gave credit to his focus on the political (Mele and Correal 2016). Democratic senators economy. vowed to stand up to Trump‟s bigotry, if it continued. For example, Massachusetts Senator For example, Robert Johnson, Senior Fellow Elizabeth Warren made her position on Trump and Director of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt bigotry clear (Silva 2016: Para 3): Institute (2017: Para 2) wrote: We will stand up to bigotry. No compromises Trump won by challenging the credibility of ever on this one. Bigotry in all its forms. We will both the political and academic establishments, fight back against attacks on Latinos, on African relentlessly highlighting discrepancies between Americans, on women‟s, on Muslims, on their depiction of the United States‟ political immigrants, on disabled Americans, on anyone. economy and the reality that many voters Whether Donald Trump sits in a glass tower or experienced. Like Bernie Sanders in the sits in the White House, we will not give an inch Democratic primary, he started drawing large on this, not now, not ever. crowds by breaking ranks with his party‟s mainstream. While Hillary Clinton and Some Republicans, who were „never Trump Republican rivals such as Jeb Bush and Marco conservatives‟ like George H.W. Bush, Mitt Rubio tried to build coalitions based on cultural Romney, Ben Sasse, Mike Lee, and Bill Kristol, issues and partisan traditions, Trump and to list a few, rapidly switched to support post- Journal of Law and Judicial System V2 ● I1 ● 2019 14 State of the Union under Donald Trump Presidency: Problems, Policies and Prospects election Trump (Sheffield 2016), perhaps due to only won 306 electoral votes, which is a smaller his growing popularity at the time. In an early number than George H. W. Bush (426 in 1988), tracking poll conducted by Politico.com during Bill Clinton (370 in 1992 and 379 in 1996) or November 16-18, 2016,46 percent of 1,885 Obama (365 in 2008).(2) On February 10, 2017, registered voters surveyed viewed president- Trump said that thousands of people were elect Trump very favorably or somewhat “brought in on buses” from Massachusetts to favorably—higher than the majority leader vote illegally in New Hampshire, which was Mitch McConnell (21%), house speaker Paul also reported by the Associated Press; but Ryan (38%), Republicans in Congress (39%), or officials at New Hampshire‟s secretary of state, Democrats in Congress (42%). Although US Attorney‟s Office, Massachusetts‟s attorney Trump‟s popularity did not change by a big general‟s office said there was no evidence to margin (stayed within a range of 4 percent in support Trump‟s claim. (3) On February 7, most polls) since his inauguration on January 2017, Trump told a group of US sheriffs that the 20, 2016, people seemed to be increasingly murder rate in the U.S. was the “highest it‟s worried that his actions will divide the country been in 45-47 years,” though the 2015 FBI further. In a Quinnipiac poll of 1,155 voters statistics show that the US murder rate is nearly during February 2-6, 2017, 58 percent said that at an all-time low at 5 homicides per 100,000 Donald Trump would do more to divide the persons. (4) On January 26, 2017, the day after country, rather than unite the nation; and, 64 he signed an executive order to extend a wall percent said that they were very or somewhat along the southern border and insisted that dissatisfied with the way things were going in Mexico would pay for it. Trump said that he and the nation, at least in part, because of his Mexico‟s president agreed to cancel a meeting, personal qualities: not honest (52%), does not but hours later, Pena Nieto tweeted that he have good leadership skills (50%), does not care called the White House to cancel the meeting about average Americans (52%), not level- because of his disagreement over building a wall headed (60%), and does not share their values (For a complete list of Trump‟s lies from the (58%). Gender-wise, 58 percent of women day after his inauguration, see Georgantopoulos voters disapprove of his job performance, 2017). Additionally, Trump aids like White compared to only 36 percent of their male House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer and counterparts (Quinnipiac University 2017). Counselor Kellyanne Conway also joined in Furthermore, Americans find it hard to escape making false claims in varying degrees (see from media-saturated news and interviews Bobic 2017). “The man who boasts that he focused on the ever-mounting controversies of habitually tells the truth is simply a man with no his “America First” foreign policy, his infamous respect for it,” said Henry Louis Mencken travel-ban executive order on immigration, his (1922:274). claims of Obama administration wiretapping Leaks Trump Tower phones, and the Russian involvement in presidential elections, whether Leaks are the unauthorized disclosures. Clearly, they are at a public gatherings, at work places, they pose problems, especially if they are big or at private parties. Thus, Trump‟s presidency ones. Durden (2017) listed the 10 biggest leaks to date, for the most part, is a combination of of the Trump presidency. Of them, the following noise and signals (Cohen 2017). three appear to be the most significant in terms of their impact on the President and his PROBLEMS administration: First,a draft memo from Problems of Trump‟s presidency can broadly be Secretary John Kelly, dated January 25, 2017, categorized into four: lies, leaks, lawsuits, and regarding Implementing the President‟s Border chaos. Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements Policies. The 11-page memo Lies covered: (A) Policies regarding the apprehension A lie, in general terms, is a statement that and detention of aliens described in Section 235 contradicts a known or verifiable fact. Here are of the INA; (B) Hiring more border patrol some selective recent examples that took agents; (c) Identifying and quantifying sources considerable amount of debate media time: (1) of aid to Mexico; (D) Expansion of the 287(g) On February 16, 2017, when Trump said that he program to include state guard units in the won most electoral college votes since Ronald border region; (E) Commissioning a Reagan, a reporter at the news conference comprehensive study of border security; (F) quickly contradicted with factual data that he Border wall construction and funding; (G) Journal of Law and Judicial System V2 ● I1 ● 2019 15 State of the Union under Donald Trump Presidency: Problems, Policies and Prospects Expanding expedited removal pursuant to members in the gallery, when Trump addressed section 235(b)(1)(A)(III)(I) of the INA; (H) joint session of Congress on March 1, 2017. Implementing the provisions of section Democratic and some Republican law makers 235(b)(2)(c) of the INA to return arriving aliens demanded an emergency briefing (Fandos 2017; to contiguous countries; (I) Restoring integrity Kight 2017; Schmitt and Sanger 2017). to asylum referrals and credible fear Thus, if the president is unable to contain these determinations pursuant to section 235(b)(I) of leaks effectively, whistleblowers may use the INA; (J) Allocation of resources and selective leaks to make sure that people know personnel to the southern border for detention of what is really going on inside the White House. aliens and adjudication of claims; (K) Proper Trump‟s anger, name-calling, and blaming of use of parole authority pursuant to section Obama loyalists is apparently not helping to 212(d)(5) of the INA; (L) Proper processing and stop these leaks.
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