From my point of view, it seems that president Donald J. Trump came into office with one incredibly focused agenda – overturn as much Obama-era policy that he could.
Counterpoint. I’ll admit that Trump was elected president, and during the campaign he ran on the platform of draining the swamp, not being a political toadie, and appealing to a broad swath of the Republican base. Not all the GOP, very few democrats, and about half the independents. Much of his campaign was to be critical of the previous administration.
Counterpoint. I do not claim to have seen a copy of president Trump’s agenda at any point in the campaign, or since he was elected. This is merely speculative, though I feel the evidence does in part support that possibility. So, I pulled up some legislative accomplishments of the Obama Administration, and picked out a few that have been of interest to President Trump since inauguration.
Let’s start with Health Care. A major campaign promise of then candidate Donald Trump was the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. And boy, did he try. Every tactic he could think of, from coercion to Twitter rants. Even now Obamacare is a program with a tenuous hold.
More recently DACA, the Deferred Action to Childhood Arrivals. This policy, enacted during the Obama Administration, gives consideration to the 800,000 children brought here illegally, through no fault of their own, by immigrating parents. It gives them the opportunity to receive an education and legally apply for work permits in renewable windows. President Trump said the policy didn’t work, and it’s up to Congress to resolve what happens to those “Dreamers.”
Transgender in the military – According to CNN, “President Donald Trump on Friday directed the military not to move forward with an Obama-era plan that would have allowed transgender individuals to be recruited into the armed forces, following through on his intentions announced a month earlier to ban transgender people from serving.”
Dodd-Frank was another policy Trump took aim at, and there have been steps moving towards its repeal from the Administration and the GOP controlled Congress.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan seemed to be coming to a close during the Obama Administration. Now, it seems that troop increases and prolonged occupation will be our nation’s future. Also, here.
These are just a few, with many more not listed, as well as new proposals coming on what seem a weekly basis. When the current Administration runs out of Obama-era policies to try and overturn or reverse, I suppose we’ll see which direction President Trump wants to take.
Michael's Musings 