Readers Write: Public opinion ignored in 1st 100 days

The Island Now

One hundred days into the first presidential year may be an arbitrary number by which to evaluate the progress of the nation, but it is customary to consider how well the president has taken hold of his new powers and begun to deal with his campaign promises.

Candidate Trump promised much; he felt very strongly about certain issues.

Not in any particular order, he declared that he was going to build a beautiful wall across the border with Mexico to keep out all the illegal immigrants who were flowing into the US to take the jobs that American workers were entitled to.

And, of course, Mexico was going to pay for that wall.

Not one barrier has been created.

In an embarrassing encounter with the President of Mexico, it became very clear that Mexico was not going to build the wall.

Trump suggested that he would get the money by levying some kind of tax for imports, but that has not been mentioned of late.

He has conveniently forgotten these ideas, but has continued to ask his admirers if there was going to be a wall, to resounding cheers.

No matter that so few migrants have needed to come north because things are better in Mexico and the tide has reversed.

Now Trump, impervious to the fact that the majority of the Congress and public opinion is against the whole project, is planning on holding health care reform legislation hostage to appropriations for, at least, planning the unnecessary wall.

And Afforney General Sessions persists in declaring we need this to protect us from all the crime caused by the absence of the wall.

Congress is perhaps willing to appropriate funds only for strengthened security.

Now, although his promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, with the help of Paul Ryan and other legislators who have been dismissive of the stubborn desire of their constituents to retain coverage, has not gotten off the ground, Trump is going to make another attempt with yet another mean and miserable version of a bill authored by Tom Price, head of Health and Human Services.

And he has announced that he will not allow for a budget that does not respect his priorities.

Of course, Trump’s third budget priority is tax reform that will mean lower taxes for large corporations and the very rich.

And this has to be dealt with quickly by a Congress returning from a recess in time to prevent shutting down the country.

Oh, I forgot to point out that lots of time had been wasted at the beginning of Trump’s tenure with such necessities of appointing the Cabinet, hiring staff for the agencies whose experts had fled, holding a few rallies for Trump to bathe in the support of his promises, followed by ostentatious signing of executive orders to undo President Obama’s regulations relating to climate change, pollution prevention and drilling a hugely unpopular pipeline over the protests of an Indian nation.

All of this because of infighting and lack of expertise.

Reducing the power of the very protective Environmental Protection Agency and new suspicious rules relating to the secrecy of visitor lists for the White House and Mar-a-Lago smack of an arrogance and disregard for the feelings of the nation.

And while we are talking about disregard of public opinion, note that widespread derogation of our leaders and those abroad, with the exception of admiration of autocrats, do not engender optimism and trust.

Well, can we hope for better things beyond the 100 days?


Esther Confino

New Hyde Park

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