President Donald Trump has been in the office for presidency for just over a week and he’s already made some extremely radical changes. This has come to the point in which he has been accused of constitutional and legal overreach. Even some of his supporters are surprised by the many executive orders that Trump has signed, ranging from repealing the Affordable Care Act to allowing both the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipeline to be constructed..

Repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Trump signed an executive order that aims to “ease the burdens” of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. The order allows the head of the Department of Health and Human Services to choose not to enforce regulations that impose a financial burden on a state, company or individual. While the system for ObamaCare is complicated enough, the order seems to promise to make everything more complicated. Analysis done by the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that an estimated 43,956 deaths can be caused for every 20 million losing coverage in the event of an ACA repealing by President Donald Trump. Whether Donald Trump is even aware of such statistics, we may never know. Another big problem is that the Republicans have no clear replacement plan for ObamaCare as of his first week of presidency.

The Approval of Keystone and Dakota Access Pipeline

The approval of these two pipelines was the first of Donald’s Trump’s movements to break down what former President Obama had built in his 8 years of presidency. The two pipelines were proposed in order to transport fossil fuels at a faster from one side of the state to the other. However, to build the pipeline, it must go underneath Native Indian reservations, which Obama fought against rather strongly during his presidency. Trump ordered the immediate construction

of these pipelines because, according to him, “The regulatory processes in this country have become a tangled-up mess, and very unfair.”

The Wall on the US Border with Mexico: 20% Tax On Mexican Imports

Donald Trump has seriously considered imposing a 20% border tax on all goods and products entering the US through Mexico. While the US are not completely sure about this, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, has said it may be possible that this policy can soon be extended to all countries as well, which does not make a lot of sense considering Mexico is the only bordering nation that’s considered a threat due to drugs. Since the wall is estimated to worth between 13 to 15 billion dollars, Spicer believed the 20% tax will relieve the burden on America to fund the construction of the wall.

Restricting Abortion Access

Trump decided to reinstate what is now called a “global gag order”. This policy restricted any federal aid given to organizations that counsel on or provide abortions. This will most likely be followed by increased support of Planned Parenthood. A similar policy was issued by Ronald Reagan in 1985, which did not last long as well considering that he was not a fierce fighter on the topic of pro-life.

Federal Hiring and Regulations Freeze

Trump has stopped hiring for federal positions in order to reduce the number of jobs available at the government in the future. The freeze on federal hiring is temporary, though we do not know when it will be lifted.

Also, federal regulations currently waiting for approval are frozen as well, and there will be a future reviewing of any climate regulations made by Obama in the past.

Withdrawing from the Trans Pacific Partnership

Donald Trump decided to reject Obama’s TPP deal and left the alliance. The pact was aimed to strengthen economic relations between 14 nations, slashing tariffs and fostering trade to increase growth. But Donald Trump left it. Why? His excuse is that it will save and increase the jobs provided in America.

Travel Ban on Seven Countries

President Trump signed an executive order to keep refugees from entering the country for 120 days and immigrants from seven Muslim nations. The countries affected are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. Hundreds of protests are forming at airports and there many accounts of families being broken apart from their loved ones in these countries because of the travel ban. We will never know if Trump truly feels sorry for the families that have been split apart.

Dublin High Responses

“Repealing the ACA is definitely not the right thing to do,” sophomore Brian K. insisted on the topic of the ACA. “ObamaCare and normal healthcare are practically the same things. What can Donald Trump do that can supposedly function better than ObamaCare?”

Mr. Rodriguez, who teaches AP European History, stated, “The movement the President made for the Keystone pipeline is rather disappointing, but Trump believes that more jobs can be brought in, when it’s not completely true.”

It was rough week as Donald Trump will soon continue on to make more radical reforms and changes as the President of the United States of America.