One hundred days of Trump

A look at President Donald Trump’s first one hundred days in office

     On Apr. 29, Donald Trump will have been president for one hundred days. Many notable events have occurred over the course of that time period. Trump’s presidency, like all that came before it, has affected the lives of Americans and people around the world in more ways than anyone could count. Below is an examination of  one major event in the political, social and economic arenas.

POLITICAL: ATTACK ON SYRIA

     On Apr. 6 of this year, a total of fifty-nine Tomahawk missiles wereunleashed on the Al Shayrat

Airfield near Homs, Syria. The strike was a response to the alleged use of chemical warfare in northwestern Syria that resulted in the death of several citizens.

     President Donald Trump released a response, speaking out against the “chemical attack in Syria against innocent people,
including women and children.”

    Trump went on to say that these actions were “reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world.”

     Striking the airfield was the first direct military action in the six year civil war by the U.S. in against the Syrian forces under the control of Bashar Al-Assad.

    Assad denied the claim that chemical weapons had been used in Khan Shaykhun, instead claiming the U.S. government wanted to justify an air strike on his country.

     Days before the strike, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in press release that Syria is not a major priority for the United States.

     “The longer term status of president Bashar Al-Assad is to be determined by the Syrian people,” Tillerson said.

     However, after the strike Tillerson said plans are underway to undermine Assad’s dictatorship.

     An investigation concerning the use of chemical weapons in Khan Shaykhun is currently being conducted by the UN Security Council.

SOCIAL: INTERNET PRIVACY RULE REMOVED

     President Trump overturned several Obama-era regulations, including internet privacy rules set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year.

     Under the FCC’s rules, businesses are required to get consumers’ permission to access what is considered to be sensitive
information. Such as, browsing history, location and medical history that can be used to send targeted ads.

     “It’s shocking that of all the challenges facing this country the Trump administration would

prioritize taking away people’s privacy,” said Craig Aaron, CEO of the advocacy group Free Press.

     Supporters of the change say that the rule never offered protection to consumers.

     “President Trump and Congress have appropriately invalidated one part of the Obama-era plan for regulating the Internet,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who was appointed by Trump, said. “Those flawed privacy rules, which never went into effect, were designed to benefit one group of favored companies, not online consumers.”

     As of now, the internet privacy rule has no replacement.

ECONOMIC: THE AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT

     President Trump made the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a major part of his
presidential campaign. But the ACA will remain in place as Trump’s replacement, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), lacked enough votes to be passed in congress.

     The bill was projected to fall short by 33 votes when it was pulled on Mar. 24

     House Republicans have worked to revise the AHCA, proposing a compromise that they claim would give states the power to do away with certain aspects of the
Affordable Care Act.

     Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the The Kaiser Family Foundation said, “The gist of this is that federal protections for pre-existing conditions and required benefits remain…unless a state doesn’t want them to.”

     This compromise is believed to be enough to change roughly 18-20 members of the Freedom Caucus’s votes from “no” to “yes.”

     According to Business Insider, passing the AHCA, even with the proposed changes, would be difficult in the short-term, as

Congress must also pass a bill to fund the federal government before parts of it shut down on April 28.