In the last edition, some might describe my editorial as a product resulting from the aftermath of the election. This is true, I said some things about President Trump I’m not particularly proud of. [I’m sure I’m not the only one.] To say I was in a sensitive state is an understatement. Thank God for my mother because she is the only person who has kept me sane., After cooling down over break, I decided to start this semester with an editorial that assures our beloved readers that it’s not all doom and gloom, that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Well, he’s been in office for 10 days (at least when this was written) and I’m already regretting this thought…
Since he was sworn in on January 20th, two major changes have occurred. Of course, the first change being the immigration policies, and the Wall. Clearly, the Trump administration wanted to hit the ground running, but they stumbled out of the gate. To start, this ban on immigrants from several Muslim countries is irritating. I understand, America has been targeted in a number of terrorist attacks. This country wants to protect its citizens, but alienating people of specific origin isn’t the way to go. Throughout his campaign, Mr. Trump told the U.S. the Wall will be built at Mexico’s expense. According to Mr. Trump, a tariff, or tax, on Mexican goods is the way to go. Unfortunately, we can’t legally tax the Mexican companies providing the goods, we can only tax the product. That means Americans will be the ones paying for the wall, not Mexicans.
The second, potentially catastrophic, change that has occurred since Mr. Trump’s inauguration is the blocking of federal funds for any global health organization that provides or even mentions abortion. Now this change is no surprise, the Mexico City policy has been reinstated by every Republican since it was implemented in 1984 by former President Ronald Reagan. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the original policy allows the U.S. to provide financial aid to family planning providers globally, on the condition, they pledge not to “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.”
What separates President Trump from past presidents is that his current policy not only applies to family planning organizations, but to all global health organizations that receive funding from the U.S. This includes organizations treating malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and vaccinations. If funding is pulled from these organizations, the consequences will be dire. Countries, in which these health organizations are prevalent, can potentially experience disease epidemics and population increases as a result of the withdrawal of funds. If more people are fighting for these already scarce resources, who’s to say that even more conflict will not ensue?
Look, I want to like President Trump. I really do because this man will be the leader of our country for the next four years. However, he needs to reevaluate how he handles things. For example, after the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, cancelled his visit with Mr. Trump, our President took to Twitter to express his “disdain” over the situation by accusing Mexico of burdening the U.S. with illegal immigrants, and criminals. This is not how the leader of a country should deal with foreign diplomats, especially if they share an important relationship such as the one we have with Mexico. It really comes down to this, if Mr. Trump wants to remain president, he needs to check himself because his decisions will ultimately affect this nation.