by Carisa Frisby
As the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s presidency has passed, everyone likes to look back at what he has accomplished. I think he was expecting more, or maybe less according to what he told Reuter’s in an interview “This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.” Really, Mr. President; you thought that running the United States of America would be a cake walk? Clearly, he didn’t do his homework before accepting the job.
He was unable to fix the Obamacare mess stating “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” Well of course it is. If it were easy, Obamacare wouldn’t have messed up so much to begin with. Healthcare was already a bit of a mess without politics getting involved. Everyone should have left well enough alone.
He wanted to withdraw the United States of America from NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue along with others met with the President in the Oval office, Perdue even brought a map showing the President what areas would hurt the most from the NAFTA withdrawal. They were “Trump Communities” or areas where many people voted for Trump. “It shows that I do have a very big farmer base, which is good,” Trump recalled. “They like Trump, but I like them, and I’m going to help them.” Thank you for that, Mr. President. I would hope you would want to help everyone in the country whether they voted for you or not?
But what about our Neighbors to the North, you know, Canada? Let me preface this by saying that Trump has not visited ANY foreign country during his Presidency as of yet… That includes Canada. But, I digress…. He has implemented new tariffs on lumber, one of the main exports for Canada. The tariffs are consistent with the current U.S. policy, something that past presidents have been a little soft on. The tariff is in response to a dispute of dairy being exported to Canada from the U.S. Canada doesn’t allow any milk imported from outside of the country, but U.S. dairy producers found a loophole and Canada is no longer standing for it. It is hard to say whether this stand-off is fair. On paper, it absolutely seems to be, but the trickle-down effect has already started hitting regular citizens. One gentleman flying from the U.S. to Canada for business was detained at the border stating “I am now sitting at the border in Port Huron waiting for my company to fax over letters assuring Canadian border patrol that I’m not stealing a Canadian’s job. As the border agent explained, since the US seems to want to ensure that nobody takes a US job etc. etc. Canada now needs to do the same thing.”
As an American citizen I exercised my right to vote. Regardless of who I voted for, I hoped for one outcome, unity. The U.S. has been a country divided for far too long. After the last election we have seen people protesting the results in all ways shapes and forms, some rather violently. Elections need to be less about political parties and more about what is best for the nation and the citizens who live there. Luckily, we are only 100 days in so there is still hope. And I hope our current President realizes this before it is too late.
