Surprise! Trump doing what he said he would
BY JORDAN FABIAN AND JONATHAN EASLEY -
The Hill, 01/27/17
In his first frantic week at the White House, Donald Trump
is doing almost exactly what he promised to do during his campaign,
stunning those who thought he'd adapt his style as president.
Trump
has signed an executive order to begin building a wall on the Mexican
border and doubled down on his promises to renegotiate the North
American Free Trade Agreement and repeal ObamaCare.
Actions
to temporarily suspend visas for people coming to the United States
from a number of Muslim nations are expected to come soon.
Trump
hasn't stopped tweeting either, nor has he quit his habit of launching
into new fights seemingly on a whim. Much of his first week in office
has been dominated by his claims, without any evidence, that massive
voter fraud cost him a popular vote victory to Democratic presidential
nominee Hillary Clinton.
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On Wednesday, he announced a “major investigation” into his unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud.
President
Obama famously said that "elections have consequences" in explaining to
Republicans why he was moving forward with a nearly $1 trillion
stimulus plan and his signature healthcare bill.
Now Trump is showing Washington and the world the truth of Obama's words.
During the campaign, Trump’s critics dismissed his ambitious agenda as rhetoric that he’d back away from once in office.
If
candidate Trump beat the odds and made it to the White House, they
said, the Trump Show will surely grind to a halt once he’s confronted
with the realities of governing.
It hasn't turned out like that at all.
“Enough
all talk, no action. We have to deliver,” Trump told Republican
lawmakers Thursday. “This is our chance to achieve great and lasting
change for our beloved nation.”
Hours
after taking the oath of office last Friday, Trump returned to the
White House to sign an order directing federal agencies to “ease the
burden of ObamaCare.”
Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, followed that with a memo telling federal agencies to stop issuing regulations.
In
the days since, Trump thrilled social conservatives with an executive
order blocking foreign aid for international organizations that provide
abortions, a traditional priority for new Republican administrations.
Trump fulfilled one of his main campaign promises by pulling the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
He
froze hiring for non-military federal employees and attempted to move
two controversial pipeline projects forward by signing a pair of
executive actions that could speed approvals for the Keystone XL and
Dakota Access projects.
Trump
also signed an executive order that expanded the definition of criminal
immigrants who are considered priorities for deportation. The order
also called for federal funds to be stripped from so-called sanctuary
cities that do not help federal authorities enforce immigration law.
The
actions are in some cases vague, appearing aimed at satiating his
supporters while the White House and Congress work on a broader
legislative strategy.
For
example, Trump visited the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday
to sign an order that directs federal agencies to begin constructing a
wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
But
Trump will need congressional approval to fund the wall. And
construction on the project might not begin for months. The order gives
the DHS 180 days to conduct a study to see how much money and material
will be needed to build the wall.
There
are also some areas where Trump has yet to deliver, including a
proposed ban on Trump administration officials from lobbying after
leaving their positions and the termination of an Obama-era program that
allows people brought illegally to the U.S as children to live and work
without fear of deportation.
Veteran GOP operative Charlie Black said that Trump’s aggressive early posture shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“Democrats
should’ve been sweating this on Nov. 9,” Black said. “They should’ve
known he’d follow through on the things he said. Some things will
require congressional action or need to go through the regulatory
process for what he can’t do on his own. But if he can do it on his own,
you can bet he’ll do it.”
Trump
has announced his administration’s energetic stance through Twitter, as
well as in the same style of dramatic confrontations that punctuated
his chaotic campaign.
White
House press secretary Sean Spicer instigated a war Saturday with the
press over accurate media reports that Trump’s inauguration crowd was
smaller than Obama’s. That led to senior adviser Kellyanne Conway’s
heated exchange with NBC’s Chuck Todd, in which she maintained that the
administration in some cases will have its own “alternative facts.”
At
a Monday meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, Trump reiterated
his unsubstantiated claim that he had only lost the popular vote to
Clinton because millions of “illegals” cast ballots.
The
remarks provoked a media firestorm. Rather than backing away, Trump is
expected to direct a task force to investigate voter fraud and his claim
that illegal immigrants influenced the outcome of the election.
The
Trump administration also cracked down this week on public
communications from federal agencies. The new policies were prompted
by worries that bureaucrats who are hostile to the president would
publish information that dissents from the administration line and came
after the National Park Service’s Twitter account retweeted a picture
showing that Trump’s inauguration crowd was smaller than Obama’s in
2009.
But Trump’s often-surprising moves haven’t come without consequences.
Trump
angered lawmakers and members of the national security apparatus by
reiterating his support for torturing terror suspects.
The
rift between the U.S. and Mexico deepened, with Mexican President
Enrique Peña Nieto pulling out of a meeting at the White House next week
over a dispute about who will pay for the wall along the southern
border. After Peña Nieto canceled the meeting, Trump claimed that the
decision had been mutual.
Trump
also appeared to anger some CIA officials for a speech in front of a
memorial wall for fallen agents that many viewed as self-serving after
Trump touted his inaugural crowds and scraps with the media. Trump
later said in his first post-inauguration television interview that he
got a bigger standing ovation for the CIA speech than even Peyton
Manning received after winning the 2016 Super Bowl.
The breakneck pace has also bred a chaotic atmosphere in the West Wing.
On Thursday, Spicer was forced to walk back
a proposed 20 percent tax on Mexican imports meant to fund the border
wall. Trump also delayed signing a directive to move forward on his
voter fraud probe and pushed back a meeting with the heads of
tax-writing committees in the House and Senate.
Amid
the frenzy, Trump and Vice President Pence were in almost constant
contact with lawmakers about implementing the president’s agenda.
Trump
courted lawmakers from both parties with fancy receptions and meetings
at the White House and on Capitol Hill. Trump even jetted to
Philadelphia to address Republicans gathered for the winter meeting on
Thursday, where he laid out his priorities for the coming weeks.
Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), a key Trump ally, summarized Trump's action-filled first week with one word: “Firehose.”
"It's
refreshing and it's energizing," Reed told The Hill right after Trump
spoke at the joint congressional GOP retreat. "I think it's not only the
nature of the president and his new town, and his bringing to the
office a private sector-based mentality. It's also unleashing the power
of the American people.
"For
so many years, it's been a hamstrung by the bureaucracy of Washington
and we're cutting that red tape to empower the American people again."
Scott Wong contributed
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