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“Nov. 8, Americans will be voting for this 100-day plan to restore prosperity to our country, secure our communities and honesty to our government. This is my pledge to you. And if we follow these steps, we will once more have a government of, by and for the people. And importantly, we will make America great again. Believe me.”
This is a piece of the speech President-elect Donald Trump presented to the people of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Oct. 22, 2016. Trump, the Republican nominee, made history by being one of six presidents to win the election despite losing the popular vote. Although most polls pointed to a separate direction, Trump surprised the world in the early hours of Nov. 9 when the presidential results announced him as the next resident of the White House.
“This election wasn’t about who was best qualified, or who was a bigot or criminal, it wasn’t even about money,” senior Emerson Batsche said. “It was about doing away with political correctness and changing up the status quo to see what would happen.”
Over the weeks following the election, Trump appointed members of his cabinet, including his close circle of Reince Priebus as White House Chief of Staff, Stephen Bannon as Chief Strategist, Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, and other members that will be working closely alongside him. The majority of these members hold a steady trend of Republican-affiliated backgrounds. Priebus was appointed the Republican National Party Chairman, and joined Trump’s team shortly after his election was announced, and Bannon was previously executive chair of Breitbart News, which he left to become Chief Strategist of President-elect Trump’s campaign in August 2016.
Republicans also held onto their majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. After capturing the White House, the Republican Party now has a significant amount of control over lawmaking. Along with this, the Supreme Court currently holds a vacant seat, which means Trump will have the duty of appointing a new justice. Presently, the Court holds a left leaning population, but the election of Trump will most likely point favor back in the Republican direction. Any additional vacancies that present themselves during the four-year term will also have fillers set by Trump.
“This election will give our national government a unified government for the first time in a good while,” AP Government teacher Skip Thibault said. “It happens sometimes; it happened with the Obama Administration, it happened for a couple years with George W. Bush’s Administration, so occasionally it happens. It’s important because the Republicans will be able to push through fairly easily some of the basic conservative agenda items, like cutting corporate income taxes. People won’t complain about things not getting done because [the government] will be agreeing on stuff.”
An important aspect of campaigning for presidency is creating a 100-day plan of action. Within this, the candidates explain the most crucial items to execute during their first months of presidency. President-elect Trump mentioned intentions to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), deport illegal immigrants, increase border safety, withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, cut funding to U.N. climate change, repeal Obamacare and put the Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act into place, among other goals and plans.
“Trump is obviously a very strong-willed man, and I do believe he will be able to accomplish most of the things he hopes to,” senior Matt Forbes said. “However, this stuff does take time and he is only one person. One hundred days isn’t a great amount of time, but I do believe he can create a lot of change.”
Trump’s decision to run for office sparked controversy due to his lack of government or military experience, as he first made a name for himself as a multi-millionaire businessman, owning multiple hotels, casinos and business towers nationwide.
“I [don’t believe] Trump will follow through with his plans,” junior Mallory Storrie said. “If you read or watch anything, and I don’t mean a twitter video or rumor, something like CNN Money [will] show you side-by-side his ideas versus what’s realistic. He’s just not qualified.”
Despite the election results and what they mean for our future, students agree that in the presidential race, actions speak louder than words.
“People will always criticize anything,” Forbes said. “Especially in a nation with 300 million plus people, someone will be unhappy. If Trump can make [change] happen for the better, I think everyone will be at peace and hopefully as a nation we can all join together.”
– By Zoe Willard
