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VOLUME XLIII NO.4
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Trump wraps up tumultuous first year
The administration saw its fair share of both successes and failures
BY COLIN WRIGHT
Since taking office in January 2017, President Donald Trump has done much to advance his agenda. In the continual trial and error method Trump has used to enact change, he has proven himself to be a polarizing and controversial leader. Trump has managed to maintain strong and often growing support from his base, while opponents continue to mount arguments to remove Trump from power. Hours after officially taking office, Trump signed an executive order that would mark the beginning of the attack on the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. “I feel like Trump is on a strictly anti-Obama agenda, just for the sake of being on an antiObama agenda, in regards to the Affordable Care Act,” says Malik Hollis, 12. As of right now, the Affordable Care Act is still in effect. According to Seema Verga, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 8.8 million Americans have enrolled for Obamacare in the 2018 open-enroll period. Another giant component of Trump’s first year is tax reform. The basic argument against the bill is that it benefits the wealthy, along with large corporations, rather than the majority of citizens. Trump argues that while the bill does indeed benefit wealthy citizens
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“In addition to throwing out a 100 years of foreign policy, Trump has perverted the Republican Party away from the likes of Eisenhower, Goldwater, and Reagan.” -Alex Coiner, 12 “Donald Trump has tapped into something that needed to be tapped into, but in the process, he has left many of our founders’ ideals behind by deterring such things as immigration and free trade.” -Sophie Boulter, 12 “Trump has seen more successes than any president since Reagan.” -Matt Blackert, 12 and corporations, the “typical” family will also see great savings when it comes time to file their taxes. Overall, however, the bill will add around 1.5 trillion dollars to the debt, signifying a total decrease in taxes collected. “The insulting crumbs Republicans give working families are meager and temporary, and that’s for the families lucky enough not to face a tax hike right away. The tax breaks for corporate America are vast and permanent, and our children will be paying the price for years,” says Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Many large corporations responded positively to the passage of the bill. Comcast, AT&T, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, along with dozens of others, all announced that thousands of their employees would receive sizable bonuses. “Trump’s tax plan will be a huge success. Many people are already getting pay raises and bonuses, which is great,” says Connor Pletcher, 11. However, Trump and Republicans have struggled to fulfill many of the other goals they have set. For instance, “the wall” is still hotly contested, and
there still is no secured plan to fund its construction. Trump did, however, take action to dismantle DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA was implemented in 2012 by President Obama. It deferred deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors, allowing them to work and attend school. In a tweet, Trump demanded that the wall along the Mexican border be built in order to allow DACA to remain intact. “Trump’s policy on DACA is brash and impractical. There
isn’t a way to properly deal with DREAMERs, other than deportation, and this seems to damage the economy he claims to help. Trump has a general policy to keep foreigners out, especially people of color, but provides no practical way to help them return safely or fill their economic niche,” writes Ryan Frato, 12. Of course, no discussion about Trump would be complete without looking at Trump’s frequentlyused Twitter account. Trump has two accounts, one under the official @POTUS handle and his personal @realDonaldTrump handle. It appears that @POTUS is reserved for more official use, with Trump’s attacks and criticisms @realDonaldTrump. Ironically enough, the majority of tweets on the @POTUS account are retweets of Trump’s other account, along with retweets of other government officials. Some fear that the inflammatory nature of the tweets has the power to incite military action from enemies of the United States; especially North Korea. Trump has tweeted that his usage of Twitter isn’t “presidential.” Instead, he says it is “modern day presidential.” Trump’s Twitter usage remains popular with his base, while critics call it reckless. With one year of the Trump Presidency in the books, Americans have much to witness in the coming years.
Popular internet regulation dismantled BY AHMED DARWICH
The Internet has become such a central part of modern society. It has eased access for many for the spread of knowledge, the circulation of entertainment, and the ever-changing tidings of commerce. In many ways, the Internet has come to represent the epitome of laissez-faire economics. This ability, this freedom of navigation, is known as Net Neutrality and lately has become a hot-button topic of debate within our community and our nation. In early 2015, the Federal Communications Commission voted to more strictly regulate Internet Service Providers to help ensure the principles of net
neutrality. This vote reclassified wireless and fixed-line broadband service providers as Title II “common carriers” making it easier for the FCC to set rates and regulate the market.
Pai. Chairman Pai believes that the return to the legal framework from President Clinton in 1996 will help protect consumers and push for competition between Internet Service Providers. “This new repeal has caused the Internet, an instrument of free speech, to be put behind a paywall,” said Chase Neffenger, 12, when asked of his opinion. Chairman Ajit Pai’s PHOTO BY MCT CAMPUS philosophy is not only Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC, was appointed taking heat from the by President Trump in January 2017. younger generation, This vote however, was repealed but also from the big businesses by the newly commissioned which have joined together to Federal Communications form the Internet Association. This Commission lead by Chairman Ajit group of companies which include
Google, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, Netflix, Airbnb, and eBay have publicly claimed their support of net neutrality. Bipartisan support of net neutrality has also been shown. A recent public opinion poll carried out by Mozilla and Ipsos showed that 76% supported net neutrality. Republican representatives and Democratic representatives have shown public signs of support. “There is no way for this issue to be resolved. The only way to protect Net Neutrality, which is essential to my generation, is through constant vigilance and voting for candidates that deem it an important issue and follow their constituents’ demands,” says Jonathan Ferry, 12.
This edition of The Bruin is dedicated to the memory of Joseph Smith
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