Saturday, April 29 marked the end of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. The first 100 days are considered a landmark of each presidency and often sets the tone for the remainder of their term.
According to an ABC and Washington Post polling of 1,004 adults, 16 percent said that Trump has accomplished a great deal, while 35 percent say that he has done little to nothing. In an NBC News and Wall Street Journal poll of 900 people, 54 percent believe that there needs to be an investigation into whether there was any contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Quinnipiac University polled 1,062 registered voters and 58 percent disagree with how the Trump administration is handling immigration while 65 percent disapprove of how the administration is handling healthcare.
When asked about the Trump administration’s handling of the situation in Syria, second-year philosophy major and Recruitment Chair for UCR‘s chapter of Young Americans for Liberty Andrew Cabrero stated, “I’m not an interventionist, so I don’t think that we should have gone in.” Fourth-year political science and law and society major Arturo Gomez expressed a similar sentiment. “I’m concerned that the Trump Administration’s approach to the Syrian Civil War may be a repeat of our engagement in Iraq, during the Bush Administration, over false intel on WMDs (weapons of mass destruction),” he stated over text message.
Quinnipiac University found that 66 percent of respondents want the investigation into possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election to be nonpartisan and independent. This is due to the respondents of the poll viewing this as either very important or important, as well as either very concerning or concerning.
“No evidence has been found … so I don’t think that there should be anymore investigations,” Cabrero remarked. Gomez, on the other hand, believes that there should be an investigation. Gomez explained, “I agree with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) with respect to having an independent commission handle the investigation, in light of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) recent mishandling of the matter.”
While discussing healthcare and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Cabrero explained, “I am for the repealing of Obamacare, however, they (the Trump administration) came up with their healthcare plan very quickly … it was basically Obamacare and I am not for that.” Later, when asked who the Trump administration should work with when creating a new healthcare plan, Cabrero said, “It would be nice to have bipartisanship, however, the Democrats don’t seem too keen on working with anything that Trump has unless it agrees directly with their position.”
Gomez was also critical of the administration’s actions. “ACA took 13 months of negotiation between the Obama White House and the Democratic Congress. Trump and the Republican Congress tried to undo it in less than a month.”
When asked about immigration and Trump’s plan to build a wall on the Mexican-U.S. border, Cabrero explained, “His (Trump’s) border wall, in my opinion, would be very inefficient. It’s not the right way to attack illegal immigration … A lot of the immigrants are here on expired visas and they stay here. I think that he should try to work out a system to solve that problem.”
Gomez expressed concern about the administration’s actions. “His (Trump’s) administration’s approach to immigration has been aggressive, as a DACA recipient was recently deported,” he exclaimed. When asked about the proposed wall, Gomez said, “Any attempt to undertake its construction will result in pure disaster.”
In regards to the Trump administration’s foreign policy in Asia, Distinguished Professor of Chinese Literature and Language Perry Link was careful to not be too critical of the Trump administration in an interview via email, considering the fact that some tensions have been escalating since before Trump’s election. When speaking about the conflict with North Korea, Link said that Trump is not to blame for the increasing tensions, since, “The recent escalation has happened because Kim Jong-un’s regime has come ever closer to having rockets armed with nuclear warheads that could reach other countries.”
Link was, however, critical of Trump’s ability to take action regarding human rights in China, saying, “On human rights, I doubt that Trump will do anything unless some dramatic violation — such as the use of chemical weapons in Syria — appears. He seems not to care at all about the lives of ordinary people in other countries.”
As for the cabinet of the Trump administration, Link believes it is likely that there will be more decisive action regarding the territorial conflict in the South China Sea as “Defense secretary (sic) Mattis and Secretary of State Tillerson have both mentioned their worries about the South China Sea, and I expect that issue will continue to come up.”
In addition to the aforementioned topics, Trump has yet to follow up on some of his campaign promises. One example is his failed attempt to create a travel ban, which was prevented by a federal judge in Hawaii, who deemed the ban religiously discriminatory.
In a recent interview, Trump stated that he finds being president to be “more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.” Now, with the first phase of his presidency over, Trump is looking to focus on economic issues and tax reform after halting his push for the wall.
By: Cydney Contreras Senior Staff Writer and Nicholas Frakes, Staff Writer
