The inauguration speech was terrible, painting a very dark picture of the state of the country. Of course, only strongman Trump can fix things. You know you've screwed up when you have to plagiarise Bane from The Dark Knight Riases...
Despite promises to do 100's of things on day 1, insofar as I can tell, only 6 things really happened. (Overview article)
- ACA began being dismantled in a very nebulous executive order. I haven't found the full text of the order, but it sounds very vague, and is likely to lead to turmoil in the individual insurance market this year. As much as the ACA wasn't perfect, it's lunacy to dismantle it without a better replacement. Make no mistake: people are going to die as a result of this. Update: here is the full text, courtesy of CNN.
- Signed a waiver to allow a military person to serve as the head of the Pentagon. There's a good reason why military people aren't allowed to serve on a cabinet. What's the point of having these regulations if you can just waive them anyway? At least this one required congress to pass the waiver.
- Suspended reduced rates on FHA mortgages. This new rule, which cut FHA mortgage rates by 0.25%, was suspended. As I understand it, FHA mortgages are there for the people in this country who are struggling the most. I've read estimates that this rate cut would save people on average somewhere between $500-$1000 per annum. Because the people at the bottom really didn't need that extra boost to their discretionary income, did they? This rate boost completely undercuts the idea that cutting taxes on the rich is a way to boost the economy (because they make jobs for everybody else and inject money into the society! *cough*), because this would have directly injected money into the society.
- Interfered with the judiciary. A big case in Texas on voting rights suppression was delayed so that instead of moving forwards with Obama appointed lawyers in a hearing this coming week, the new attorney general Sessions can tell everybody that it's much ado about nothing. I thought this sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen.
- Proclamation for a national day of patriotism. Ugh. Can you hear my eyes rolling? We don't need more thinly disguised white nationalism. Also, this is pretty typical of a dictatorship. Perhaps Trump is already missing his campaign rallies?
- Updated the white house website. No more policies on climate change and LBTQ issues, to name a couple of pages that were cut. There are numerous reports of a purge of government data too, because we can't have pesky facts that undercut our politics!
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