Trump, Week Two: Coming In Like a Wrecking Ball

English: Wrecking ball in use during demolition of the Rockwell Gardens housing project in Chicago, Illinois, February 2006. Português: Bola rompedora em uso durante a demolição do projeto residencial Rockwell Gardens em Chicago, Illinois. Fevereiro de 2006. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the two weeks since President Donald Trump took office, according to USA Today, he has made at least 20 executive decisions.  That is more than any previous post-World War II President in such a short period of time.

The most notable of them all thus far, the one that's causing fear and protests around the world, is Trump's executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-dominated countries for 90 days.  Those countries are Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya.

The move was intended as a way to keep the "bad dudes" out, as the President would put it.  Yes, keeping "radical Islamic terrorists" from doing harm on American soil is a worthy goal.   But the order was so poorly executed and thought out that it winds up targeting the majority of those who are not card-carrying members of the Islamic State or any other terrorist outfit.

Refugees from the seven aforementioned nations are stuck in limbo, unable to to use their visas and green cards to get in and out of what used to be known as the Land of the Free.  Even those who now live in the U.S. fear they are in danger of being deported.  Just like the number of undocumented individuals currently awaiting their fates.

It may be a 90-day ban, but there is a strong sense that this is only the beginning of more permanent travel restrictions.  Not only are protesters and human rights organizations concerned, but also corporations, sports leagues and European governments who employ immigrants are contemplating how the travel ban will affect relations with the Trump administration going forward.

The ban might even backfire if ISIS decides it's a great recruiting tool for disaffected youth, then starts carrying out attacks somewhere in the world.

Trump's order has also led to dissension within the ranks.  Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, was fired as acting attorney general by the President for not defending the travel ban in court.  Yates was keeping the seat warm for Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who is awaiting Senate confirmation as the new Attorney General.  When that happens, Sessions would presumably do what his boss tells him to do when push comes to shove.

Meanwhile, in another part of the world that Trump risks alienating (if he hasn't already), he's going ahead with his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.  The President has been insisting that the Mexicans pay for the wall, but it also turns out Americans might too through a proposed twenty-percent tax on goods and services.  And you thought Republicans usually avoided taxes.

Finally, in an attempt by Trump to change the subject while the protests are going on, he named Neil Gorsuch as his choice to replace the late Antonin Scalia as a Supreme Court justice.  Gorsuch was a judge in Colorado for the U.S. Court of Appeals, and is much like Scalia in his views.  So essentially, you're trading in one conservative for another.  The Democrats, mindful of how Obama nominee Merrick Garland was badly treated by GOP senators, will likely use filibuster tactics to delay Gorsuch's inevitable confirmation.  Because the Court will have gone nearly a year since Scalia's death with eight justices, and they can ill afford to do that much longer.

Eventually, President Trump will hasten down the whirlwind of proclamations and executive orders long enough to see what he's accomplished.  And for a frazzled world to catch its breath, seeing how much damage Trump's wrecking ball has done to the existing order.