By Reina Werth, News Editor
One year, two months, and one day ago, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the President of the United States.
Whether President Trump’s time in the Oval Office has been successful or not depends on which news channel you watch.
“To say that his presidency as a whole has been a wide success is ridiculous, however to say it’s been a complete flop is absolutely stupid,” said Bobby Holden, a Communications Academy junior at Indian Trail High School & Academy.
Those who call the administration a triumph often use the recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the steady climb of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a February 2018 jobs report that includes a 4.1 percent unemployment rate and 313,000 new jobs created, and Executive Order 13780, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, as fuel for their argument.
“Besides being unprofessional in many ways, I believe he has been doing a good job,” said Lucas Eggers, a General Studies senior. “He has renegotiated trade agreements that better America’s economy, created numerous jobs, brought big companies back from other countries, and been strong in foreign policy.”
Those who would call it disastrous often cite the 43 percent turnover rate in high-level offices of the Trump administration in just over a year, his failure to immediately condemn the actions of white supremacists after rallies in Charlottesville, Va., his frequent Twitter wars, and many controversial remarks made by the president towards other countries or their leaders which have strained foreign relations.
“I do not support President Trump because he has said and done things in the past that I cannot support morally,” said Medical Sciences Academy junior Izzy Gharib. “Especially the things he has said about Muslims and women. As a Muslim woman, I cannot support that.”
Throughout his campaign, President Trump, made many promises, including building a wall on our southern border, lowering taxes, and repealing and replacing Obamacare. At this point, President Trump has fulfilled nine of his over 280 promises, with 46 more in the works (some of these being promises that will not be able to be judged until after his presidency is over).
“While there are good things, such as the Dow Jones’ breaking many records, some things are very concerning, such as the increased number of mass shootings,” said Holden.
Some Indian Trail students are also worried about President Trump’s use of Twitter.
“Twitter has really harmed his presidency. You are not supposed to go around tweeting every hour just because you got mad at someone,” said Gharib. “It’s really making him look unprofessional.”
Other students go further than calling it unprofessional.
“His use of it [Twitter] is making him look like a child,” said Eggers.
In addition, as of Nov. 14, 2017, the Department of Justice recognizes tweets made under the president’s official Twitter account as presidential statements.
“I don’t think he understands, sometimes, that he is the president of the United States, and that the things he says do affect people,” said Gharib.
Others are also concerned about the president’s in-person behavior.
“What does it say about America that our president doesn’t know how to have sympathy for children who were shot?” said Samantha Reeves, an IT Communications Academy junior, in reference to pictures taken when President Trump hosted survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, which showed the president holding a card that apparently held reminders on how to appear empathetic, including the suggested statement, “I hear you.”
Since taking office, President Trump has also faced many scandals, including multiple alleged affairs and an investigation by Robert Mueller into the possibility of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. These scandals, though brushed off by the president, have seriously affected the president’s approval rating. He currently has a 40.4 percent approval rating, his lowest thus far being 36.4 percent, and his highest being when he first started in office, at 47.8 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight, a site that compiles all presidential approval rating polls and averages them.
While there are many projections as to what the next three years will hold, only time will truly tell.