By: Kaitwan Jackson

Congress nears the last week of it’s fall recess, and what a great time to track the progress President Trump’s agenda. President Trump is halfway through his first year in office, and the POTUS has been no stranger to scandal, ignorance, and straight up drama. He has proven to be ineffective in many measures, most specifically at keeping the campaign promises that got him into office. After tweeting his administration has made astounding progress, we couldn't help but fact check.

To recall, the POTUS has made extreme promises to build a wall on the border of the US and Mexico; a border that he plans to make Mexico pay for. President Trump sought to undo the work of former POTUS Barack Obama’s landmark Affordable Care Act, and replace it with a health care act that would please his conservative agenda and constituents. There has been confliction among his plans for the US military. President Trump also made notions that he intended to limit immigration from terror prone countries.

While campaigning the POTUS placed great emphasis on the necessity for a wall between the US and Mexico. This wall was slated as having the ability to “Make America Great Again.” Proponents of the wall relish in the belief the wall will limit illegal immigration, and as an effect restore the US economy, slow down the drug trade, and decrease violence. The wall has been one of the strongest promises of his agenda because of its immense cost, and the sheer idea that the US government would place a tangible barrier of about 2,000 miles.

Gaining approval for the massive project has been no easy feat, and to date Congress has yet to include the project into the budget for government funding.

President Trump has not forgot of his promise yet though. He has vowed a government shutdown if wall funding is not included in the next budget. Will he actually do it? Many disagree due to the many factors that go along with government closures. But, if he allows the wall to once again go unfunded his approval rate could further decrease, because his supporters will lose faith in his ability to follow through with his campaign promises.

5 months later and President Trump’s attempt at replacing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare or ACA) has not made it pass the doorway of the Senate. At its 5-month mark, the Affordable Care Act had passed both the House and Senate.

President Trump’s replacement is to be known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Some of its major components that have hindered its ability to pass Congress are:

•   Allowing health care providers to revoke policies from policyholders at the providers discretion
• Eliminate funding for funds that work to prevent illnesses and decrease the growing costs associated with health care costs
• Increase the ratio of cost for insurance premiums based on age

However, for those who enjoy an occasional tan there may be a shining light in the bill. The new bill seeks to rid indoor tanning services of a 10% tax that is added to the tanning services. The President and other supporters of the bill seek to slash spending from programs such as Planned Parenthood and Social Security, but they have found funding to compensate the removal of an indoor tanning tax.

Trump supporters in Congress are beginning to lose hope for a suitable replacement for Obamacare. The time spent amending the new health care bill could be used to push other initiatives, and Republicans are noticing. National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers has said, "I think we're moving on to tax reform.” Congress is fed up trying to make this bill work, and they are now realizing they have made no progress after the immense time investment they have committed.

President Trump ran on the platform that his predecessors overused the military, and during his presidency military usage would be an option only for necessary threats. But then, he was slated with creating an agenda to restructure and strengthen the US armed forces … conflicting thoughts at their core.

If he seeks to detract usage of the military there should not be a focus on increasing the US artillery. Of course new technology is essential to combatting the threat of other countries, but the POTUS plans to use this “buffed” up army as a threat to other countries.

There is an active military ban on individuals that openly identify as transgender. This ban was set in motion following a tweet by the president that was an outright insult to individuals identifying as transgender. The POTUS said, “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender on the military would entail.”

The President’s ban not only invades a matter of human rights, but also prohibits those who may help “beef” up his military. While victory gives assumptions that he is not focused on peaceful tactics toward preventing war, but rather winning them.  

When President Trump was first elected a fear of travel swarmed the US, because he hoped to create numerous amounts of travel bans. But he was ineffective in his measures to end travel to the Middle East, strengthen restrictions on travel to Cuba, and other travel prohibitions.

With all his fallacies, the President has held down one fort; twitter. The POTUS has dominated the twitter sphere averaging 7 tweets per day, with a steady growth of followers. Are they actually interested in politics, or just getting a taste of the drama and scandal that has become American politics?