Good Trump Bad Trump

Illustration by Gary Hatch

Just when you thought the ride was over, President Donald Trump continued his rollercoaster presidency with more ups and downs then can possibly be talked about. His Twitter account is still a problem for the American people and it doesn’t seem like he will be changing that anytime soon. This is a man who can tweet that he found out President Obama might have wiretapped his building, and 30 seconds later tweet about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s poor ratings on The Apprentice.

For President Trump, it’s important that we give credit where credit is due and point fingers in shame when that shame is deserved. Here are the latest things Trump has done, both good and bad.

On Feb. 28, Trump gave a speech to Congress that showed, in that moment, that he has what it takes to be presidential. Trump outlined what he wanted to do during his presidency and the policies that he wanted to enact. His speech was unifying for the Republican Party and emphasized the importance of both parties needing to work together.

One of the strongest lines from his speech was, “My job is not to represent the world. My job is to represent the United States of America.” This line showed once again to his supporters that he was going to put America first, something that many felt was almost shunned during the 8 years of Obama’s presidency. American patriotism is what brought many of Trump’s supporters to the table.

Even Van Jones, a CNN host who has been very critical of Trump and Republicans, said, “He became President of the United States at that moment. Period.”

This speech was a “yuge” good Trump moment. The only problem is that actions speak louder than words.

Not only is Trump allowing the Keystone Pipeline to be built, he’s also broken his vow to use U.S. Steel. This contradicts many of his points about wanting to put America first. It also launches him into another Russian conspiracy. A company called Evraz — a third of which is owned by Russian billionaire and friend of Vladimir Putin, Roman Abramovich — will make the steel that will be used. This contradicts what Trump said about the company who is building the pipeline, “Nope, it comes from the United States, or we’re not building one.” Bad Trump.

Another “Bad Trump” comes in the form of his repeal of Obamacare, or lack thereof. Paul Ryan unveiled the replacement of Obamacare and it did not bode well for Republicans. Why? Because it isn’t a repeal like what was promised. If anything, this new health care program is a haircut of Obamacare, when what was promised was something brand new. This new plan does not cut costs like what was promised, and also keeps many of the federal features in place as well as introduces new entitlement plans. This health care plan will be talked about and researched and hopefully revisions will be made. But if this is what repealing Obamacare looks like, then the only person who is smiling after this is Obama. Bad Trump. Bad Trump.

Let’s all remember to keep our president in check. It is important for us to be informed, objective and also understand that nobody is perfect. When it comes to Trump, and any other president, we need to high-five them when they do good, and scold them when they do bad.