When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed 15 bills to lift America from the Great Depression, all within his first 100 days of office in 1933, little did he know this would become the gold standard against which Americans have graded our commanders in chief ever since.
At the time, FDR’s efforts were vital, urgent and offered the country hope. By contrast, cruel legislative intentions, a deep erosion of trust, and few accomplishments have marked Donald Trump’s first 100 days.
Trump’s extremist, xenophobic tea party agenda and policies have left him deeply unpopular outside of his base, and here in South Florida, it’s hard to find any groups he hasn’t threatened, offended or attacked.
Trump’s malicious agenda has targeted seniors, women, religious, racial and ethnic minorities, the sick, the poor and working Americans. Based on his initial actions, and many of the people he’s surrounded himself with, this has easily been the darkest first 100 Days in modern presidential history.
Yet like millions of Americans, I refuse to allow a reality TV star preoccupied by ratings, golf and social media taunts to inflict lasting damage on a country I love. In fact, it’s been inspiring to see so many people respond to Trump’s politics of fear and darkness with such a fierce patriotic resistance.
It started the day after the inauguration, when millions of us joined the Women’s March to say that we will not go back on all the progress we’ve made. Soon after, thousands more converged on airports to protest Trump’s Muslim ban.
When he tried to erase Jews from the history of the Holocaust, people of all faiths reminded Trump that the Holocaust was the systematic and state-sponsored murder of six million Jews by the Nazis, who believed Jews were “racially inferior.”
When the president backed a House Republican plan that would cause 24 million more people to be left uninsured, Americans soundly rejected the vicious Trumpcare proposal.
Sadly, it didn’t need to be this way. Trump campaigned on funding badly-needed infrastructure projects, and putting millions of people to work. Initially he even pledged to cover “everybody” with more affordable, better-quality insurance.
Democrats have long sought similar goals. Seriously pursuing them would have undoubtedly united us and made America stronger. Yet just like his campaign promise to release his tax returns, these were hollow pledges. Instead he’s pursued an agenda driven by fear and willful ignorance.
Entire immigrant communities now live in terror of reporting a crime or showing up to a hospital, because they risk deportation despite years of hard work in the United States.
As a breast cancer survivor, I know all too well that Trump’s latest plan to kill the Affordable Care Act means people with pre-existing conditions now must worry about losing health coverage or paying astronomical costs if the president gets his way.
The LGBT community’s recent dramatic civil rights victories appear less secure. And efforts to bring police and African-American communities closer together and improve frayed relationships are under threat as well. Women — over half the population — face greater threats to securing health care and control over their own bodies.
The grave threats don’t end there. He ignores climate science, wants to cut medical research, and would hamstring communities’ ability to pay for Meals on Wheels and after-school programs. Yet Trump wants U.S. taxpayers — not Mexico, as promised — to pay billions for a useless border wall.
His conflicts of interest are jaw dropping; and we have no idea how Trump’s public actions may benefit his own fortunes. His lack of transparency adds to the disturbing ties his political team has to Russia, with the looming cloud of an investigation into collusion to influence our presidential campaign.
Historians and pollsters already rate Trump’s presidential coming-out as one of the worst ever. Evidence indicates they are right.
The consequences America faces from Trump’s policies will be devastating for generations. We must use our collective voices and take action to fight back.
Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston represents Florida District 23.
