President Trump issued a flurry of executive orders and presidential proclamations in his first week in office, touching on many aspects of American life, including immigration, trade, diversity efforts and foreign aid. Here’s what a group of people we will be regularly checking in with over the first 100 days thought.
‘He’s making a lot more bold decisions.’
Dave Abdallah, 59, from Dearborn Heights, Mich.
Dave Abdallah, a Detroit-area real estate agent who has been keeping an open mind about Mr. Trump, doesn’t see much to quibble with after the first furiously busy week of his second presidency.
“I’ll be honest with you,” he said, “I’m finding him a little bit more palatable this go-round.”
To Mr. Abdallah, the president’s unapologetic style has been impressive enough to overshadow any specific policy concerns.
Mr. Trump seems to know “how to navigate through the system much better than he did before,” Mr. Abdallah said, adding that “he’s making a lot more bold decisions, and I think sometimes in leadership, you’ve got to make bold decisions.”
Mr. Abdallah, a Muslim man who immigrated to the United States as a child, was unhappy with United States’ backing of the war in Gaza and voted for Jill Stein.
Mr. Abdallah didn’t like the move to pardon Jan 6. rioters. He made note of the significant concern in Detroit about immigration raids, and said Mr. Trump was too focused on illegal immigration this soon in his term.
Mr. Trump probably overdid it, Mr. Abdallah said, by signing so many executive orders on his first day of office. “I felt like that was a little excessive,” he said. “I also think it may be setting precedent for how he’s gonna be a take-charge type of guy.”
“I may not agree with everything” Mr. Trump has done so far, Mr. Abdallah said, “but I like the direction he’s taking the United States. I like the fact that America, in his mind, is first.”
‘I think we’re in for a rough, rocky road till we get there.’
Darlene Alfieri, 55, from Erie, Pa.
Since Sunday afternoon, when Mr. Trump threatened Colombia with steep tariffs if it did not allow military planes carrying deported migrants to land, Darlene Alfieri has been busy with spreadsheets.
Her floral shop business would have taken a big hit with the tariffs, she said — Colombia is one of the main sources of roses in the United States. The threat was dropped when the countries came to an agreement that evening. Nonetheless, Ms. Alfieri has been figuring out how to price in the uncertainty ahead of Valentine’s Day.
The whole episode left her frustrated. She believes reaction from some others in her industry and in the news media was unnecessarily hysterical, since nothing ultimately happened. But it also reinforced concerns she already had about the new administration.
“I don’t think you’re fully thinking about how that affects the American people in their everyday lives,” she said. “Because now I’m not making flowers today, I’m figuring out what I’m gonna do if he goes through with any of this.”
She is convinced that immigration needs to be lawful and orderly, and she saw the reasoning behind many of the administration’s actions last week, including the hard-line approach to Colombia. But her initial worries — about the havoc Mr. Trump might wreak in pursuit of these aims — were hardly put to rest.
“When it all settles down and we all adjust to the changes that it may make in our lives, I think we’ll be OK,” she said, adding, “I think we’re in for a rough, rocky road till we get there.”
‘I just hope that the overall good for society is better than the negative.’
Perry Hunter, 55, from Sellersburg, Ind.
Perry Hunter, a high school social studies teacher, has spoken to his students about the many changes President Trump is making to the United States, and one change he appreciated was the return of the “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy. An initiative that began in Mr. Trump’s first administration, it requires certain asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while an American immigration judge considers their case.
“I think as people start to pile up at the Mexican border, it will force Mexico to help us with this,” Mr. Hunter said. “And, you know, we can’t do all this on our own.”
During Mr. Trump’s first term, the policy left some migrants in squalid, dangerous conditions at the border, a consequence that very much bothered Mr. Hunter. He said, however, that Mr. Trump’s decision to restart the policy was necessary to “straighten out” the flow of immigrants into the United States because it has led to a strain on the economy. “Sometimes you need tough people to make tough decisions,” he said.
He is closely watching how the president follows through with his promise to deport many undocumented immigrants. And he is bracing himself, concerned that the administration is putting too much pressure on immigration enforcement agents to round up large numbers of people. He’s worried that the United States would deport people who are “easy pickings” — including, to his dismay, children — instead of focusing on immigrants with criminal backgrounds who might be harder to find.
“Unfortunately, a lot of good people are probably going to be hurt,” Mr. Hunter said. “I just hope that the overall good for society is better than the negative.”
‘I feel like there are more important topics to tackle in the United States than what the workplace looks like.’
Isaiah Thompson, 22, from Washington, D.C.
Isaiah Thompson, a student at Howard University, said he almost couldn’t keep up with the blitz of executive actions signed by President Trump. But he watched closely for news about some of the issues he personally cares about, including climate change and racial equity.
After Mr. Trump ordered federal agencies to get rid of programs and policies related to diversity, equity and inclusion, Mr. Thompson said he read the details and wondered, “why do the ideals of diversity and equity and inclusion make people so mad? I feel like there are more important topics to tackle in the United States than what the workplace looks like,” he said.
“I am hoping that Donald Trump’s team is guiding him to make the right decisions for America as a whole, meaning everybody is included,” he added.
He said he was also bothered by the order to pull the United States from the Paris climate agreement. The extreme weather events in January alone — the fires in the Los Angeles area and the snow in the South — reinforced to Mr. Thompson the necessity of strong climate change policies.
But Mr. Thompson did find a bright spot. He said he agreed with Mr. Trump’s call for the release of all government records related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The post What 4 Americans Thought About Trump’s First Week appeared first on New York Times.
