What's President Trump done in a week?

It's not even a week since Donald Trump took the oath of office to become POTUS. The feels of the Obamas leaving the White House are still fresh in all of our minds and that's not something we're gonna get over very quickly - especially when new President Trump has made so many changes in the last week.

So, what's been going on? Strap yourselves in, the emergency exits are here, here, and here...

He's building the wall. Yep, you read that right. It isn't like the big red bus £350m promise that got denied before the final result was even announced. Trump promised in his election campaign that he was going to build a wall on the American border with Mexico... And he was going to get the Mexicans to pay for it. He's now signed an executive order to build the wall, and wants to get started on an "impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall" between the States and Mexico. However, Mexico's President, Enrique Pena Nieto says that his country will not be footing the bill, saying: "Mexico doesn't believe in walls". The Mexican President then cancelled a state visit to Washington DC. Can't say we blame him.

Yep, we all know how we feel about that.

He's getting rid of Obamacare.

Spoiler alert from the Trump video above - yep, he said he was going to "repeal and replace the big lie Obamacare" - the nickname of the health insurance made available to more Americans through the Affordable Care Act. But some people don't seem to know the difference... (Click on the images to see the full run-down)

Republicans (who are Trump's party) want to repeal the Obamacare act by the spring - though many doctors who voted for Trump don't want it repealed whatsoever. They probably understand that it gives better healthcare to more people across America who desperately need it - something which Trump and his clan of buddies disagree with.

He wants to bring back state torture.

For a country where the death penalty is still a thing, I don't suppose you can be all that surprised that they want to bring back state-sponsored torture (though it probably still happens in the UK too, but we might be more quiet about it).

President Trump used his first TV interview as POTUS to say that torture such as water boarding (pictured below and demonstrated in video, which may be distressing) "absolutely" works, and that the US should "fight fire with fire".

Of course, water boarding looks (and probably is) absolutely terrifying - and there are two sides to every debate so we can expect all sorts of people: politicians, security advisors and the like to wade into the discussion. Our own Prime Minister, Theresa May, will be the first world leader to meet with President Trump tomorrow, and she's being urged to tackle his views on the topic.

Warning: Discretion advised. Video may be distressing

He's limited the amount of Muslim refugees getting into America. Yep, that's something else he said he'd do, that he has every intention on following through with. There is, however, a serious catch to this. He's expected to allow Muslim refugees / immigrants from countries in the Middle East where he (as his company, Trump Organization) has done business, or could do business - these are Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Azerbaijan.

In UAE, he has golf courses; Turkey has two luxury towers. It's almost as if he's putting his own business interests ahead of what he deemed to be the interest and safety of the American people...

He's got rid of climate change policy.

One of the first things people noticed after Trump's inauguration was that a variety of policies suddenly vanished from the White House website. This is something you can probably expect when there's a change in administration (party running the country) as there will be many opposing ideas and different ways of tackling topics.

It seems that Trump has silenced scientists and experts in climate change / environment policy - in a similar way to how the UK defied experts to vote to leave the EU. Some organisations, like Badlands National Park, took to Twitter to defy this order and reaffirm the claims that climate change is real. The tweets, which included: "Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years", have since been deleted.

It's not just national parks getting in on the action - NASA are apparently doing it, too...

He's also going ahead with the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a line going 1,100 miles from North Dakota to Illinois. The proposed route would go through land considered sacred by Native Americans, called the Standing Rock Indian Reservation - land given to the Natives when white people took over America. Thousands of people protested, as well as other Native tribes and the US Army Corps of Engineers refused to sign off the final approval of the project.

There were not only concerns about sacred land, but access to clean water as well as oil's contribution to climate change - something which Trump denies is real in the first instance.

Trump's now signed an executive order to complete the pipeline, which is around 87% complete. It's looking likely the work will continue very soon in the future.

He's allowed journalists to be arrested at anti-Trump demonstrations around inauguration day.

As many of you know, it's a journalist's job to report what is going on in the world. This includes protests and speaking out against administrations or Governments. Obviously, this doesn't come with the guarantee of safety, as we've seen in Turkey recently with nearly 150 journalists arrested for speaking out about their current regime.

According to The Guardian, a documentary producer, a photojournalist, a live-streamer and a freelance have been charged with felonies and could face up to ten years in prison and $25,000 fine under Washington DC's law against rioting. At least six media professionals have now been charged with similar offences.

You could probably assume that this is aimed to send a threatening message to journalists, to warn them against covering similar protests in the future. Major journalism organisations like the National Union of Journalists (UK) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (USA) have called for charges to be dropped.

Elsewhere, Jewish actor-turned-meme-turned-artist Shia LaBeouf was arrested at an anti-Trump art show in New York - he was actually arrested while live-streaming his art. Crank Dat hero Soulja Boy (remember that?) tweeted "Free Shia" a little later.

He's stopped US money going to international groups that fund abortions.

This one really does touch a nerve with many people all around the world. A bunch of white men, stood around a table, watching a document be signed, isn't the first thing you think of to go viral. But that's what happened when Trump signed a "gag order" to ban government money going to international groups which perform or provide information about abortions.

Understandably, women (and not just women, either) all around the world are outraged that this ban is allowed to go through. Not just that, well, there were no women present to see the ban being signed. It's almost as if... Men think they know women's bodies better and can control them...

Although Trump's administration are pro-life and therefore anti-abortion, this move doesn't necessarily mean that America will ban abortions again. However, it's really concerning for organisations in developing countries, where access to family planning and abortion is already really limited. There's the risk of women going back to illegal, back-street abortions, and therefore risking their life to get access to them.

The Netherlands have responded by setting up their own global fund to help improve access to abortion. The Netherlands would do everything in its power to help women "remain in control of their own bodies", Dutch minister Lilianne Ploumen said. Well, you can always rely on the Dutch to be forward-thinking.

So, Donald Trump has only been President for less than a week. Not even a full six days yet. But all these (arguably pretty disastrous) things have happened already - and nobody can be entirely sure whether this is a sign of things to come, or just Trump flexing his muscles and showing he deserves to be there. Only time will tell...

#politics