Throughout his campaign and the early days of his presidency, Donald Trump made many promises to the American people and set many goals that he would accomplish throughout his second term. These goals, and even more so the promises he made contributed to his support, as his plans aligned with issues people were truly passionate about. For example, improving the status of the economy, immigration, and global affairs. Over the past two months since his inauguration, President Trump has made initial attempts to fulfill these economic goals and promises. However, too many steps have been taken in the wrong direction. 

At the start of his term, President Trump introduced his plan for the economy that aimed at rapidly lowering inflation, the cost of living for all, and creating rapid economic growth. His strategy focused on increasing energy production, slashing down previous federal regulations that cost the government money, and even appointing Tesla’s Elon Musk as an advisor to lead the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency. The goal of this department being to reduce federal spending. 

While on the surface this plan appears very promising, the President’s methods are questionable. If the production of energy were to increase this would lower the short-term costs of fuel for the average person and promote self-reliance for the United States, but it would also undoubtedly cause long term and irreversible effects to our planet. And this would benefit the country in the short term but is not focused on making sustainable changes that would help the United States in the future when it comes to energy. Additionally, Musk’s actions to cut costs have led to the mass firing of over 20,000 federal employees. Further, Trump and Musk have pushed to eliminate the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives which prompts equal opportunities regardless of race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. Looking forward, the Department of Education appears to be the next target for receiving cuts, or even possibly a complete shutdown. When asked about these drastic cutbacks Freshman Katie Post offered, “I think that some of the departments that are receiving cuts due to the President’s recent decision are really important to our country, and I think doing this will definitely cause some negative repercussions.”  

As previously mentioned, to cut federal spending, thousands of federal workers were fired over the course of a few weeks, however now Trump is being forced to stop and rehire. This is due to the Court of Appeals stepping in to declare Trump’s actions as unlawful. This lawsuit was brought about by the labor unions that represented fired federal workers who were completely blindsided by the loss of their jobs, some people having as little as 15 minutes of warning. 

So far, inflation has not seen a drastic decline, but data does show a slight 0.2% decrease in its slowly growing upward trend over the past few months. However, the stock market depicts some setbacks. Prior to his election, President Trump urged that his being elected alone would be enough to cause stock values to rocket, however as of March 18, 2025, this has not been the case. When asked about the current state of the economy, President Trump offered that he is simply trying his best to work with and to fix the “catastrophe” and “nightmare” of an economy left by his predecessor. As the administration continues with this plan for the economy, the nation is divided as some hope it will worsen before it gets better, while others remain cynical in believing Trump’s approach could do more harm than good. 

Freshman Dee Sweeney proposed a question that reflects the beliefs of many, stating, “Is all of this simply just an adjustment period, or is it a glimpse into the next four years?”