Donald Trump is in a race for the White House, but he’s also running for the presidency.
We’ve got a rundown of all the key moments from the first two weeks of his administration.
1.
Trump’s executive order to end DACA.
The day Trump signed the order, the president declared that the country was “ending the DACA program.”
He also told reporters, “DACA was not a good program, it was a horrible program.
…
I am ending it.”
He did not explain why he was doing so, or what his reasoning was.
The move set off a political firestorm in Washington, D.C., where lawmakers and some members of the media were furious about the president’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
It drew ire from the White, Hispanic, and Asian communities, who argued that DACA recipients were protected under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and that the program should be ended.
2.
The firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Trump fired FBI Director Andrew McCabe in May, but before that, Trump reportedly had discussed a “drain the swamp” strategy in which he would replace the FBI director with a loyalist.
In May, Trump told Fox News that “I have people that are very loyal to me, that are loyal to the president, that know exactly what I’m doing.
…
They’re the ones that will get that job done.”
McCabe was one of the agents assigned to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and any potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
He later announced his resignation.
3.
The resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
In June, Sessions was appointed as the attorney general of the United States.
He resigned the following month, but Trump kept his job as the president of the Department of Justice.
Sessions had previously recused himself from investigations into Russia’s influence in the presidential election, and in November 2016, he wrote a letter to Congress in which, among other things, he said he believed the Russian election meddling was “the result of Russian efforts to sow division and discord among American citizens, to disrupt our democratic process, and to undermine confidence in our institutions of government.”
The letter was widely criticized as politicizing the FBI investigation.
4.
The inauguration of Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump had been in office less than two weeks when he was inaugurated, and he said that he would “work with all Americans to secure our borders, protect our country and keep our borders safe.”
But he was not satisfied with the way things were going, and Trump asked Pence to stay in office.
Pence refused, saying that Trump’s actions were “reckless and irresponsible” and that he had been “too weak and ineffective” in his role as president.
5.
Trump and Putin.
In March, a week before Trump took office, the two men met in Moscow, and they exchanged high-level phone calls about Russia.
On May 13, Trump signed an executive order that would end sanctions on Russia and would ease sanctions imposed by the Obama administration.
The order included a statement that “the United States of America does not have a relationship with Russia.”
The next day, Putin announced that Russia was not in the U.S. sanctions list.
Trump said that the U and Russia would continue to work together to “strengthen our relationship,” and on June 16, Trump tweeted, “Great news.
Thank you Russia.
We will keep the pressure on Russia.”
6.
The election.
The president’s victory was greeted with jubilation and disappointment from the left and the right.
“It’s time to get real about our democracy,” tweeted former Vice President Joe Biden.
“This is a rigged system.
It’s time for a new start,” said former Vice Presidential nominee Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“You know, we need a real president and I believe he is the one,” tweeted Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
But for many of the people who voted for Trump, the election was not about him but about his supporters.
For many of them, the outcome was not what they expected.
“We’re just disappointed that we’re not getting a Republican in the Whitehouse,” said David Garrow, a former political adviser to Rep. Tom Cole, R.W.
Va., who was also the vice president under President George W. Bush.
“And I think that that’s the case for most of us,” said Tom Ricks, a Republican lobbyist and Trump supporter.
Ricks said that “at this point, most of the Trump supporters are just kind of happy to see the president leave and move on.”
7.
The end of the nuclear deal with Iran.
Trump was eager to begin the end of an agreement he had with the Obama White House on a nuclear deal.
He had repeatedly called the agreement the “worst deal ever,” and he made clear that he planned to walk away from the deal.
But on June 6, Trump pulled the U in the agreement, which
