The presidential election came and went, Donald Trump won and is now our president.

The real estate mogul and reality TV star with no previous political experience has made his way to the White House. When he announced his candidacy, many laughed and said “never going to happen,” yet here we are.

I did not support Trump’s candidacy, I voted for the Libertarian Gary Johnson. Though when Trump won, I waited and gave him a fair shot. Here are some of my observations on Donald Trump’s first few months in office.

His lack of government experience shows, as a business owner he could move his organization quickly towards a goal. Things tend to move slower in Washington, and with separation of power, he can’t act alone. To make any substantial changes, he’s going to need Congress on board, which he has not done yet.

On the campaign trail, attacking his opponents put them on the defensive and gave him more media coverage, helping him win. Those same tactics now, hurt his cause as he wastes political capital. Trump could clearly use some on-the-job-training to understand what it takes to be a good public servant.

Trump is not the hero his ardent supporters believed him to be, nor is he the villain his impassioned opponents make him out to be. That can be attributed to our government’s structure.

As much attention as the president gets, he is not all powerful and has been stopped on some actions by the courts and Congress. We have seen his attempt to ban people coming in from seven majority Muslim countries struck down in court, his revised order was also blocked.

The attempt at health care reform he got behind failed. President Trump blamed the Freedom Caucus, a group of House Republicans dedicated to limiting the size of government. Members of his own party are also keeping him in check.
Within days of becoming president, he ended America’s involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court who is “very much in the mold of Justice Scalia.”

On immigration and border security, he issued Executive Orders to increase the number of Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and plans to build a wall on the southern border. Though, the funding for the wall is not what he promised when he said “Mexico will pay for the wall.” If built, it will likely be U.S. taxpayer funds used to pay for it. 

The key takeaway is, President Donald Trump’s divisiveness puts the foundation of our government to the test, and the foundation is holding strong. We can be assured our system works and have faith in our institutions.

Love Trump or hate Trump, he does not represent the totality of our government. If you would like to see change, get involved in the political process, join a political organization, donate to an interest group that appeals to you and vote in every election possible.