I lived in America for a year under Trump 1.0 and bore witness to how US journalists, on sabbatical, navigated and struggled in their new environment. The system is broken, they lamented. The system seems still broken.
In September 2017, just as students were returning to school, the Trump administration decided to end an amnesty program (known as DACA) that protected from deportation around 800,000 people illegally brought to the US as minors. They were called “Dreamers” — including an estimated 10,000 Filipinos — who grew up on American soil and breathed American air.
The decision sparked massive protests in many US cities. At Harvard, they were led by professors and ministers who were arrested by the police after they barricaded a portion of Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. It was all too surreal for me, the tense atmosphere and screaming placards transporting me to Manila’s streets.
Resistance to Trump’s order came fast and furious, with various cases filed against it. It became a campaign issue in the 2020 presidential race which Joe Biden won. In June 2020, the Supreme Court upheld DACA, with Trump blasting it as a “horrible and politically charged” act.
Biden reinstated DACA, but Republican states continued to push for its demise at the federal courts. With Trump’s control of the legislative and judicial branches, your guess on how this would unfold is as good as mine.
What exactly are Trump’s declared plans on immigration? Rappler senior researcher Jodesz Gavilan spells them out in this piece — from “largest deportation” to travel ban.
Beyond immigration, how will Trump deal with America’s allies, enemies, and international alliances? Foreign Affairs magazine sat down with Daniel Drezner and Kori Schake to discuss the world of Trump 2.0. Listen to it here.
- Can Trump’s erratic foreign policy handle a world on fire?
- Europe is anxious and its fears are resurfacing. This story tells you why.
- Close to home, how will he deal with China? Does a trade war with the world’s second-largest economy loom? China’s President Xi Jinping urged both parties to find the “right way to get along.”
- Ker Gibbs, who led the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai under Trump 1.0, has this to say: “Brace yourself. Trump will accelerate decoupling. Multinationals will need to structure their China business even more into silos, with China operations completely separate from the rest of the world. Read Gibbs’ interview with Forbes here.
- What ties most of these relations is defense and security. But the Pentagon has been the source of Trump’s most vociferous critics — generals who have described him as unfit for the job and one who is “fascist to the core.” Expect a purge at the Pentagon. Read all about it here.
Could it get any better?
The victory of Trump, the ultimate climate denier, came as the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) opened on Monday, November 11, in Baku, Azerbaijan. The annual negotiation among nearly 200 countries will tackle climate finance, fossil fuel transition, and money for loss and damage. Bookmark this page for our coverage of COP29.
Here’s to a productive week ahead. – Rappler.com
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