Action to build a wall on the southern border, an executive order temporarily banning refugees and a decidedly conservative pick for the U.S. Supreme Court: Barely two weeks into his presidency, many of Donald Trump’s campaign promises are starting to look more and more like reality.
The ensuing political whirlwind has been just as swift, including nationwide protests, boycotts and denouncement from Democrats.
Shaking up the establishment is exactly why New Hampshire Trump supporters voted for him, they said. They like his tough stances and are pleased to see a president actually do what he promised. The only surprises are how quickly Trump has taken action and how much he loves Twitter.
“I’m surprised that he’s done as much as he has,” said Mike Faretra, a Bow resident who has been flying a Trump flag since the campaign. “I was in politician mode where I thought, ‘That’s all talk, it’s probably not going to happen that fast.’ ”
Faretra is willing to cut Trump some slack while he takes on Washington’s politics-as-usual culture.
“I think Trump is a little bit of a nutcase sometimes, but he’s not a politician and I wanted to see what he could get done,” he said.
But not all Trump supporters are willing to give him carte blanche.
Sitting next to the wood stove in his small Salisbury home, Jeff Spear said he’s under no impression that all of Trump’s executive orders are going to hold up. He’s especially skeptical about Trump’s order to build a wall along the entire southern border.
There’s already a wall in certain spots, Spear said. He also thinks Trump’s promise to pay for the wall with a 20 percent import tax on Mexican goods probably won’t happen because of checks and balances.
“I don’t think we’ll see a 20 percent tariff, business won’t accept it,” he said. “Congress is going to say, ‘Oh, it’s too high, and it’s going to come down.’ ”
Of the 19 executive orders Trump has signed so far, one of the most controversial is the order temporarily banning refugees from entering the United States.
The United States admitted nearly 85,000 refugees in 2016, with the most coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Burma, Iraq and Somalia. All go through a stringent vetting process that takes about two years and involves multiple rounds of interviews and database checks.
Syrian refugees currently have additional vetting measures they must undergo.
Iraq, Syria and Somalia are three of the seven countries Trump recently placed into a 90-day travel ban, in addition to taking a four-month pause on refugees coming into the United States.
The announcement last weekend sparked protests in airports across the nation and multiple legal challenges. Friday saw a new development as a federal judge in Seattle issued a nationwide block on the ban and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said they were again boarding travelers from the seven countries.
Earlier this week, the ban halted 15 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burma who were scheduled to start traveling next week from entering the country.
Spear, Faretra and Pittsfield resident Joe McCoy say they think the order is sensible.
“I think that’s a great job, I don’t think they should let people into this country that do Americans harm,” McCoy said.
Trump has explicitly said the order will still allow religious minorities while excluding others from predominantly Muslim countries, and lawyers are fighting the order on the basis of religious discrimination. But McCoy doesn’t see it that way.
“It’s not a Muslim ban,” he said. “You have to vet people that come into your country.”
Faretra said he feels bad for the people who are being affected, especially green card holders who already have homes in the United States.
“If they have a home here and they’re living here and they’re not on the terrorist list, they should get back here as soon as they can,” he said. “All I can say is, it’s not unexpected, (Trump) said he would do that.”
Spear said he thinks a lot of working class and unemployed Americans feel resentful toward refugees because they see the transplants getting assistance while they struggle to get connected to the same resources.
At the same time, Spear said he appreciates the diversity refugees bring to New Hampshire. Born in Concord, he said the city’s New American population has transformed the Heights.
“I think the people that come here make for a very colorful society,” he said. “I like the idea of a melting pot, which is what it used to be.”
While the three men appreciate Trump talking tough on national security and immigration, Faretra and Spear said the president’s tweeting is giving them pause.
This week alone, Trump used his personal Twitter account to threaten to take away federal funding from a public university, call a deal struck between former President Obama and Australia to take refugees from that country “dumb,” and feud with Arnold Schwarzenegger over ratings of The Apprentice, Trump’s former reality TV show that Schwarzenegger now hosts.
Spear said he dislikes the spontaneity of Trump’s reactions and thinks the president should wait a few hours in between composing a tweet and sending it.
“He’s tweeting too much, responding to people too quickly,” Spear said. “If they’ve said something that upsets you, let it pass for a day or so.”
Faretra was a little more blunt, saying he hopes Trump’s spontaneity doesn’t damage relations with foreign countries.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” he said. “I think that Trump should just knock that off. He’s the president of the United States. You need thick skin if you’re the president.”
(Ella Nilsen can be reached at 369-3322, enilsen@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @ella_nilsen.)