Column: Do you see what you all did?

As of today, we are seven days into the presidency of Donald Trump. In one short week, he has already begun destroying the country.

In one short week, he has:

1) Given federal agencies power to circumvent any provision of the Affordable Care Act, such as the individual mandate, that may impose financial burden .

2) Signed an executive order to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

3) Initiated a gag order on EPA employees and frozen their grants and contract budget. The same was done for the USDA before it was lifted days later.

4) Ordered a broad hiring freeze for many federal agencies, including Veterans Affairs, that will suffer due to Affordable Care Act’s repeal.

5) Stopped the HUD mortgage insurance rate cut, which would have assisted first-time and low-income home buyers.

His proposed budget plan will kill 17 federal agencies and programs for the arts, environmental protection and civil rights, including the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Office of Violence Against Women, and the Civil Rights and Environment and National Resources Divisions of the Department of Justice, among others.

Trump claims that these programs will be cut to lower the nearly $20 trillion national debt. However, the total cost of all 17 programs per American is $22.36 a year. In comparison, Trump plans to funnel more money into military spending, which already constitutes a large chunk of the federal budget.

Quite possibly worst of all, he signed an executive order to reinstate a policy prohibiting U.S. funds from going toward any international aid organization that provides couselling or referrals for abortion. This doesn’t just prohibit funds from going toward abortion, though; the order prohibits funds from going to organizations for any reason, simply if they provide abortion counselling or even advocate for access to abortions. Ronald Reagan previously signed the bill in 1984 as the Mexico City policy.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Remember that wall that Trump talked about for over a year? The one he said Mexico was going to pay for, despite Mexican politicians continually denying that?

Yes, that wall. Trump plans to take federal funds to begin building the wall. So yes, American tax dollars will be building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He also plans to increase Customs and Border Protection staff at the border by 5,000.

All this in one week.

Imagine four years.

For everyone who could not understand why a Trump presidency was terrifying for a large group of Americans, can you see now? Do you see how this is a scary reality for so many of us? Do you see us now? I hope you do.

Because it won’t be long until the president you elected into office does something to shatter your already fragile reality.