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After eight years of idolatrous adoration for President Obama by progressives, I truly believed Americans had learned their lessons. I was naive to believe the blind faith in one person, any person, was so starkly on display that conservatives would never do the exact same thing when they got their guy in the White House.
I was gloriously and unambiguously proven so wrong that I’ve given up on placing too much credit on the collective sensibilities of any group, progressive or conservative. Nearly all die-hard Republicans and most self-proclaimed conservatives have put on the same type of blinders worn by their leftist opposition during the Obama administration.
As I noted on Twitter:
Fellow conservatives: If you won't criticize President Trump when he's wrong, your praise is meaningless when he's right.
— JD Rucker (@JDRucker) January 14, 2019
There are many positive things that have happened during President Trump’s term in the White House. Here’s an incomplete list of things that occurred on his watch that deserve praise:
- Jobs, jobs, jobs. The tax cuts, which I’ll mention later, were decent. But they weren’t the only catalyst to the massive influx of jobs. Compared to the job-killing policies of President Obama, this was inevitable even if all President Trump did was nothing. But he did more than nothing. He talked the right talk and job creation kicked in.
- Good judicial nominees. We need more actual originalists than just political conservatives, but what we’ve gotten is far better than what we could have been given had Hillary Clinton been elected.
- Decent tax cuts. They didn’t go nearly far enough. But they were decent and a much better start than I anticipated.
- Moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Arguably his boldest move;Â very positive surprise.
- Attempts to secure the nation. From day one, President Trump’s inexperience showed as he tried to put up travel bans, DACA fixes, and border security. But there wasn’t much help from Congress on any of these fronts, so the attempts in and of themselves should be praised, even the ones that failed.
- Bringing troops home. This is a work in progress and we can only hope this is done in a way that doesn’t put those who helped us in jeopardy. We need to bring troops home, but it must be done properly. We’ll see if that happens.
- Creating economic optimism. The economic tide may be in the process of changing right now, but we enjoyed a prolonged state of economic growth that will have lasting effects even if the economy itself turns south.
- Deregulation. Of all the things the President has done, this is one I absolutely never expected.
- Opioid focus. This problem is touching more Americans than the media or politicians were acknowledging for years. Now, it’s in the forefront thanks in large part to the President’s focus.
- Trade deals. The verdict is still out whether USMCA is better than NAFTA, though it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t be. Pulling out of the TPP was also a decent move, though renegotiating it would have been better. We need free trade agreements, but they have to be positive agreements. The TPP was not.
Again, this is an incomplete list. Some of the things he’s doing cannot be fully appreciated for years, but those who claim the President hasn’t done anything, whether they be progressives or NeverTrumpers, is clearly false. He’s done quite a bit. He may not have done them all in the most efficient or professional manner, but following eight years of President Obama, any progress is noticeable.
Now, let’s look at the things he’s done that deserve to be criticized.
- Soaring spending. Republicans on Capitol Hill have lost the appetite for budget cuts. They believe they’ll lose voters when they cut unnecessary programs. They fear they’ll get bad press if they get rid of major expenditures. The President’s love for entitlements didn’t help, but what was worse is his unwillingness to tell Congress to make cuts or he won’t sign the budgets. Instead, the budgets put forth with Republicans in control of the House, White House, and Senate were just as high if not higher than they would have been under Democrats.
- Bump stock ban. The President was able to get some cover from the NRA on this issue. Thankfully, Gun Owners of America are taking the fight to the courts to stop this unlawful ban.
- Red flag gun laws. While this hasn’t been an “action” by the President, his endorsement of these laws have helped them spread across several states and brought them to the national front. We can expect him authorize incentives for states that adopt these unconstitutional abominations.
- Trade wars. Tariffs are bad. They do not work. They increase costs to both American businesses and American consumers. They harm the economy and give us little to show for it. There’s a chance the President can pull a rabbit out of his hat, but it should have happened already. The threat of tariffs should have been the negotiating tool rather than imposing tariffs before coming to the table.
- Obamacare. Ugh.
- Border wall. Why is the government shut down now? Because he and the Republicans didn’t take care of this when they had the power. This shutdown should have been avoided during the last shutdown when Democrats were willing to negotiate for wall funding. Now, they have no incentive.
This, too, is a partial list.
There’s one factor that trumps all the positives and negatives. It’s the factor that helped win him the GOP nomination and the Presidency in the first place. It’s also the factor that is the core of most criticism against him. His demeanor is atrocious. Supporters call it “straight talk” but if they’re being honest, there’s very little straight talk involved in most of what he says and does. He’s impetuous and reactionary, traits that do not belong in the White House.
At this stage, there will not be a pivot by the President. This was reportedly happening right before the election. Then, it was supposedly going to happen during transition. Finally, there were many stories about how he was evolving in the early days of his presidency. But it hasn’t materialized. The steady hand we need right now is non-existent. Instead, we have irresponsible Tweets, irrational decisions, and immature reactions.
President Trump’s ardent supporters and resisting detractors need to both acknowledge the good with the bad. When the chants are incessantly one-sided, they lose their impact. But I’m asking too much. Polarization is the way of the world now.
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