(December 2020)
This column is about some of the things that the most abhorrent president in my lifetime, Donald Trump, may have actually have done right. As his presidency is coming to an end (thank goodness) this column asks readers to think about that possibility.
In my opinion, if a politician keeps their promises that is a good thing.According to the New York Times, Donald Trump made about 100 campaign promises and kept 50% of them. Trump’s supporters believe he kept 80% of his promises including those of the greatest importance. Some people may believe that those promises should never have been made in the first place, but that is a separate matter.
Let’s look at some of those promises
- Appoint Conservative Judges:
Three Supreme Court Justices and 25 percent of the federal judiciary are now made up of Trump appointees. In my view as a Never Trumper ,two of the SCOTUS appointments should not have been his to make. However, for many supporters this was the most important promise of them all.
- Renegotiate Trade Deals
I the words of the New York Tines “During the 2016 race, Mr. Trump broke with bipartisan orthodoxy and questioned Washington’s decades-long support for free trade deals. He vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement or withdraw from it entirely, pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and raise tariffs.
He has delivered on those promises. Economists disagree as to how many jobs were actually saved but that is a separate matter .
- Jerusalem Embassy : Fulfilling a promise made by both major parties for many years but never fulfilled, Trump moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem. My objections are that Trump apparently sought no concessions from Israel regarding the Palestinians and closed the US Consulate in East Jerusalem, which has a significant Palestinian majority.
Cutting Taxes
Trump did in fact have a tax cut passed. The Tax Policy Center, a joint partnership between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, estimated that it was only one-quarter the size of the plan Mr. Trump campaigned on , but that fact didn’t seem to negate its popularity with his supporters. (In my opinion no tax cut was warranted in the first place and the cuts benefited in large measure the wealthiest Americans.)
- Iran Agreement (JCPOA) .As promised, Trump withdrew from this agreement . Many critics of the the agreement when it was signed noted that it did not ban missile development . The agreement also contained sunset clauses that , in the words of Reuters “ provide Iran a legal, internationally recognized pathway to nuclear weapons capability. In the It is unfathomable that it would relinquish this, certainly absent extraordinary coercion, which is not currently in the offing.”
The inspection protocols were actually much weaker than President Obama said they were.
It is worth noting that the deficiencies Trump cited are included in the list that President -Elect Biden says he wants included in a revised agreement might be considered achievements in and of themselves.
- Economy: Before the covid pandemic unemployment was 3.5 % . Also the 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country’s highest-paid workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing employment rose by about 500,000 across the nation through March 2020.
Peace : Under the Trump Administration the US has not gotten the US
engaged in new wars. According to the Congressional Research Service, there have been fewer that 100 American military combat deaths in Afganistan and Iraq over the span of the last four years .
Abraham Accords. IN September, 2020, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu joined the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations. In October, Sudan And Israel agreed to normalize relations. In December, Morocco and Israel agreed to establish diplomatic relations. Diplomatic and trade relations among these countries will bring a measure of stability and prosperity to the Middle East.
If these agreements were signed during a Democratic Administration, wouldn’t Democrats consider them a great achievement? Carter received credit for the Egypt-Israel peace treaty . Clinton received credit for the Oslo Accords and the Jordan Israel peace agreement.
It is my ardent hope that the Abraham Agreements may encourage movement towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In fact, on December 10, Palestinian President Abbas said that Palestinians are ready to resume peace talks with Israel
All of us Americans live in the same country even though sometimes it feels as though we inhabit different worlds. In my opinion, the matters discussed in this column should be evaluated on their merits or lack thereof without automatically labeling anything that Donald Trump has touched a failure. If pro and anti -Trump Americans can agree on at least one issue that would be one step in a long journey to some measure of national depolarization