Trump's Biggest Achievement in His 1st 100 Days? Stopping the LeftTownhall, Apr 27, 2017, Larry Elder
President Donald Trump's biggest achievement in his first 100 days? Easy. He stopped the left.
Measure Trump's first 100 days not just by looking at what he has or has not accomplished. Look at what America would have experienced under the alternative: Hillary Clinton.
Under Clinton, the debate would not be on how to replace Obamacare, but how quickly can the left realize its ultimate ambition, a Canadian-style, single-payer system. Under Clinton, the issue would not be how steep the tax cuts, but how many "rich" people, also known as job creators, would experience yet another growth-restricting tax hike.
Under Clinton, the $100 billion-plus annually in new regulations imposed by President Barack Obama -- much of it to fight "climate change" -- would continue to rise. This has stopped. President Trump signed an executive order that requires an elimination of two regulations for every new regulation proposed by an executive department or agency in 2017, with a zero-dollar net increase in the cost of regulations.
Under Clinton, newly confirmed conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch would've been another Ruth Bader Ginsburg/Sonia Sotomayor/Elena Kagan clone. Four left-wing SCOTUS justices, in the Heller case, ruled that there is not an individual right to keep and bear arms. Spare us a fifth one.
President Trump also changed eight years of Obama's "leading from behind" foreign policy by using our largest non-nuclear bomb on ISIS in Afghanistan and bombing Syria for its use of chemical weapons.
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For the most part, President Trump has delivered on his promises, or has attempted to deliver on them.
Take immigration. While the wall construction has not begun, nor has Trump been able to figure out a way to get Mexico to pay for it, a psychological wall has already gone up. Border-crossing apprehensions were down more than 60 percent from January to March, after Trump made it clear the welcome mat for illegal entry has been rolled up.
As for the so-called "failure" to repeal and replace Obamacare, businesspeople nevertheless have confidence that whatever emerges will be less expensive, less onerous and less intrusive than what they would have faced under a President Hillary Clinton.
Ultimately, Trump will likely be judged on one thing -- the economy. If he manages a 4 percent GDP growth, as promised during the campaign, few will care about his nocturnal tweets.
After 100 days of Trump, the earth did not open up and swallow America. His critics can crawl out from under the bed. The stock market has hit record highs; small-business and consumer confidence polls show optimism in levels not seen anywhere from 10 to nearly 40 years, depending upon the poll. Something is happening.
When Ronald Reagan died, George Will wrote: "Today Americans gratefully recall that at a turbulent moment in their national epic, Reagan became the great reassurer, the steadying captain of our clipper ship. He calmed the passengers -- and the sea."
It's not too soon to wonder whether someday something similar might be said of President Trump.
More:
https://townhall.com/columnists/arryelder/2017/04/27/trumps-biggest-achievement-in-his-1st-100-days-stopping-the-left-n2318730
